Pretty darned cool.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Takamitou Kamisori.
New toys, new ploys for attention.
Recently, NagoyaTodoroKai (Nagoya Slurry club), a Japanese hone-centric blog I often read, introduced me to a new Kamisori maker on the block. Takami-san (天水さん) makes kamisori and other cutlery, and he has some interesting designs--you can see his blog here. It's Japanese, of course, but the pics are worth a look.
Anyway, I mentioned to Yuuken-san, the owner of the Nagoya Slurry Club blog, that I would be very interested in trying these new razors out, and he facilitated an order. I got two of them, and here they are!
As you can see, they've got some unique design points. First is the shape. The handle is hefty, with an almost bamboo-ish design making a nice grip. Second is the texturing. The entire razor has a rough, woody grain to it making the bamboo impression even stronger. Then there's the blacking. It's much sturdier feeling than the carbon on Iwasaki razors.
So I love they way they look. In addition, they're heavy--close to an Iwasaki 2 chou gake, but a little shorter. These two run 175mm and 170mm, not quite up to the 180mm of a size 2 Iwasaki.
The longer razor, the 175mm, is made of standard jigane on the spine, and the blade is SK-3N steel. On the back, you can see a gorgeous suminagashi pattern. Very cool.
The other is made of Hitachi White Paper #2 steel, but without the groovy suminagashi.
Anyway, enough about the details, about the handling.
They feel fantastic in the hand, well balanced and hefty. They grip is firm, the blacking/woodgrain pattern making for excellent traction.
They needed a honing, so I got out my babies and went to town...and realize a problem.
Here, see if you can spot it:
The razor on the left is an Iwasaki, the other two are the Takamitou razors. Can you see it? The Omote, the side that gets the major honing, is almost perfectly straight on the two Takamitou. There is a gentle arc to the Iwasaki. This means...well, let me show you:
When honing with slurry, the flat omote creates serious suction with the stone, and it gets stuck. It's not the worst problem, but it does make honing difficult. It ALSO makes shaving difficult, as the angle is not clear to shave, and the razor keeps getting stuck in the lather. Not cool.
In addition, the longer razor has this bump just down from the blade:
Can you see that? It makes honing and especially stropping a real pain.
So these razors, though gorgeous, are not perfect. I posted this all on my Japanese blog and the maker has offered to fix the razors to my satisfaction, though, so that's all good.
I hope they can be made perfect, cause they really are cool to look at and would be such fun to use...
Recently, NagoyaTodoroKai (Nagoya Slurry club), a Japanese hone-centric blog I often read, introduced me to a new Kamisori maker on the block. Takami-san (天水さん) makes kamisori and other cutlery, and he has some interesting designs--you can see his blog here. It's Japanese, of course, but the pics are worth a look.
Anyway, I mentioned to Yuuken-san, the owner of the Nagoya Slurry Club blog, that I would be very interested in trying these new razors out, and he facilitated an order. I got two of them, and here they are!
As you can see, they've got some unique design points. First is the shape. The handle is hefty, with an almost bamboo-ish design making a nice grip. Second is the texturing. The entire razor has a rough, woody grain to it making the bamboo impression even stronger. Then there's the blacking. It's much sturdier feeling than the carbon on Iwasaki razors.
So I love they way they look. In addition, they're heavy--close to an Iwasaki 2 chou gake, but a little shorter. These two run 175mm and 170mm, not quite up to the 180mm of a size 2 Iwasaki.
The longer razor, the 175mm, is made of standard jigane on the spine, and the blade is SK-3N steel. On the back, you can see a gorgeous suminagashi pattern. Very cool.
The other is made of Hitachi White Paper #2 steel, but without the groovy suminagashi.
Anyway, enough about the details, about the handling.
They feel fantastic in the hand, well balanced and hefty. They grip is firm, the blacking/woodgrain pattern making for excellent traction.
They needed a honing, so I got out my babies and went to town...and realize a problem.
