At The Barbershop

Kawaguchi-sensei is fast becoming a part of my life...

I went in for a hair cut last weekend, early on Saturday. I took two razors for his examination--one that I was confident in, one that I was sure he would fail.

When I got the shop, he didn't say anything, just waved me in and pointed at the counter. "Show me!" he said, when I set my dopp down.

I opened up and pulled out the Genco (confident) and Torrey (not quite there yet) that I had been honing for the past few days with nothing but heavy slurry on the Nakayamas. I would hone until the slurry broke down into a thick, black paste. The Genco did not need as much as the Torrey--after two rounds (about 20 minutes each) the Genco had a nice, even haze along the entire cutting length of the razor.

The Torrey had needed much more--it was not only an uneven, crooked bevel, but it had a nice big chip in it; at least 1mm deep, and 3mm long. I have no idea how it happened, but it did. And I honed it out on the Nakayama with slurry. Nothing else. Just slurry, and lots and lots of time.

I gave it. The chip disappeared. The bevel evened out, bit by bit...but not enough, and I knew that.

But I took them to Kawaguchi-sensei, and he told me what I thought I had figured out. The Genco was good, the Torrey was not (that brings my total of approved razors up to 2. The Torrey got a .7...so 2.7, apparently.) . I was happy--I know what he's looking for, I'm developing an eye for it. And of course the shaves told...the Genco has an exceptional edge, smooth and keen, while the Torrey is just not there yet. There is an unfinished quality. I need to make sure that the entire edge is even and knows the hone.

And, in the words of Kawaguchi-sensei, I have to hone happy. "Hone happy, and the edge will cut happy."

He really is right, too. I've been honing happy, and it shows...

I wish I could go to the barber every day.

I Got My Head Checked....

Last week got me really down. Bad honing, bad shaves, and bad feelings all around. But a little perspective, and things are back on track...

I don't know about you, but wetshaving, and especially for me straight shaving, is something I picked up for the, what...the ritual? The connection to past and present, and the centering of it? The time, the focus on simple action, is what makes it important for me--being in the moment. The honing is the same--on the rocks with my razors, with the head where it's supposed to be.

But last week...it wasn't there. I wasn't in the place I was supposed to be. I was failing and getting frustrated, and my frustration led to more failure．I turned to Straight Razor Place to ask about it, and I got hugely varying advice, and more and more frustration. I very nearly gave up entirely.

But I didn't. I went to visit Kawaguchi-sensei, and got a solid grounding. Just hone. Just hone, and don't get irritated, or worry, or let yourself be tired, because it'll come out of you and into the edge, and the edge won't be any good. And he was right, that was exactly what was happening. My edges and my shaves were failing miserably, my face was hurting, my heart was low, and the snake was eating its tail.

But that visit to Kawaguchi, and some generous help from Sham on SRP, straightened my head out. Honing and shaving isn't about what other people are doing, right or wrong. It's about being, now.

So this week, with my head right and my heart high, shaving has been good again, and honing as well. I'm enjoying myself, which is what is supposed to be.

Honing is, and shaving is. Just that.

What a week...

Man. This has been a tough one on the shave front. I've been trying some serious hone stuff, and it's been failing miserably, which means BAD SHAVES!!!! GRRRR....

My trials and tribulations trying to get used to the hone my barber gave me a couple months back are well known to many readers of Straight Razor PLace, and I'm not going to review them here because, honestly, I'd rather just forget it. Not a pretty incident. Lots of ugly feelings, and some stark realizations...*sigh* Drama.

However, on Sunday I went back to visit Kawaguchi-sensei, and it was refreshing in oh so many ways. We talked razors, he helped me with some technique, honed a razor (and I got a video...awesome, eh?) and he gave me another hone!

I truly love that man.
Watch the video, I bet you will too.


Here's a VERY rough translation:
Around the 00:20-00:55 mark
K: About this much.
Me:Ok, ok...
K: Do about this much, and it'll be really different.
{pause}
K: The hone is Best? (Even my wife doesn't understand this one...). The hone is really flat/smooth, that's why it's stuck. (He picks up the hone using the stuck nagura).

(Then he talks to the guy watching, who says "Unbelievable...")

