What should I look for in a Kamisori?

Hi,
I'm thinking of getting a Kamisori. I'm thinking price range of 100 - 150AU.
I've been straight razor shaving for almost a year. I have several razors and a DE. I consider myself to be quite a competant straight razor shaver and quite able to hone; though some older razors with more 'issues' offer more of a challenge for me. I find I enjoy a 5/8 full hollow best; but also like a more wedgy razor. I say that as a background to what I normally use, etc, so you can give good advice.

Questions:
I'm thinking Kamisori (I'm possibly using that term incorrectly, I'm talking about Japanese non folding razors like these) razors are less flexible than a nice hollow 5/8 vintage razor, would that assumption be true?

If you can shave well with a straight, would one find using a Kamisori reasonably straight forward? (same question re. honing)

What should I look for (or what should I stay away from)?

What size should I get given I'm currently using what are probably quite small (thin) razors (4/8 and 5/8) (though before today my next razor was going to be a 6/8)?

How should I store it? I use a leather case for my straights or their coffins. I know you can get stands or boxes. Is either better? Any other means of storage? I store my straights as stated on my desk in my bedroom. It get quite cold and moist in there in winter; so I'm thinking on a stand in the open may not be the best solution. I normally dry and oil my straights with Eucalyptus oil after each shave.

Can you get a decent razor for 100 - 150AU? I find one of my favourite razors is my Burrell Top Flight, and I think it cost only about 40bucks.

As I say, I'm not a newbie, but I'd be new to this type of razor.

BTW, I'm not bidding on the razor in the link, it'll be awhile before I can afford one...

Well, I can answer some of your questions.

Most kamisori's come in pretty much one size though they do make a larger one however most are pretty close to being the same around 150mm long overall with about 50-60mm blade length and 20mm or so blade width.

Storage is about the same as any other razor just that position is more of an issue since the blade is exposed. If you lie it flat one side bends upwards anyway so you are probably safe keeping the cantd side up or at least that's what I do with no mishaps. if you can store it upright even better.

If you go vintage condition is crucial. If it's in bad shape it might be past it's prime so there will be nothing you can do for it so you need to know what to look for when you buy and we have many posts here going into that in detail. Plan on sending it out for honing. You can really mess up one of these very quickly beyond repair if you don't know what you are doing.

As far as price goes, well you will need to pay what the piper demands if you want a serviceable instrument.

Perfect blade geometry and if vintage a well known maker such as Tosuke or henkotsu (originals).

I am the current high bidder on the one in your link and plan on keeping it that way lol...its a nice one! I just started with them and love them so far

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Originally Posted by sleekandsmooth

I am the current high bidder on the one in your link and plan on keeping it that way lol...its a nice one! I just started with them and love them so far

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LOL, How long can you hang in there? ;)

J/K I'm not gonna mess with ya. Hope you win it without having to go any taller.

Not one penny taller hopefully.

I just bid it to $4000

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Originally Posted by Wintchase

I just bid it to $4000

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LMAO!!
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/u...it/2gvse42.gif

Only 4K? Bidnapper will take care of that for me:)))))

Yes, well I hope whoever deserves it gets it...

Anyway, so now I'm thinking new rather than vintage, but also the honing thing has scared me off a bit. Are they a lot harder than the average straight to hone?

PS just looked at the price on that razor; 230 bucks! Maybe this is an instance of the things I like being too expensive for me! :-)

JAPANESE RAZOR keep an eye out here he sells some for reasonable $ at times.

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Originally Posted by EisenFaust

JAPANESE RAZOR keep an eye out here he sells some for reasonable $ at times.

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Thanks for the link. The cheaper ones look nice...

I have four kamisoris...... My favorite is an older one that is a "Terra Masa?", its blade edge is the longest. Some of the others have shorter blade lengths and are not as appealing (to me).... Also, make sure it has some "concave" left on the flatter side.. I maade the mistake of buying one that is totally flat and now it shaves like a sharp chisel.... Ironically it still shave well, just not as good as the one with holllower flat siide.

Holy sheep S$$$T,that freakin blade is past 700 Bux,this is insane.

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Holy sheep S$$$T,that freakin blade is past 700 Bux,this is insane.

