Inspired to Kamisori!

[PeteVK]

Folks, I know this might be a stretch but here goes...

Yes, I know the word kamisori isn't a verb, but I'm inspired. I'd love to try my hand at making a kamisori, but really don't want to spend the money to buy one just to get some measurements. I googled, but couldn't find any specific diagrams that list dimensions. Does anyone have one that would be kind enough to measure the length of the shaving edge, the thickness of the spine as well as the overall length?

Thanks in advance,

Pete VK

 

[6Cuda6]

Pete,
There are so many variations of your request that you might want to get more specific or perhaps just come with your "ideal" version.....

 

[PeteVK]

@6Cuda6 that's what I was afraid of, I'm going to probably model the steel thickness off of the spine of my one straight razor that I own and work from there. Still deciding if I'm going to go traditional Japanese blade geometry versus the wester straight razor grind.

 

[paintflinger]

I would go with a western style geometry if the metal is going to be homogeneous.

 

[PeteVK]

Any particular reason @paintflinger ? I own a Japanese made yanagiba (sashimi knife), which is made out of a solid piece of White #2 and it performs great. This is a single bevel knife similar to the design of a Kamisori. I'm new to this so I'd love to hear your insight.

Thanks,

Pete

 

[paintflinger]

The traditional kamisori works great for shaving (feels like the blade is rolling over your face with the Omote), but you can only shave wholly with the omote, if you don't follow your beard map. You can shave with the Ura side, but it requires a very steep angle and isn't nearly as comfortable (for me).

I would prefer the same shaving experience no matter which way I am shaving. I guess an alternative would be having a right hand and a left hand kamisori made so you could always be shaving with the Omote.

Honing a western style grind is more appealing to me as well.

Good read on kamisoris (not sure if it is allowed, but I'll let the mods figure it out), if you are looking for basics.
A Kamisori Primer With Video Tutorials - Sharpologist

 

[PeteVK]

@paintflinger thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll probably stick with western geometry at first and see how things go.

 

[Scarry Knight]

My western’s spine is 15/64 wide (.247)
Spine to edge 7/8 (.980)
Edge length 2 1/4
O.A.L 6 1/8

 

[PeteVK]

@Scarry Knight Thank you very much! I have a piece of 52100 that is .262 which is pretty heavy duty, but I'm going to give it a go, not too much thicker than what you have.

 

[Scarry Knight]

@Scarry Knight Thank you very much! I have a piece of 52100 that is .262 which is pretty heavy duty, but I'm going to give it a go, not too much thicker than what you have.

Glad to help.

Going by a chart reposted here recently, it seems to be edged at around 15.75°

 

[PeteVK]

Clearly, I'm bumbling my way through this as I have no real shaving experience with a straight razor. Regardless, sometimes you need to take a leap into the unknown to learn something new. I have a question, so I whipped up a template in scrap steel last night and one thing that came up in my mind was the following.

Should the distance between the spine and the cutting edge always be the same for the length of the cutting edge? Does this impact the geometry of the edge negatively if they are not?

Take a look at the template below that I've made, You'll see that the tip of the cutting edge of the razor is slightly taller than the heel of the cutting edge. Will this be an issue, do I need to flatten the top out to ensure equidistance between spine and cutting edge for the entire edge?

 

[paintflinger]

So when honing, the points that contact the stone need to be parallel. The height of the spine doesn't matter beyond weight balance.

 

[PeteVK]

@paintflinger when you say points that contact the stone, you're talking about the cutting edge I assume correct? Sorry for my ignorance, I'm only knowledgable about traditional sharpening of knives both Western / Japanese styles, not straight razors.

I've seen reference of the spine being used as a guide for honing of a straight razor, if this is the case, then I assume I would need to make sure that the spine and the cutting edge need to be parallel, is this correct? Does one actually drag the spine along the stone while sharpening a straight razor?

 

[paintflinger]

See top right.

 

[PeteVK]

Ok, so yes the distance of the spine and the cutting edge needs to be parallel, thank you @paintflinger . I will modify my design!

 

[paintflinger]

Not the top of the spine, just the side that forms your bevel angle.

 

[PeteVK]

Ok, now I get it, clearly I'm a bit slow today , thanks again @paintflinger

 

[PeteVK]

Squared up the profile of my kamisori template and also have a few nakiri's in the works. The nakiri is a Japanese kitchen knife design typically suited to vegetable chopping vs slicing.

 

[Scarry Knight]

Cool! Have you decided how you will scale or wrap either’s tang?

 

[PeteVK]

Cool! Have you decided how you will scale or wrap either’s tang?

Think i'll use some G10 to scale the handle, I'm not a fan of cord handles, especially with carbon steel no matter how you treat them, it's a great way to trap moisture and start rusting. Steel will be 52100, which is the giant hunk of steel at the bottom of the picture.