My new Inoue Tosuke Kamisori

on a whim and a gamble i bid on this Kami on ebay. I don't know anything about them but just went for one with what i thought was minimal hone wear and for a price i was willing to gamble. I was the only bidder on this one (not sure if that is good or bad) and got it for the starting bid of $20.
As i found out on the Kanji help thread it was mislabeled by the seller (which really means nothing to me) but it's good to know what i have. It needed a bit of touch up to pass the HHT that i usually use but i'll see how it shaves this evening.
I was kind of surprised by the size of it (much smaller than i had imagined) and it came with no handle cover so i improvised one with some string and super glue. Maybe some day i'll make a fancier one (if i like it enough to keep it).
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Looking at your hand in the pic it does look a bit small. Although 8ve never had or held one. Unless your a 7ft tall man with huge hands. Ha. Let us know how it goes with the shave.

I have the same one. It's stainless steel and will shave as good as any Iwasaki, in fact it's probably my favourite kamisori. On the paper sleeve that came with mine it says "Inoue Tosuke put his heart and sole in to making this stainless steel razor"

Enjoy your shaves! :tu

Hmm, I never heard of a stainless Tosuke.

Many years ago I used to sell them and the only ones I ever saw were the Carbon Steel ones.

They are great razors however the Iwasaki is far better from a build, fit and finish standpoint. I know mine shaves better.

Not sure this ones stainless as it has some small pits in it. Anyway, had my first shave with it tonight, interesting. Kind of reminds me of a precision surgical instrument.. think i'll have to touch it up a little more as it's not quite up to par.

what do you guys think about the hone wear? Acceptable?

For the price you paid I would say the hone wear is totally acceptable.

I cant read Japanese so I can only go by what others have said...

Here's some reading. https://straightrazorpalace.com/razo...-kamisori.html
inoue
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum...tosuke.245743/

Notice there is no weld lines showing the Jigane (soft steel) and Hagane (hard steel) as you see with the typical Tosukes.

Either way enjoy it!

Yea, there was a big discussion about it back then. I don't think it was ever resolved. But like many things, who knows. Anything is possible.

When Tosuke became ill and later died there were many blanks left over (and many of those blue sleeves which came in two shades) and many were finished by others using his name. Personally I think it possible one of his apprentices used his name to make some razors and if there are stainless versions that's where they came from.

It is entirely possible that they were finished by or completely forged by others, Iwasakis have been made by Ryoichi Mizuochi for the last five years or so but they are still exceptional in everyway. :shrug: