Thread: Bartmann single bevel Japanese style

Another shaving mountain to climb!

So, if I get this razor, do the various threads pertaining to Japanese razors apply to this one as well? Anybody out there who can direct me to a comprehensive Wiki-type post re: honing, stropping, shaving, etc., with one of these. I believe this style razor is also referred to as a "microtome" style razor. It looks like a Japanese razor, only with a Western-style scale handle.

Got pics?

A microtome is not the same as a Japanese razor. Microtome's can be made to shave. I know Jimmy did it with a Puma and I did it with a SRD.

Microtomes were not designed for normal shaving but for medical use. There are some here who have them and use them. They are nothing like Japanese Straights.

There are some threads devoted to them. Seek and you will find.

Don't have a picture. It's on a commercial site for sale, and I'm not sure I have the right to reproduce it here. Anyway, the front "show" side looks like any other straight razor that has been ground to maybe a 1/2 grind (hard to tell looking at it straight on). The back is as flat as the tempered glass I use to lap hones on. Like the OP title says, it's advertised as a Japanese style single bevel (but unlike a Jstraight, it has scales that again look like they might come off of any other plastic-scaled razor).

I guess I'm still not clear as to how this differs from a Jstraight blade. Aren't they flat on one side and pretty "normal" looking (to Western eyes) on the other? Sorry to be so ignorant about these things. Maybe I should just go back to my current time-wasting project -- making perfect lather with a puck of Williams...

Like holli4pirating said, both of us (independently) have honed and shaved with one. I bought mine because the seller put a gorgeous 7/8 Puma on ebay with a buy it now of $50 bucks and only had a photo of the hollow ground side. I decided to turn my lemon into lemonade if possible and to hone it up.

I did not leave it with no bevel on the wedge side. Not saying that is better or worse, just what I did. I had to use tape to build up the blade angle on that side so that I would have a bevel that roughly corresponded with the hollow side. What I ended up with was a razor that shaved like a wedge with no flex whatever.

It shaves quite well but I must say that I would never knowingly buy another. Here is the thread where I describe honing it. If I was to do it over I would use 4 rather than 3 layers on the wedge side.

Originally Posted by pcb01

Don't have a picture. It's on a commercial site for sale, and I'm not sure I have the right to reproduce it here. Anyway, the front "show" side looks like any other straight razor that has been ground to maybe a 1/2 grind (hard to tell looking at it straight on). The back is as flat as the tempered glass I use to lap hones on. Like the OP title says, it's advertised as a Japanese style single bevel (but unlike a Jstraight, it has scales that again look like they might come off of any other plastic-scaled razor).

I guess I'm still not clear as to how this differs from a Jstraight blade. Aren't they flat on one side and pretty "normal" looking (to Western eyes) on the other? Sorry to be so ignorant about these things. Maybe I should just go back to my current time-wasting project -- making perfect lather with a puck of Williams...

If the site is advertising a microtome as a Japanese style razor, they are...being loose with the truth. A Japanese razor is NOT flat on one side, the "omote" (what people usually call "the flat side") has a hollow--just not a pronounced one, like on the other side.