1:02
(He starts honing the razor...)
K: Like this, yeah? Slow is fine. When you do it, about three times is good. (I think he means circles...that ISN'T the stroke he showed me before...)
J: Three times...
K: Then change sides.
{pause}
K: About like this...
{pause}
1:25ish
K: To know if you7re doing it righ, look at the color (points to slurry). (At this point, I have no idea what his WORDS are, but I get the feeling he's saying that the color of the slurry is the best indicator of your honing--the faster it changes, the better you're doing. Maybe...)

1:40
K: When the color starts to change you're honing right.
Me: The amount of steel is increasing...

{He goes over to the window to check the edge by it's color}

2:35
K: The part of the edge that I honed is right here, you see? Up to here, it honed well. This part here, that I honed, is straight. This part (points to tip) is rounded. This part, you raised the tip when you were honing. Anyway, there's no color. This is the part I honed (points to straight edge of blade). The end...
ME: The end is rounded (meaning there bevel extends up onto the toe a bit from a previous smile...)
{back to the counter...}

3:01
K: If you really pushed it, you could hone the tip like this (exaggerates a tip-down position) but if you do that the edge won't be any good. To hone this out (looks carefully at the blade) it'll take about an hour. (Meaning to hone out the smiling tip on this hone...).
ME: Really?
K: If you honed it...
Me: Sooo...This part, the one you just honed...Will it shave well?
K: Not quite yet...
ME* How do you tell? Just by looking? (long pause while I search for words)Feeling with your fingers?
K: no no, no need. Just by looking, I can see in the color...a little more. But...This will cut, I think. (Tests on his arm) It'll cut.

3:54
ME: Ok, well, (Here I WANTED to ask about overhoning, but failed miserably) Can you hone too much? You said to go for an hour...
K: OK, here...One time, ten minutes. Ten minutes, ten minutes, ten minutes...to one hour. Don't just hone for one hour.
ME: Don't...
K: Even just five minutes...ten minutes. Try it.

ME: And always use this nagura? For example, at the end, hone with just water...
K: Don't.
ME: Don't.
K: Don't. It'll be rough. This (indicates slurry) will get finer over time. Just with this (stone), the color won't change (rinses stone).
{starts honing with water only}
5:05
K: (Totally don't understand...something "don't use..."
5:45
K: This color...there's no light (???) Just look at the light.
ME: (not seeing what he wants me to see) Sooo...it's not there? The color?
K: Yeah.

{back to the counter. at this point, I forgot about the camera...sorry}
6:04
K: (???)
ME: This Nagura, it's the same stone as this stone?
K: This is a good stone (???)

Here it breaks up. Sorry.

And he gave me this massive rock:



It's huge, and it's pretty, and I bet I won't be able to use it right for years. Oh well, I'll hang in there. I would love to do it justice--it's a good 50 year old hone, nice yellow with spots of nashiji...and it's so freaking big. Like, 8 inches by 3 inches by 2 inches. Weighs a good 4 pounds. A brick.

Lots of Japan in that rock...I'd like to get some of it out and into my razors!

Fingers Crossed!

Well, as referenced in this post, my barber has promised me a nice big Nakayama if I can hone three razors to his satisfaction. I have four razors I think might be contenders...So I'm off to the barber shop today to see how it goes!


Just for your information, the razors are these:

A Torrey "Our 136", rehoned to a nice, smooth edge...


This ABC, which I just figured out...


A nice big Herder that had some rough beginnings, but is a great shaver now...


And my good old Genco. This one's been through it, but it's remained one of my best shavers.

So let's hope at least ONE of these is good enough for him, so I have a better idea of what to hope for!

I'll let you know...

***UPDATE***

Well, it went better than I had expected, but not as good as I secretly hoped. Of course, I knew that the chances of me coming home with the hone today were slim, but there was this tiny, selfish part of me thinking "Yeah, man, you scored it!!". I didn't, of course...

The ABC passed. He took one look at it, smoothed the edge against his arm, and said "Good!". So...YAY!

The other three weren't so hot. The Genco was unfinised at the toe and heel, the Herder had an uneven bevel, and the Torrey was all over the place. And he was right on all counts, of course, now that I look more closely. The crazy thing is, he totally chose the best shaver by LOOKING AT THE BEVEL. It makes sense, actually...if you can see that the edge is evenly polished, with a straight bevel and no random bits undone, you can see that the strokes were even and regular, and that the edge is probably ok. A little touch will tell you if the edge is keen, and with 40+ years of experience, that's enough.

