It's not just about ROCKS, you know!

This used to be, long long ago in the heady days of 2008, a WETSHAVING blog!

when I started this thing, so many moons ago, it was about wetshaving. Wetshaving, of course, is the old traditional way of shaving--one brush, one cream, one blade. Somewhere along the way I got shifted from DE razors to Straight razors, and thus on to all the accessories--strops, stones, and more. But the real crux of the matter, the truly VITAL thing to getting a good, enjoyable shave (which is STILL my goal) is the lather.

I've been neglecting lather lately, and I shouldn't.

Last night (I shave at night...) I got out an old friend--The Body Shop Maca Root shave cream. I soaked my custom boar brush (L'Ultima Setola) and squirted a dollop into the bristles. Lathering up on my face, I reflected on well over a year of wetshaves (I haven't shaved any other way since September of 2008...) and just enjoyed myself. I didn't worry about the blade's edge, mostly because I have put a darn fine one on my Tamahagane straight, or angle or anything. I just enjoyed the simple pleasure of brush and cream on my face. I went a little longer than I usually do, working the lather in...I got a wee bit distracted, perhaps, in reflection.

But eventually out came the blade, and I shaved...and it was spectacular. Silky smooth, butter soft and oh so comfortable. So maybe I should overdo it on the lather every shave!

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In other news, there have been a couple of relapses on the razor front. I've been holding off on razor purchases lately, saving myself for the rocks, but...well, sometimes things happen.

Like Revisor.





This is an 8/8 in blonde horn...and the horn is just gorgeous. Thomas Kronenburg at Revisor showed me the designs for it last year, but I never got around to buying one until now. I wish I hadn't waited so long...it really is a stunning piece. Those Solingen razors, man...wow.

Then there is this Japanese beauty I saw on Yahoo Auctions




There is some rust/blackening on the spine, but other than that the razor is untouched. I don't know how old it is but from the design I'd say mid-20th century. The blade, though, is just gorgeous...shoulderless full hollow with a big belly (that's the diamond shape you can see in the end-on shot, where the blade thickens out again near the edge).

Beauties...I can't wait to get them on my face!

Mystery Hone

One more rock showed up. Not sure what it is, at ALL.




I literally found this under a shelf, between two big boxes covered with dust. It was wrapped in plastic and the tape had completely disintegrated into that yellow crusty stuff. So it's been there a while.

As you can see, the kanji are unreadable, but I THINK (I'm pretty sure) that the middle two kanji are "Shi age" (finishing), meaning the third is probably "To", as in Toishi. The first? NOT A CLUE. Any ideas?




Anyway, I have some hopes about this one...it is ugly, but a good size and shape, and it was dirt cheap. Even if it's not a superb finisher, if it is at all useful, it'll be worth it.

So there are my new toys!

Money Shot...(Pic Heavy)

The stones are playing...at my house!







The boxes. They have clearly been sitting around in someone's storage locker a while--the owner of the shop got them about a decade ago in Kyoto, and they were already old then. Let's say at least 20 years...

They boxes both say the same thing, which is (going top to bottom, right side to left):
For finishing blades
(Center)
Shou Hon Zan (True source mountain)
Narutaki (name of the quarry)
Shiagedoishi (Finishing hone)
(Left)
Product Rank Top Class (gokujou--something like Extreme Up).

And inside:




Both the stones look very similar and have pretty much the same stamps, with only one real difference (noted below...).


Again, Gokujou--Top class. To the right, Shou honzan Toishi.


"Hon Narutaki" or True Narutaki. To the right, the fancy circled symbol is "Kiku", meaning Chrysanthemum. WHY it says Chrysanthemum, I do not know...and only one stone says this.

The other stone has:

"Toku"--Special. Why the difference? Who knows!

I might have to call the owner of the shop sometime when he isn't busy.


Again "Kiku", and then to the bottom right, "Gokujou" again, then "Ippon Sen". This is tricky. Literally, it means "One-unit Selection". It could mean "Individually selected" or "Hand picked" or "Special choice"...not really sure.


"Fujibato", the name of the distributor/maker. The name means "Mt. Fuji Dove"...and of course the ubiquitous "Shou Honzan Shiage To"

So pretty, so very pretty.

But here's the thing...I might have to let one of these go. Because, really, two identical stones? Silly.

Just, silly.

I might eBay them...not sure. But if I do, I will let you know.

*Doing the Happy Dance, Doing the Happy Dance**

Why yes, I DID have a good day today!


