Thread: Razor or knife ?

I ran across this and just had to have it. The fellow I bought it from said he got it for a birthday 15 years ago and never used it. Had no idea where it came from. Thinking it was pre china/cheapo I checked out the Valor name from Japan. It seems they are a group of cutlery makers in a small town well known for their fine knives. Looks like a straight to me but my thumb and a small test shave says it is not ready for the face. You think it was made to shave with ? I am going to hone it and see in a couple of days. It works just like a folder and the first time I closed it I thought " Whoa, got to watch that ".



The scales are rubber, almost Pachmayr like and they only open as far as pictured. Is 404 stainless good enough to hone ?
I wonder what the 919 stands for?

Razor or Knife ???
aahhh i know , its a Razor Knife ...lol

hone it up and give it a go ..., could be the answer to a straight on a plane ...lol

More knife to me.
I would say the 919 is model #.

I am thinking knife too, but it would make a great razor to take camping or on horseback trips. Just wondering if the steel would take an edge worth shaving with.

440 should be followed with a letter ie 440A, 440B etc. The further you go down the alphabet, the more carbon the blade has and the better it will hold an edge. Generally, something marked "440" is 440A and only acceptable for casual knife use. But if it's a good blade, the steel might be better. Only one way to find out.

Saying Seki, is to all Japanese like saying "knife town." No different than saying Sheffield to the UK, Solingen to the Germans, Thiers to the French or Fiskars or Kauhava to the Finns

Well I sent a note with a pic to the only vendor I could find that sells Valor i the US. He is a character. His response was " I don't have a clue, it's what ever you want it to be." He sells another version but not Valor. Guess I'll just have to put it to the 4/8 and see what happens like eod7 says. If it doesn't make it as a razor it just might end up with my leather tools.

Sounds like a win, win. Either way its a great piece to have, cant say I wouldn't have picked it up either. Just looks Cool.
Respectfully,
Christian

definitely a knife

To me, it looks like a knife meant to look like a razor. It's hard to tell from a photo, but the edge looks too thick to be a razor. My vote is knife.