He even told me exactly what I was doing wrong. I had the hone at the wrong height, causing my arms to move in parabolas instead of even, flat strokes. And yeah, he was totally right...Amazing. And helpful.

I'm greatly encouraged. Especially as I got home, took to the Genco, and polished it evenly across the bevel. The test shave tonight? Bang on, baby!!!!

I think I might have another one!

A Trip to the Barber

I went to visit Kawaguchi-sensei today (he really does deserve the title now...)

The other day I ran into my barber and his family out shopping, and asked him if he wouldn't mind giving me a honing lesson. He gladly agreed, so today I packed up my razors (I KNEW it would come in handy!!!) and my Japanese Natural stone and headed off for a haircut.

Luckily he wasn't busy (he rarely is...which is ok, barbering is more of a hobby for him, he actually runs a large rehabilitation center in Hiroshima...no joke!) and dived right into the razors. He examined my previous honing critically, tut tutting and muttering "Not quite..." under his breath. He wasn't impressed with the ugly Torrey I have, but he really seemed to like the Revisor. Good taste!

Then we start with honing. He gave me some pointers on straight razors, showed me the right way to use the nagura--PUSH when you raise a slurry, really get it nice and thick--and the best strokes to use. He uses a kind of circular X stroke, ending with just the tip of the razor on the hone. I practiced a bit with his guidance, and I do think it helped a lot.

Then we started on Japanese kamisori. He brought out a huge Maruka Kiita stone--it had to weight 5 pounds, and talked about how rare they were these days, and how this one had cost an arm and a leg. Apparently the stone I have isn't ideal for kamisori, because they need a longer stroke and pressure--a bigger stone is better suited, according to my barber.

He gave me guidance starting with body position. First off, he said you start with the right posture, with the hone on a table at about waist height or a little lower, your body centered above it with your eyes aligned with the center of the hone. This position helps regulate the length and proportion of your strokes.

He put the razor on the hone at about at 30 degree angle handle leading, Omote ("flat" side, NO kanji side, etc) down. He told me to place the first two fingers of the left hand in the hollow of the blade ("ura" or Kanji side up) and put pressure on the blade--not a lot, but some. The right hand on the handle is only for balance--no pressure at all from the right hand. In that position, do about TEN back and forth strokes--Up and down, edge then spine leading. Then, flip the razor (Kanji side DOWN now) and do ONE spine leading stroke.

If the razor needs more sharpening, continue that pattern until it's done.

It's not exactly what I've learned before, but I've experienced the results and they are really, really good.

So I practiced that, as well.

Then, we talked a little about razors and shaving--and he was explicit: when you use a Japanese kamisori, the "Omote" is against the face. The honing makes an assymetrical bevel that cuts best when used a that way. When you use it the other way, your angle has to change a LOT or you raise the risk of cuts. He siad it like it was obvious, which it kind of is...but I had to ask.

I asked him a little about the razors he gave me before, when he bought them and who had made them, and he had no idea. "40 years ago? 50? " he wondered, then went rummaging through the drawer that had produced the razors in the first place. This time, he brought out some razor boxes--including one stamped by Iwasaki-san himself!!! It's almost like having a signature! The boxes gave no clues to when they were made, but he gave them to me anyway...and they are awesome!




(Iwasaki's stamp is the red circular thing at the bottom right.)

And, of course, when he opened one of the boxes, out slipped an Iwasaki kamisori he had forgotten he had...he looked at it, then held it out. "Take this one too!". Of course I accepted...I wonder how many decades it sat in that drawer? Amazing...ANOTHER gift from this amazing man.



After my stumbling thanks, and after we had chatted a while, I decided I should actually get a haircut so I sat in the chair and we talked some more while he trimmed me up. We talked about this and that, the way barbers do, then he mentioned that I should keep practicing honing, and if I ever wanted more help or just to talk, I should come by any time--I think he really likes that I'm interested. Then, the real kicker: he gave me a challenge. If (when!!!) I hone three razors to his satisfaction, he said he'd give me that enormous kiita he used to hone the Kamisori... It was pretty cool. He said, "You like this stuff, and you'd actually use it, so I'd like for you to have it. Hurry up and take it from me!"

I'll do my best, Kawaguchi-sensei!