Thread: Just received my new Kamisori

I just received my first kamisori. It is a Tokkyu grade Henkotsu. I am very excited and a little mad that I already shaved today.

The description said that the razor was honed to the extreme cutting edge. so i just took the balde out the packing and tried to pop some hairs off my arm, and it failed miserably. Should Kamisoris do this? Is there a test to see the sharpness of the razor, other than shaving with it?

looking sexy.

send it to glen, they do not come shave-ready

Beautiful kamisori! Congratulations!

Don't mess up the edge trying a ton of tests first, wait until tomorrow and try the "Shave test"

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...-test-vid.html

You have a bit more of a challenge if you haven't shaved a Kamisori before as they are slightly different, but the shave test on the easy side of the face (Stamped side out) should work pretty much the same as the Vid shows..

If not then the razor needs honing..

Kamisori are a bit of a challenge to "Hone" correctly the first time, the good news IMHO is that they are the easiest to re-fresh once they are honed correctly...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Kamisori are a bit of a challenge to "Hone" correctly the first time, the good news IMHO is that they are the easiest to re-fresh once they are honed correctly...

I agree 100%.

yes, and if you are not sure what you are doing they are the easiest to really mess up. So the moral is don't use it to experiment with.

Of the 4 kamisori I own, only the tamahagane 50mm from Iwasaki came shave ready, the others had to be honed. Same story as with western straights I guess. They're all sold as shave ready but very few of them are. Ship it to an expert, they have to be honed in a particular way with respect to the bevel setting and blade geometry. But as was said above, once honed they keep that edge for a loooolong time with just basic stropping.

Originally Posted by bombay

looking sexy.

send it to glen, they do not come shave-ready

And if you do, tell him to use his Escher........Butter smooth incredible edge.

Ok guys, after researching all day (instead of working), I figured before I send it out, I'd give it a go. I had picked up an Ozuku JNS a few months ago and yet to use it. Well after watching Glenn's videos about 15x each (Glenn I feel like I know you IRL now), I set to honing. I started on my Welsh Dragon Tongue, then the Welsh Mellynllyn and then finished on the Ozuku. In his video, Glenn uses the term, scary sharp. And he was absolutely correct. I went to go shave some hairs off my arm and didn't realize that the kamisori had cut, so i went over the area three or so times. Now I have a large bald spot on my arm. LOL.

Tomorrow morning will be the first shave. Wish me luck!

Originally Posted by Silents

I went to go shave some hairs off my arm and didn't realize that the kamisori had cut, so i went over the area three or so times. Now I have a large bald spot on my arm. LOL.

Don't worry about that, you are not alone here. We all ended up having bald arms while trying to figure out how to hone a razor. I guess, this is the price we all had to pay. You try again and again, cutting arm hair one after another and you realize what you have done when it is too late!

Originally Posted by Silents

Tomorrow morning will be the first shave. Wish me luck!

Good luck and enjoy the show. It will be a great shave! Make sure to use your best brush and soap!