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Is it some sort of special blade? I woldn't have gone more thann $75 for that... I hope somedidn'tread myjokepost and thinkitis really worth$4000?.... Now, thatwould be funny!

You can buy real Tamahanganes for half that,and those are very special.

omg lol...that thing just went up to almost 800 for the winning bid hahaha....ppl are crazyyy

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Originally Posted by sleekandsmooth

I am the current high bidder on the one in your link and plan on keeping it that way lol...its a nice one! I just started with them and love them so far

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Please tell us that you bowed out on that one.

lol yeah I wouldn't be caught dead paying that amount for that razor. there was nothing that special about it at all for that amount!!

Brand new Iwasaki is about half the price.

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Originally Posted by sleekandsmooth

omg lol...that thing just went up to almost 800 for the winning bid hahaha....ppl are crazyyy

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ppl have a lot of disposable income; it seems...And here I am saying I'd spend like a 100 bucks for something like that. Now I feel slightly foolish. Anyway, IF I still get one I'll start with a cheap new one, I think, so I don't have to worry about it too much.

The cheaper ones with the blue handle in the link that EisenFaust posted are interesting to me, would something like that be OK, do people think? Bearing in mind I know what I'm doing with a straight, but not a Kamisori...

If you think posting as 'review' might be sensitive, you could PM me, I really do appreciate the guidance, as always...

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Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

ppl have a lot of disposable income; it seems...And here I am saying I'd spend like a 100 bucks for something like that. Now I feel slightly foolish. Anyway, IF I still get one I'll start with a cheap new one, I think, so I don't have to worry about it too much.

The cheaper ones with the blue handle in the link that EisenFaust posted are interesting to me, would something like that be OK, do people think? Bearing in mind I know what I'm doing with a straight, but not a Kamisori...

If you think posting as 'review' might be sensitive, you could PM me, I really do appreciate the guidance, as always...

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Hi Carl i'm not sure if this link is of any help to you, a well known UK seller of straight razors and also new Japanese Kamisori razors, anyway just in case here's the link. Japanese Iwasaki razors

Jamie.

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Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

... If you think posting as 'review' might be sensitive, you could PM me, I really do appreciate the guidance, as always...

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Moderator note: 'Reviewing' products has never been frowned upon on SRP as far as I know as long as it is addressing a product and not the vendor. A while ago I started a thread titled 'EBay '. I posted the picture of an item up for auction and had negative reviews of a razors condition. A member commented that it was his auction and took offense to my post. I stated that my comments were addressing the razor and not the seller and that was the end of that. It really is dependent on how a post/thread is worded as to whether it is vendor bashing or a product review. Please feel free to comment on or post reviews of products. SRP does have a list of razors to avoid as well as a list of suggested razors in the WIKI.

Carl, there was this thread a while back on an inexpensive kamisori. Some guys chimed in at the end saying they were ok but I don't know how experienced they are to make a judgement. I never bought one to try it as for that amount of money I can buy good whiskey :p
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-producer.html

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Originally Posted by Joed

Moderator note: 'Reviewing' products has never been frowned upon on SRP as far as I know as long as it is addressing a product and not the vendor. A while ago I started a thread titled 'EBay '. I posted the picture of an item up for auction and had negative reviews of a razors condition. A member commented that it was his auction and took offense to my post. I stated that my comments were addressing the razor and not the seller and that was the end of that. It really is dependent on how a post/thread is worded as to whether it is vendor bashing or a product review. Please feel free to comment on or post reviews of products. SRP does have a list of razors to avoid as well as a list of suggested razors in the WIKI.

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Hi, thanks for that. I was just being careful. I realise some vendors here are also my friends, so I'd be reluctant speaking negatively of their wares, esp if it could affect their livelihood. I really should check out the list of cursed razors; I'd feel like a right idiot if I didn't and ended up buying one! :-)

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Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Hi Carl i'm not sure if this link is of any help to you, a well known UK seller of straight razors and also new Japanese Kamisori razors, anyway just in case here's the link. Japanese Iwasaki razors

Jamie.

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Thanks Jamie,
If I spent that much the wife would most certainly use it on me, in a most un-gentle manner. Thanks anyway though...