Here, see if you can spot it:
The razor on the left is an Iwasaki, the other two are the Takamitou razors. Can you see it? The Omote, the side that gets the major honing, is almost perfectly straight on the two Takamitou. There is a gentle arc to the Iwasaki. This means...well, let me show you:
When honing with slurry, the flat omote creates serious suction with the stone, and it gets stuck. It's not the worst problem, but it does make honing difficult. It ALSO makes shaving difficult, as the angle is not clear to shave, and the razor keeps getting stuck in the lather. Not cool.
In addition, the longer razor has this bump just down from the blade:
Can you see that? It makes honing and especially stropping a real pain.
So these razors, though gorgeous, are not perfect. I posted this all on my Japanese blog and the maker has offered to fix the razors to my satisfaction, though, so that's all good.
I hope they can be made perfect, cause they really are cool to look at and would be such fun to use...
Friday, September 17, 2010
Mixing It Up...
It could be a touch of variety, it could just be random flailing...
The past couple of weeks have been kind of an adventurous period.
For example, last week I went on a little trip with the wife, which ended with about 8 hours of department-store wandering, and I got plain old exhausted. When we got home, it was time to shave and you know what? I just wasn't up for stropping, brush-whipping lather, and the whole bit. So what did I do? I broke out this bad boy:
Yep! The $1 plastic Dorco razor. I loaded it with a "Swede" and for lather mixed up some T&H 1805 cream in my palms and went the quicky route. Results? A nice, smooth shave with just a couple of weepers. Sad, how easy that was. But no fear, I'm not moving away from straights...but I might try some more dorect comparisons of my straight shaves and DE shaves.
In other news, I've thrown a few more blades on my Ippon Matsu nashiji. Sadly, I think I'm ready to deliver a verdict: not a finisher for razors. It's just too soft...as I was honing, even with no pressure, it just kept releasing fresh slurry and I was never able to hit the keenness I wanted. I'm not giving up totally, I have some unorthodox ideas on how to get this stone to work for me, but I certainly can't say "This hone is great!". It's pretty though, sho' nuff.
So then, last night, I had some razors to touch up and looking over my hone shelf I thought "Hey, let's give Japan a rest and head to the Olde Worlde!" I got out a nice little Coticule and decided to give it a try.
The razors were in decent condition, so I decided to try the Dilucot method from Coticule.be.
I proceeded as per the instructions, dulling the blades then going into slurry. I monitored the edge closely, and when it seemed to hit a keenness plateau I tried finishing on water and I'll be honest, I didn't like the feel on either TPT or AHT. So I put on one layer of electrical tape and gave the razors about 75 very very light x strokes to set a secondary bevel, just to see how the stone worked.
The shave was simply not good. It tugged, left behind a lot of stubble, and thus necessitated extra passes resulting in irritation. I can't figure out where I went wrong, either. Each step of the way seemed to hit the right notes...I guess I'll just ahve to try it again.
Who knows...but now that I can sit in my workshop without drowning in my own sweat, I'll have more chances to play around.
Then there was the box of old NOS razors I got...selling them, I was asked to hone some and just because of time constraints, I decided to see what the absolute fastest, simplest finishing work I could do was--and it was diamond paste on MDF. Hands down. 10 strokes on 1.0 micrometer and 5 strokes on .5 micrometer gave a superb edge on those razors. Granted, they were close already, but for finishing that was really something else.
So there's even MORE to play with...
So how's by you?
The past couple of weeks have been kind of an adventurous period.
For example, last week I went on a little trip with the wife, which ended with about 8 hours of department-store wandering, and I got plain old exhausted. When we got home, it was time to shave and you know what? I just wasn't up for stropping, brush-whipping lather, and the whole bit. So what did I do? I broke out this bad boy:
Yep! The $1 plastic Dorco razor. I loaded it with a "Swede" and for lather mixed up some T&H 1805 cream in my palms and went the quicky route. Results? A nice, smooth shave with just a couple of weepers. Sad, how easy that was. But no fear, I'm not moving away from straights...but I might try some more dorect comparisons of my straight shaves and DE shaves.