The wife and I took the train into Hiroshima again today. She wanted clothes, I wanted another shot at a little knife shop I had seen that was closed last time.

So we got off the train, made our way to the shop, and I fell right in love. A tiny place, packed to the RIM with stuff. The wall displays of knives were hidden by boxes of every shape and size, holding all manner of tools, trinkets and unidentifiable whatnots.

We winded our way to the back of the shop, where a kindly faced older woman was behind the counter. In my broken Japanese, I asked about the possibility of natural stones, and she said "Of course! What kind? How much are you thinking?"

And my wee little heart went BUMP.

She explained that her husband, who ran the shop, makes frequent trips to Kyoto to get stones for their customers, mostly carpenters, and she knew there were some around but wasn't really sure what.

Her husband was out for a bit, so we decided to wait a while, and apparently she felt we were serious customers because she went "upstairs" to check on the stones.

While she was gone, I found the artificial hone section, and they had some real beauts...and a box of Nagura...and a razor sized natural hone with an unreadable stamp.

Another BUMP!

Then she came downstairs, and my eyes started to dance.

She was carrying an armful of boxes, wooden and (quite old) cardboard.

She laid out her burden, and I took a little trip to dreamland...



A gorgeous Narutaki. The paper wrapping was crumbling with age.




Two massive oohiras. The prices were WAY beyond me...but so much fun to look.



This beauty is a Narutaki Gokujou (Absolute top class)...very vintage, very retro.



This one just said "Maruka Shohonzan". That's all it really NEEDS to say. this one was over US$1000. I tried not to caress it too lovingly.

Then her husband came, and we talked, and he brought down ANOTHER armfull of stones, and I couldn't take pictures anymore. I was just too damned excited.

We talked about stones, and he told me a little but he had other customers so I couldn't ask to many questions. I was able to find out that the place I had wanted so much to visit last time actually DOESN'T stock natural hones--the sign is just a holdover from days past, so that saved me a trip.

It was a fantastic, if short, conversation, and the couple were lovely as all get out. So friendly and helpful, if busy...they had been running their shop for over 40 years, having inherited it from his father, and it felt right. They open at 6:30 to serve the professional users before work (carpenters, sushi chefs, etc.) and are open on Saturdays to serve their regulars. It's a place I will DEFINITELY go back to.

So, the question on everyone's mind, of course, is WHAT DID YOU TAKE HOME!?!

The answer is, nothing.






They're coming in the mail tomorrow. Hones are heavy, you know!

With trembling hand...

Imagine your hero. I mean, a real person who, for one reason or another, embodies something you hold really important. Someone that you would simply love to sit next to and watch, or listen to, in the hopes of learning a tiny percentile of what they knew.


Now imagine that you were able to contact this person, and that they knew about you and seemed happy to share their time and their vast skills, their knowledge with you. Imagine that they were talking about you with others of their ilk...

How would you feel?

Cause right now, I am freaked OUT.

I love Iwasaki razors. You might not have known that...but I do. I love them for the history of the family, the work and expertise of Kousuke Iwasaki in researching steel, stones and especially razormaking. I love how his son, Shigeyoshi, was recognized for his skill in metalworking and felt that he had fulfilled his father's dream by gaining esteem in Germany, the source of the problems that had led Kousuke down the steel path.



I love that Shigeyoshi found a successor in Ryouichi Mizuochi-san, who cares as much about making the best possible razors he could make as the two Iwasaki men before him.



And it goes without saying that I love the simple but beautiful design of Iwasaki Kamisori, and the amazing shaves I get off of the Iwasaki folding razors.

So, I have been aching to meet these men, Shigeyoshi Iwasaki-san and Ryuichi Mizuochi-san, for as long as I have known about them. Master smiths, making the tools that I love? How could I NOT want to meet them!

And now, it's in sight. I've been in contact with Mizuochi-san, by letter. He's known about me, apparently, for some reason. He has talked about me with Iwasaki-san. They are looking forward to further correspondence. My wife's spoken to Mrs. Mizuochi, for pete's sake! They said they'd be happy to have me visit!

I'M FREAKING OUT MAN!!!

Off topic but...Moderny!

I'm on a couple of those crazy new social sites the kids use these days:
@EasternSmooth on Twitter and search for Jim Rion on Google Buzz.
Follow me! If you dare....

Like Finding Out There's No Santa Claus

I've been looking forward to visiting Houki Hone Distributors in Hiroshima for WEEKS.

