Hello I am new to the world of straight razor shaving. I am wating for my first razor to arive. I'm getting a Japanese straight razor. I am having a hard time finding information on the proper way to hone and sharpen the razor. Dose the method differ from western blades ? I have heard that you don't have to strop japanese blades is that true? *I am a professional chef and I have several hand made top class knives that you can't buy any where in the USA. I have several natural and man made Japanese water stones. *So I have some experience with sharping. Thanks for the help
It is definitely different. There are some good demos on the internet ffor Japanese straight sharpening. You Tube has a number of them.
I'd like to welcome you. You'll find that Japanese razor ( kamisori ) provides an even closer shave compared to western style razors. I've been shaving with them for several months now. I actually acquired one of my Iwasaki's from my buddy JimR. Check out the translation with regards to honing. http://www.shaveready.com/showthread.php?t=308 Simply put: Ura ( back/stamped side ) should have less ratio with regards to honing. This is concave side. Omote ( front/non-stamped ) should have more work This is convex side. Tosuke in general is given for instance is 3:1 ratio In the video Jim does 10:1 ratio. There isn't wrong or right answer so long as you do majority of the work on the omote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zb_rGMWx3c
Thank you for your input. What about stroping I know when it comes to Japanese knifes we don't use strops or steels. What about with razors. I will begetting an Iwasaki razor and I cannot wate.
First Forget everything that you have learned in the past about sharpening knives... The only thing the two have in common is Steel n Stone... The ratio is dependent on your stroke, it really is feel here even more so then western straights... But in general Sir-ed8 told you right, anywhere from 3:1 to 10:1 might work... IME Japanese razors seem to like the higher grits much faster than Western straights...
I'm not sold on that, a BBS is a BBS wether had by a Japanese Straight or a Western one. It's ultimately six and half dozen of the other. Cheers David