In other news, I've thrown a few more blades on my Ippon Matsu nashiji. Sadly, I think I'm ready to deliver a verdict: not a finisher for razors. It's just too soft...as I was honing, even with no pressure, it just kept releasing fresh slurry and I was never able to hit the keenness I wanted. I'm not giving up totally, I have some unorthodox ideas on how to get this stone to work for me, but I certainly can't say "This hone is great!". It's pretty though, sho' nuff.
So then, last night, I had some razors to touch up and looking over my hone shelf I thought "Hey, let's give Japan a rest and head to the Olde Worlde!" I got out a nice little Coticule and decided to give it a try.
The razors were in decent condition, so I decided to try the Dilucot method from Coticule.be.
I proceeded as per the instructions, dulling the blades then going into slurry. I monitored the edge closely, and when it seemed to hit a keenness plateau I tried finishing on water and I'll be honest, I didn't like the feel on either TPT or AHT. So I put on one layer of electrical tape and gave the razors about 75 very very light x strokes to set a secondary bevel, just to see how the stone worked.
The shave was simply not good. It tugged, left behind a lot of stubble, and thus necessitated extra passes resulting in irritation. I can't figure out where I went wrong, either. Each step of the way seemed to hit the right notes...I guess I'll just ahve to try it again.
Who knows...but now that I can sit in my workshop without drowning in my own sweat, I'll have more chances to play around.
Then there was the box of old NOS razors I got...selling them, I was asked to hone some and just because of time constraints, I decided to see what the absolute fastest, simplest finishing work I could do was--and it was diamond paste on MDF. Hands down. 10 strokes on 1.0 micrometer and 5 strokes on .5 micrometer gave a superb edge on those razors. Granted, they were close already, but for finishing that was really something else.
So there's even MORE to play with...
So how's by you?
Monday, September 6, 2010
Yeah yeah yeah...
I know, I've been a bad blogger.
So sue me. Anyway, I got something to say...
You know what really grinds my gears? Falls from grace. Check this out:
That beauty is one of 100 razors made to order for the previous owner of Kanoyama Cordovan Specialists, makers of the best darn Shell Cordovan Strops on earth. The current owner, Naomi-san, found a box of thirty of them. His father had had them made in 1966 by a company called Suzumasa, as gifts for his customers. The thirty he found have all been sold to current Kanoyama customers, as is only fitting.
They sold so well, in fact, that Naomi-san tracked down the current Suzumasa office to see if they still make razors. They do. They make these:
Not even close. Cheap plastic scales housing a blade with as much character as a flounder. Grind marks, uneven shoulders, a dead-boring shape. I guess they no longer have any employees with the skill to make them like they used to...so they just make the simplest razor they can.
It makes me wonder why they even bother.
Look at this:
You might as well compare a Filarmonica to a Gold Dollar.
I don't know why, but it makes me sad. Razors that once had character and class have been reduced to knockoffs of their inferiors. I guess I just find it ominous. Luckily, there are still companies making quality razors--Revisor, Iwasaki, and more. Enjoy them while you can, brothers and sisters, for this too shall pass.
So sue me. Anyway, I got something to say...
You know what really grinds my gears? Falls from grace. Check this out:
That beauty is one of 100 razors made to order for the previous owner of Kanoyama Cordovan Specialists, makers of the best darn Shell Cordovan Strops on earth. The current owner, Naomi-san, found a box of thirty of them. His father had had them made in 1966 by a company called Suzumasa, as gifts for his customers. The thirty he found have all been sold to current Kanoyama customers, as is only fitting.
They sold so well, in fact, that Naomi-san tracked down the current Suzumasa office to see if they still make razors. They do. They make these:
Not even close. Cheap plastic scales housing a blade with as much character as a flounder. Grind marks, uneven shoulders, a dead-boring shape. I guess they no longer have any employees with the skill to make them like they used to...so they just make the simplest razor they can.
It makes me wonder why they even bother.
Look at this:
You might as well compare a Filarmonica to a Gold Dollar.
I don't know why, but it makes me sad. Razors that once had character and class have been reduced to knockoffs of their inferiors. I guess I just find it ominous. Luckily, there are still companies making quality razors--Revisor, Iwasaki, and more. Enjoy them while you can, brothers and sisters, for this too shall pass.
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