I'm actually now thinking, after considering some of the excellent replies, that I may be getting into something that'll cost a reasonable amount, could end in disaster in regard to the honing and that I may not actually like. I MAY just stick the straights (I feel I know them quite well now) OR possibly get a cheapish one at around 200 - 220 ish AU.

If that were in American dollars I'd be getting it quite shortly, but the Australian dollar still doesn't stack up well against the Pound.

I must say I'm happily buying quite a lot from the US though :-)

Carl,

On behalf of the American Economy, I thank you!

p.s. Carl, what you really need is a new power plant built somewhere between Grand Junction, Colorado and Moab, Utah. I've got lots of construction buddies who'd thank you for the work. If you want I'll send you the names of some big contractors. Go on, be the first kid on your block with his own power plant. Though it's not PC, the locals would probably prefer coal-fired.

Again, the American Economy thanks you in advance!

Oh, and there's a free Kamisori razor with every power plant commisioned. One of the nice ones.

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Originally Posted by roughkype

p.s. Carl, what you really need is a new power plant built somewhere between Grand Junction, Colorado and Moab, Utah. I've got lots of construction buddies who'd thank you for the work. If you want I'll send you the names of some big contractors. Go on, be the first kid on your block with his own power plant. Though it's not PC, the locals would probably prefer coal-fired.

Again, the American Economy thanks you in advance!

Oh, and there's a free Kamisori razor with every power plant commisioned. One of the nice ones.

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Hmmm. I disagree. Tell you what though, I'll save you a bunch of money on power anyway. See, thing is, if we keep building more power plants to feed the growing populations we'll end up with rather too many of them, and never curtail our usage. I bet when you've had petrol shortages of the price went sky high you curtailed your driving. So, cast your mind back to when you were a kid (or when I was a kid (60's) if you're young-un. How many electrical items did you have in your house? Four? Five? We had an electric jug, a 'radio-gram' and the electric lights. The oven and hot water were gas. No TV, certainly not a TV in each room like I do now. People have electric CURTAINS for goodness sakes!

So, to inject money into your economy, I'll come over there and run training seminars on saving power, and then you can spend your saved money on, well, lentils or something...

You'll have to wait a bit until I teach myself, though...

In the meantime I'll covert your wares and spread a little money the EU way too, if I can. :-)

How (and why) did I get onto THAT subject!?!

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Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Hi,
Can you get a decent razor for 100 - 150AU? I find one of my favourite razors is my Burrell Top Flight, and I think it cost only about 40bucks.

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I'm not sure how much it helps you, because of the relative rarity of kamisoris vs western straights. I have a Burrell Top Flight that I got for 7 USD. Razors are worth exactly as much as someone will pay for them. My best shaver is a W&B 15/16 Celebrated Hollow Ground that I happened to pick up for $20. That's well below SRP market value for that razor.

I would love to say that this is exactly the case for kamisoris, but I can't. The rarity of them outside of Japan (indeed, inside as well), drops the supply curve so low that it inflates the prices, notwithstanding how useful or desirable they are.

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Originally Posted by geauxtig3rs

I'm not sure how much it helps you, because of the relative rarity of kamisoris vs western straights. I have a Burrell Top Flight that I got for 7 USD. Razors are worth exactly as much as someone will pay for them. My best shaver is a W&B 15/16 Celebrated Hollow Ground that I happened to pick up for $20. That's well below SRP market value for that razor.

I would love to say that this is exactly the case for kamisoris, but I can't. The rarity of them outside of Japan (indeed, inside as well), drops the supply curve so low that it inflates the prices, notwithstanding how useful or desirable they are.

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Thanks, that's helpful. I might try one of these and see how I go. I know they're very cheap, but as long as they're not rubbish it'll do me just fine. I may remove the grip and get some waxed thread to wrap around it. I did that on a knife I used when I spent time on a Navy ship and it worked really well. I'm not looking for the 'best' razor (I just can't afford to pay a lot, regardless of how 'desirable' a razor may be) though I do appreciate the custom razors I see here. Just looking for a Kamisori that will sharpen as it should and shave as it should. I find all my straights have different personalities, and how much i like them, or how they shave has little to do with the cost