I unboxed my first Kamisori today; a Henkotsu. Based upon the stamp and packaging, my research indicates it was made in the 1960s. Another member posted an inquiry on kamisoris earlier today, and so Ithought I would share my experience.
Everything looked great upon unboxing; the razor was sold as NOS. There were some tiny chips that would be easy to hone out. I have seen this on my NOS Filarmonica as well. I it up to handling during manufacture and presale handling - maybe retail customers handling a razor and then not buying it.
I was fortunate in finding Keith's video (@Gamma) on honing kamisoris. So I did not make the mistake of putting the razor on a 1k stone and flattening the omote (soft side) right off the bat. And as Keith says in the video, forget the 7:1 ratio until you have established the geometry - otherwise you will be honing forever. I set the bevel on a Naniwa 3k. But having set the bevel, or so I thought, I could see that the toe was not there yet. I was able to slice a tomato all along the edge. But my loupe (10x) showed scratch patterns that indicated I had not hit the very end of the toe. And that is what I use to edge my beard. I'm glad I did not tape, because the spine wear was also indicative of the condition of the bevel at the toe. The spine had no wear at the tip and this let me understand why the toe was not getting the love it needed. It took about an hour and the toe is just about there. I still have about ten minutes work left, but I thought it was a good time for a break. And the spine wear is also uniform now. Yes, there was some spine wear. But is quite slight and very even. And this means that when I touch up in the future, the geometry will be there. I don't see how this can happen with tape.
I'll get back to it tomorrow and post again.
Everything looked great upon unboxing; the razor was sold as NOS. There were some tiny chips that would be easy to hone out. I have seen this on my NOS Filarmonica as well. I it up to handling during manufacture and presale handling - maybe retail customers handling a razor and then not buying it.
I was fortunate in finding Keith's video (@Gamma) on honing kamisoris. So I did not make the mistake of putting the razor on a 1k stone and flattening the omote (soft side) right off the bat. And as Keith says in the video, forget the 7:1 ratio until you have established the geometry - otherwise you will be honing forever. I set the bevel on a Naniwa 3k. But having set the bevel, or so I thought, I could see that the toe was not there yet. I was able to slice a tomato all along the edge. But my loupe (10x) showed scratch patterns that indicated I had not hit the very end of the toe. And that is what I use to edge my beard. I'm glad I did not tape, because the spine wear was also indicative of the condition of the bevel at the toe. The spine had no wear at the tip and this let me understand why the toe was not getting the love it needed. It took about an hour and the toe is just about there. I still have about ten minutes work left, but I thought it was a good time for a break. And the spine wear is also uniform now. Yes, there was some spine wear. But is quite slight and very even. And this means that when I touch up in the future, the geometry will be there. I don't see how this can happen with tape.
I'll get back to it tomorrow and post again.