Guess what happened?

So a while back I found out about a place in Hiroshima, the nearest "big city", which is an official hone/whetstone distributor in Japan--a place with decades of history, apparently.

So I searched it down, and got the address, and got my wife on board, and since yesterday was a bank holiday we both had the day off. We hopped on the train and headed to the big city. The weather was crappy, but I didn't let that kill my enthusiasm.

And when I spotted the sign, I had to take a little picture:

That big white sign with blue letters is it. That is a BIG sign...I was so excited, I did a little dance--I had visions of shelf after shelf of beautiful hones of every shape and style.

But...but...as we got closed, my heart started to fall. There were no lights in the display window...

And then the door came into sight.

The shuttered, locked door.

It was closed.

And, to rub salt on the wound, what was in the display window?

That stone sign reads "Shohonzan Awasedo", or "True mountain finishing stones". The great name in Japanese natural whetstones...

The stones I am always on the hunt for.

*sigh*

As for why this place was closed, well, even though it was a Thursday, my wife figures that since this isn't really a shop, per se, it's a company that distributes hones, so it is closed on bank holidays. Dammit.

This also means, of course, that it is only open on weekdays.

When I work.

DOUBLE DAMMIT!!!!!

Guess I'll have to take a day off work to go rock hunting sometime.

The worst part? I just got a special overtime deal at work, and to celebrate my wife had agreed to let me spend a WHOLE LOT OF MONEY on hones.

Awww...Crap.

So close...

and yet so far.

Last Saturday I took Kawaguchi-sensei's Tamahanage straight back to him. I had taken it back to the hones--using slurry on my razor-sized Nakayama, refreshing the slurry 5 times, and making sure I got the color even across the bevel. I got what I thought was a nice edge, and I DID NOT SHAVE TEST IT. I wanted to check my eye, see if I could see what Kawaguchi-sensei was seeing. It looked evenly and deeply white across both sides of the bevel to my eyes.

So I took the razor in, thoughts of honing nirvana racing through my eyes...and he took a close look. Looked again. Stropped on his arm. Looked again.

Smiled and said "97 out of 100."

Crap.

"Right here." He showed me a spot at the very heel, where the razor had not apparently hit the hone consistently. The color was not even, it was still a bit too shiny, and there was my three points.

Crap.

However, there was some consolation. He told me once I got my last three points...I could have the razor.

His Tamahagane Iwasaki.

Soooooo....not so much crap.

So I took the razor home, a wee bit elated. And of course, I figured it was time to shave.

Here's where it gets fun...

I stropped on the lovely Kanayama #90000 strop and prepped for my shave.

Lathered up with Truefitt & Hill 1805, and shaved. Smooth...so smooth. Damn, what a smooth shave.

But...

I was bleeding in odd places. Little stripes and scratches...

Weird.

Too weird.

I look at the blade and notice an odd sparkle. A glint where it shouldn't have been...

A chip in the edge.

The edge of that lovely Tamahagane razor...and the only way to get rid of it is to remove so much lovely, lovely steel.

Crap.

At the Bottom of the World...

Dunno why, but I am in a Tom Waits frame of mind...

Things go up, things go down, the center cannot hold. But hey...I can still shave.

This week has been fairly meh all around. I've not really gotten anything of meaning done except some translation... The barber's manual (which is what it really is) by Kousuke Iwasaki is just so amazing. I have written to Ryuichi Mizuochi-san (my first Japanese letter! Go me!) to see if he thinks it would be ok to post it to the net. I'm not sure what kind of answer I'll get...if I get an answer, I'll probably be too giddy to read it, anyway. He's kind of a personal hero...odd, I know, but there you go. If you're looking for normal, you're in the wrong old place...come to think, that's actually pretty meaningful.

Go me!

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I've been working on some more handlewrapping...this time for a customer in Asia minor!


It turns out he isn't fond of the bare end, but I didn't find out till after I sent the razor. D'oh! Sorry about that. But I still think the handle looks ok...

By the way, I've still got two Iwasaki razors left. Get 'em while they're hot!

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There's also a new shaving forum out there: Shaveready. It's owned and hosted by Olivia, of Olivia's Seife fame, and it's looking ok so far. A good time to get in on the ground floor, if that's what you're in to. I can recommend it, though, it's a welcoming forum with a good start towards being a warm, happy place to hang out and talk about all things straight shaving related.

I'll be there, posting my nonsense and trying not to attract too much of the wrong kind of attention. Give it a look!