Thread: Henkotsu kamisori transation

I agree. I have pretty primitive skills searching in Japanese, but I've had quite a hard time finding anything about even well-known Japanese razor makers. The impression I'm sometimes left with is that some of this more esoteric information hasn't really migrated to the web yet. I don't even know when Henkotsu was actively making razors.

Sorry I'm not more helpful.

Exactly. When was this razor made? It's a well know and highly collectable blade. No one seems to know, or as you said, the information is not digitized. I was in Japan last year and found a Hoshi Tombo, NOS, oil paper

wrapped, western scaled razor with an asymmetrical kamisori blade grind. Judging from the acrylic scale material I think it's from the 60's or 70's. I was amazed at how nothing is known about these razors. I told my

daughter at the time one could become the world's expert on these if you knew where and how to look. No one knows anything about these razors. My daughter suggested that perhaps it's because Japanese culture doesn't

value antiques the way U.S. culture does. Old razors are seen merely as, well, old things that have outlived their usefulness. In the U.S., every street corner has a junk shop or antique shop filled mostly with old junk.

Anyway, thank you again for your help.

How do you sharpen these razors and what hone do I use for best results? The ones I just got in are almost shave ready and may need just light honing. It looks like one side has been beveled and the other side is flat.

Originally Posted by ruday555

How do you sharpen these razors and what hone do I use for best results? The ones I just got in are almost shave ready and may need just light honing. It looks like one side has been beveled and the other side is flat.

The grind you describe is indicative of a kamisori. It is asymmetrical. It has a front and back side, or "omote/ura". As to the honing, I think the honing is done asymmetrically also, that is a different number of strokes for each side. I'm not a honer, unfortunately, so i can't speak to how to hone these, perhaps others more knowledgable can help out.