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Fake Tamahagane Kamisori

Alex, I would have the same thought about any new anything with the name tamahagane in it, and thus I own none of it. It's not that I couldn't afford it, it's just that:
1) I can't imagine much can be better than properly made white #1
2) The amount of tools that would use true "tamahagane" and then be worked enough and properly by a blacksmith to make it right seems to me to be minor compared to the huge number of tools that have "tamahagane" marked on them, I think there may have even been a brand that was called such - have you come across such a thing in the vintage plane irons that you uncover from old stock?

White steel that is properly done, and it seems to me that it's often done so that it's not a better working combination vs. well done white 2 (which is much easier to deal with), is so hard and still tough that I can't imagine much of anything would be better. Of the white #1 tools I have come across, I have two that I would consider actually appropriately done - one being a mosaku plane iron (and the thought from tokyo tool dealers who don't sell export is that kikuo kanda is/was inconsistent, too - but I can vouch that the plane iron that I have is incredibly hard unlike many that are more like 61-62 hardness despite their claims). The other is a kiyotada tataki nomi that I have not yet tested, that came to me via a fanatical fan of kiyotada's work, and for a song compared to most of kiyotada's work.

Kiyotada had a very good reputation, but there is still, to me, some luck involved in getting something white #1 that is both hard and tough and that in the balance of things is better than well done white #2.

All of that rambling sort of summarizes to that swedish and hitachi steels are so good that the use of true tamahagane to me seems more of a challenge to the maker to make it well, and more something ceremonial than it is likely to yield something that's actually superior to hitachi steel - if tamahagane is even used.

And one last side comment at least about the old western straights... takeshi aoki's narrative describes iwasaki as suggesting that there was a lot of waste with making the western style razors out of tamahagane because of the inconsistency of the steel to begin with. That would suggest it's definitely not yasuki/hitachi white steel or something from sweden or austria (or anywhere in western europe) produced industrially.

It's a shame you would get jumped on for such a thing, it's a good honest question. It's a whole lot of money and the answer to it is something that would be difficult to find - who is going to subject a razor that is 4 digits to any analysis?
 
If you look closely at it, there is a slight grind on the nose of the razor, almost like a very muted barbers notch. My Hayashi has this too.
 
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