kikoboshi Japanese straight razor

[blalack55]

This is my newest piece towards my Japanese collection it is a kikuboshi just came in today

[Geezer]

They are a good razor. The one you have has been seriously tapered by honing. I find that many of the Japanese barbers do that with their razors and Kamisori ( old style ) razors.
They are not alone in doing that. There are reports here in the U.S. that speak of buying them tapered directly from the distributor.
Hone it and try it out.
~Richard

[blalack55]

The razor came extremely sharp as did all my Japanese razors did. Just messing around it took facial hair off easy and dry, don't ask why I did it lol but this is the first one I have that is tapered like that

[engine46]

Here's a Super Kikoboshi I got about a litte over a month ago with a Yasuki Hitachi. This Kikoboshi was scratched up like someone used a small grinding tool or Dremel on it but I cleaned it up awhile ago with 500, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 & 3000 grit wet or dry sandpaper.
The first two pics are eBay pics before I sanded it. You can see the scratch marks in it. The last three are after I sanded it. I still need to sand it, polish it & hone it.

[Martin103]

Tapered on purpose or not that razor seen a lot of honing, that said when the hone wear almost meet the bevel im thinking it wasnt done on purpose. If you wanted a tapered blade why not grind the toe of the blade to start with.JMHO

[blalack55]

Idk why it was tapered like that but like Richard said it seems like a lot of Japanese barber's did that with there and it doesn't bother me, the razor was cheap an I have 4 other razors and 4 more coming so I'm not too worried

[blalack55]

Engine 46 I was going to buy that same razor I love the scales bot I need to clean up my razors. I will see what I can do with what you did an was it all by hand the sanding

[engine46]

Engine 46 I was going to buy that same razor I love the scales bot I need to clean up my razors. I will see what I can do with what you did an was it all by hand the sanding

Yes, it was all hand sanding. At the time there were two of those on the bay at the time but one of them had a lot of hone wear & was more expensive. I'm in the process of honing this one right now & it is getting sharp already. I got a 45 STAR REITO HITACHI YASUKY with it that had a very small chip in it but I have already worked it out on my DMT 325, not by bread knifing it either but by holding the edge at about a 45 degree eangle & sliding it sideways each direction, reversing the angles as I changed sides & it only took a few strokes to remove it. I forgot to take before pics of the chip but it was enough to hang a fingernail. I am also in the process of honing it too & will show it when I'm done.