Thread: Are all Japanese razors bent at the handle

I have yet to master shaving with one hand, but I may well try it to see how it works.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I thought the handles were purposely canted towards one side? They are on the ones I have seen (less than 10, probably).

I believe they are . my Tosuke is also canted in this manner . Similar to "cast-off" on a gunstock .

There are right and left handed kamisori for a reason. Even if you where to bend it to the side you'd like it to be on, the razor is set up to be used with only the right hand and its reflected in the grind.
Get a left handed kamisori, or learn to shave with only your right. Don't wreck that razor wile trying to "make it work".
This is just my $.02

I do not consider modifying any tool to work better for the use wrecking it. As an engineer I have learned that no tool is sacred as is, but I do appreciate the information. I will probably do a little bit of work on the handle to work better for me, but I will be able to put it back if need be.

One of the reasons that I have bought this razor is so that I can learn to make fixed blade straights. I hope to be offering some forged razors with fixed blades soon, but I wanted to learn a bit from the masters of such things.

Hmm, I don't know here. I've seen an awful lot of Japanese razors and the handle bend is more like a very subtle twist towards the convex side of the blade maybe a couple mm. The degree is so small I don't see it as a factor in shaving.

This one has a significant degree of cant to it. It is all but impossible to switch hands with it because of the cant. As I mention in my first post it has more than 3/8 of an inch of offset, and the bend is at the junction of the blade and the handle.

The amount of cant you are speaking of is unusual.
As TBS has already said and I will confirm, all the kamisori I have laid eyes/hands on have had a very subtle bend....
Only one solution: A picture speaks a 1000 words and could not be truer in this case

Originally Posted by Hazen

I do not consider modifying any tool to work better for the use wrecking it. As an engineer I have learned that no tool is sacred as is, but I do appreciate the information. I will probably do a little bit of work on the handle to work better for me, but I will be able to put it back if need be.

One of the reasons that I have bought this razor is so that I can learn to make fixed blade straights. I hope to be offering some forged razors with fixed blades soon, but I wanted to learn a bit from the masters of such things.

I find it interesting that in your research you did not find that indeed, these razors are made to be used one-handed.

Originally Posted by JimR

I find it interesting that in your research you did not find that indeed, these razors are made to be used one-handed.

+1.

They are meant to be used 1 handed. They are made (bent) to fit the hand (side) for which they were made. And I don't know if Japan has changed much in modern times, but in Japan, left handedness was frowned upon. If you were left handed, you just learned to deal with using your right hand.

These days you may find left handed kamisori (or not. I don't know) but then they will be made in a way that makes the left handedness comfortable. You may change a kamisori to be used 2 handed, but in that case you'd be better off by just buying a 'kamisori' with symmetrical blade faces like the one I had made by russel baldridge.

I did not learn that these blades were ground to be used with on hand, but I did not find anywhere that the handle had an offset to them. The offset was what I was curious about. I already understood the grind, but not the bend. I really started the thread to learn if many of them had a bend in the handle. I have learned that many do have this bend, but none have mentioned having as much bend as the one that I have.

I had read of others that used both sides of the blade to shave with, and that was what I was planning on doing. I was just intrigued when I received the razor and it was set up with a bend.

I hope that this thread has been educational to numerous people.