Thread: Shaving with a Japanese Straight

Originally Posted by JimR

OK, so I talked to my barber about shaving with a kamisori, and he said that it should only be used with the flat/omote/no-kanji side against the face. This is because the honing ratio/style makes a bevel that cutes best flat against the face. If you do it backward, the bevel angle will be all wrong and you'll be at greater risk of cuts and uneven shaves.

Again, this is what my barber says. I trust him, but do what you will.

I know what I'll be doing this evening! Picturing it in my head it should make most things much easier. A regular 3 pass style shave? no, i cant manage to do that regardless.

Someone had to go get the rice cake- Thank you Jim-sensei for clearing that up. Is the stamp side then, still the ura?

Originally Posted by kevint

I know what I'll be doing this evening! Picturing it in my head it should make most things much easier. A regular 3 pass style shave? no, i cant manage to do that regardless.

Someone had to go get the rice cake- Thank you Jim-sensei for clearing that up. Is the stamp side then, still the ura?

No no, thank Kawaguchi sensei...he's a true gem. And yes, the ura is the stamped side--sorry for that confusion. I asked especially--stamp side Ura, no stamp omote. Omote against the face.

What I did tonight was practice grips. I found that I needed to shift the razor into some rather unorthodox grips to get a good shave, but I did get an exceptionally good shave so it can be done.

I just finished reading your latest blog entry. It does seem obvious; Now !
Do you try to do w; x; atg s?

Originally Posted by kevint

I just finished reading your latest blog entry. It does seem obvious; Now !
Do you try to do w; x; atg s?

Thanks for reading, Kevin! Nope. I never do a WTG pass except around my mouth, with any straight. I found that with a properly honed razor, it doesn't add anything to my shave but more time. I start XTG everywhere else. With a kamisori, this means that I have to try several different grips, and try to forget my usual patterns. I still mostly go XTG on the first pass, but I ALSO mostly go XTG on the second pass except for a few spots where I can manage ATG. In addition, my XTG is sometimes in the opposite direction from a regular straight--meaning, for example, instead of going nose to ear on my left sideburn, I go ear to nose. Things like that.

The hard part was still my neck...I couldn't manage to get more than one angle down there. But I'm thinking of doing a "One month of only Kamisori" challenge to see if I can get it right.

My shave last night, with a minimum of grain-following, got me a lot of rather positive reactions from my wife...I think that's a good sign.

I have tried this twice now with my heavy 55mm. Using skin/omote style makes for much easier handling. That's really all I can say. Perhaps I need more practice with the angle, which as it's now working is rather steep. The ura I can lay down against the skin. Both sides shaving equally as near as I can tell.

Even after two re-finishings the edge is not what it should be from either side. I think I will drop back to 4 or 5k and try to sort that out before trying again.

I definately take my hat off to all you who get your best shaves from the assymetrical devils.
Cheers and good luck

Pic of the tip of a Tosuke.

Kanji side is to the right.

Just to add to the discussion for anyone not familiar with what these look like.

Also my diagram of the difference in cutting angle between Japanese and western styale razors.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Also my diagram of the difference in cutting angle between Japanese and western styale razors.

Forgive my amateur observations, but, including the bevel on the JSR, isn't the cutting angle exactly the same as the wedge? If you were to turn the diagram of the JSR so that the dotted line was perfectly horizontal, I believe you would have the exact same angle as you do on the wedge.

Of course, if that's just the picture and not the blade itself then I'll stand corrected. I might be getting one of those Tosukes really soon.