Thread: recently acquired kamisori

Hello, today i received a kamisori in the mail that my girlfriend purchased for me off the net (she didnt mention where or how much it was).
I am not sure who it was made by let alone what it was made from, so any help here would be greatly appreciated. Also if someone could accurately translate the kanji it would be great, if more pictures are needed just ask.

Dude, your girlfriend ROCKS!

You got yourself a tamahagane there, in very nice condition.

I can't make all of them out, but down the spine the kanji read:

"Tamahagane made, special gaurantee"

In the middle "Tokusen", specially selected, then the four small ones are hard to make out.

Below them, the maker's mark looks like "Tarou"...never heard of him.

Indeed she does! unfortunately this razor isnt quite shave ready, although it does remove hairs from my arm without much fuss. I have tried stropping for ages but that didnt get it anywhere. I think i might put this one aside for a bit, no matter how much that will hurt me, until i have increased my honing skills ( have been practicing honing some beat up ebay razors on a set of 5k 8k and 12k stones, which were also ebay specials :P) but more likely i will send it off to someone with the skills. Its like getting my first razor all over again.

Wow, you scored. Very special steel, what a prize. She's a keeper, the girlfriend too.

The seller claimed it's sort of shave ready, but can be improved with a finishing hone. Kind of strange since he said there are still small chips visible with a loupe.
Anyways, I'd get it properly honed before trying to shave with it.

And I'd clean up these rust spots right away just so that the steel doesn't deteriorate further.

Just make sure you send it to someone with a track record honing these type razors. Honing these are quite different than western razors.

Very cool gift to be given!

Enjoy it! And do let us all know how she shaves.

-Rob

Congratulations, I am green with envy. Both for the razor, and a girlfriend cool enough to give you such an incredible gift. If she did this by accident, I can only imagine how she would treat you on purpose, lucky man.

Tamahagane steel razors are very highly prized. Same steel as traditional samurai swords made during the old glory days. I would very much love to own just one, just because of the awesome pedigree, regardless of the shave.

really cool. I think I might add a lil dab of gel krazy glue to the rattan on the end where it looks loose. I'd want to keep it on there as is for as long as possible

Thanks for the replies. i will definately be sending her off to be honed, any Aussies want to step up to the task? Does anyone know if Onimaru55 has had experience with these? At last resort i will be willing to send international but i would rather not. The blade just feels so light and balanced in my hands, i cant wait to slice my face open with her.
The rust spots look much worse in the picture than they do in person, but i will try and do something about them soon.
I can assure that the rattan is secured well, with a slight knot at the end, and is nowhere near coming loose, although when i first unwrapped the packaging i thought it didnt look too great and that i would attempt to wrap the handle myself, but now i think it looks damn sexy and suits the traditional J-nes of it.
Also i know this may be a long shot, but would anyone have any idea about the age of it?

Thanks,
Corey.