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WTS Yukio Kamijo straight razor (mentor to Iwasaki)

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$250

Yukio Kamijo straight razor (1960s)

Serial number: 2805
Length heel to tip: 74mm
Overall length when closed (scale to razor tip): 155mm
Height: 19mm

Steel: unknown old carbon
Scales: ivroid

Maker info: long deceased; was elder and mentor to Iwasaki. The razors supposedly cost even more than Iwasaki's razors, which in turn cost even more than other more common forged Japanese razors at the time

Steel notes: hardest pure carbon steel I've used. Similar to Iwasaki's own heat treat and steel in use and sharpening, just harder. Among the very sharpest steels I've used. Still sharpens up on a jnat. Feel compared to the examples I've had of teruyasu fujiwara white 1 . . . generally this is a bit harder and more wear resistant. More icy teeth feeling. . . either crispy teeth or glassy, depending on if you make the edge refined or toothy. Takes to either edges.

Condition notes: purchaed by me in 2015 on Ebay from a fellow who owned a Shigefusa yanagi among other bladed tools. Previous owner said there was pitting that was cleaned off. There. Is an oval shaped island of a hamon on the razor when polished with natural stone powder. There is also a hamon line that separates the blade from the tang, and the two polish differently. Blade at pivot joint showed black rust from my long term storage while the rest of the blade was fine. I tried polishing it with metal polish, but now the inside of the scales has the metal polish residue. Ultrasonic cleaning would get it completely off. Scales are a good tightness. There is hone wear.

Listing here first for any steel enthusiasts.

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Pics

Couple years old pic of vertical quench line between soft tang (matte, cut by jnat powder) and hard blade (shiny, burnished by jnat powder). The razor has metal polish finish right now, from me trying to remove the deeper grind marks and to add rust resistance, but I didn't finish the project and re-add t he jnat finish.




Old pic of the island, I can sort of see it in this pic. I'd need to repolish it to show it better. It could just be there was no pitting there and thus the blade polishing different, but it did polish different there.

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back up for sale. It's the only round point kamijo I know of, and among the best condition ones I know of on the online market.

Steel does feel harder/crisper/sharper/less alloyed (maybe even purer) than iwasaki, but still relatively tough.
 
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$290. If I tried polishing out some of the divots and lines or doing a slight regrind to reduce hone wear, would that make any difference to the buyers? The odd lines look like more forge artifacts, because I've never seen deep rust look that way. Similar with pitting.
 
I've seen those lines a lot on straights. It's most often where rust was, but removed, leaving behind an etched looking surface. Kamijo himself did the grinding, so unless you are excellent at regrinding I would proceed with caution there. I like a good regrind on a rare old razor, but I might be the odd man out here.
 
Hamon hard spine and edge, soft upper middle and half circle on blade in front of tang
 

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