I am waiting for a Titan now, how much do you charge to get it shave ready? I'm in Colorado.
Titan Stainless Straight from Japan - thoughts
- Thread starter Jboone78
- Start date
I am waiting for a Titan now, how much do you charge to get it shave ready? I'm in Colorado.
First one to get their Titan to me gets it honed for free, just pay shipping.
I'm curious as to how the razor performs, so I get to try out the razor, and the other guy gets a free honing.
I'm curious as to how the razor performs, so I get to try out the razor, and the other guy gets a free honing.
I cracked.
No purchases all of September, but I finally got one of those Titan. The 7/8.
I'll report when it made its way from Poland to California.
No purchases all of September, but I finally got one of those Titan. The 7/8.
I'll report when it made its way from Poland to California.
Mine arrived this morning.
It's fairly chunky, but the geometry doesn't seem too bad. The scales are too big and heavy and poorly made - if I decide to keep it and use it I think I'd have to rescale it. The leather case seems quite nice.
But the big question - no, it's not shave ready. It's similar to the way an edge comes off my 3k Naniwa.
Overall? Won't really know until I've honed and tried it, but it's probably worth its money.
It's fairly chunky, but the geometry doesn't seem too bad. The scales are too big and heavy and poorly made - if I decide to keep it and use it I think I'd have to rescale it. The leather case seems quite nice.
But the big question - no, it's not shave ready. It's similar to the way an edge comes off my 3k Naniwa.
Overall? Won't really know until I've honed and tried it, but it's probably worth its money.
Hmm. That doesn't sound too good for me, as I've never honed a straight before. Mabe I have to get some lapping film. I don't suppose I can get it sharp enough on the balsa from Whippeddog?
I have a pasted balsa, so I'll try it on that before I resort to stones - I'll do it later today and will let you know how it goes.
@Oscroft: That would be great. 
I've now done 50 laps on CrOx pasted balsa, followed by stropping 50 on cotton canvas and 100 on leather... and the result was better than I expected.
In a test shave WTG on my cheek it actually shaved reasonably well, but not good enough for me to want to complete the shave, and certainly not what I can get from a honing on my Naniwa stones - and I don't have tough whiskers.
The huge clumsy scales made balance feel bad, so I wouldn't be happy with it as it is even after proper honing. The wood of the scales is quite attractive, even though the two scales are different colours, so I might try sanding the scales down to about half their thickness and re-pinning. For some reason, the pivot is packed with two washers on each side of the blade, making it even thicker at that point.
I'm losing the light here, but I'll try to get a photo or two tomorrow.
The good thing about the razor, and it's obviously the thing that matters, is the blade itself seems good - spine thickness is fine, the hollow profile looks good, and it makes a nice hollow sound when shaving.
It has potential, but it needs some fettling.
In a test shave WTG on my cheek it actually shaved reasonably well, but not good enough for me to want to complete the shave, and certainly not what I can get from a honing on my Naniwa stones - and I don't have tough whiskers.
The huge clumsy scales made balance feel bad, so I wouldn't be happy with it as it is even after proper honing. The wood of the scales is quite attractive, even though the two scales are different colours, so I might try sanding the scales down to about half their thickness and re-pinning. For some reason, the pivot is packed with two washers on each side of the blade, making it even thicker at that point.
I'm losing the light here, but I'll try to get a photo or two tomorrow.
The good thing about the razor, and it's obviously the thing that matters, is the blade itself seems good - spine thickness is fine, the hollow profile looks good, and it makes a nice hollow sound when shaving.
It has potential, but it needs some fettling.
Sounds like I might as well just order some lapping film. Do you guys think this would work as a starting setup? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-PSA-ad...UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item51aee90da0
Sounds just like a review for a new Dovo would sound.
Hehe.
OK, looking at the edge and knowing how it felt, I thought I'd be OK to take it from 8k. So I got out the Naniwa 3/8k and decided to start by trying a sharpie test to check the bevel is OK.
And that's when I hit the problem - the shoulder intrudes into the honing plane. And it intrudes right to the very edge, so a heel-leading stroke would need microscopic precision to avoid the shoulder gouging the stone - and needless to say, I don't do microscopic precision.
So I had to get the DMT 325 out and grind down enough of the shoulder so that the blade would run on the honing stones. I kept the grind back at the heel as far as possible, but of course that still meant I had to start the bevel all over again.
So a 1k, 3k, 8k, 12k, 12k+lather progression followed by stropping 50 on cotton canvas and 100 on leather later... and I have an edge that's tree-topping arm hair as good as anything I've experienced so far. It's a pity I have no whiskers.
During the honing, I got the impression that this is actually pretty good steel - it seems nicely hard. And it does at least look like stainless steel - it has the more shiny silvery look (though I know that's not a reliable test).
And that's when I hit the problem - the shoulder intrudes into the honing plane. And it intrudes right to the very edge, so a heel-leading stroke would need microscopic precision to avoid the shoulder gouging the stone - and needless to say, I don't do microscopic precision.
So I had to get the DMT 325 out and grind down enough of the shoulder so that the blade would run on the honing stones. I kept the grind back at the heel as far as possible, but of course that still meant I had to start the bevel all over again.
So a 1k, 3k, 8k, 12k, 12k+lather progression followed by stropping 50 on cotton canvas and 100 on leather later... and I have an edge that's tree-topping arm hair as good as anything I've experienced so far. It's a pity I have no whiskers.
During the honing, I got the impression that this is actually pretty good steel - it seems nicely hard. And it does at least look like stainless steel - it has the more shiny silvery look (though I know that's not a reliable test).
Took a chance on this. Hopefully I can manage to get it somewhat shave-ready.
It'll be interesting to hear how you get on - I expect there will be individual variation, so yours might be closer to shave-ready than mine was. (I haven't tested it after honing, as I don't have the whiskers for it yet).
Sounds like it's ground in the same factory as GD's. I think every GD i've ever honed I've had to file the stabilisers down to allow the edge to sit flush on a hone.
Hmm, funny you should say that...
I have a GD that's been sitting for a while waiting for me to attend to it and I'd kind of forgotten about it, so I've just taken it out to compare the two - and apart from a much better edge on the Titan (and better scales on the GD), they look identical!
I think they loaded up the GD razor machines using imported stainless instead of the usual GD carbon steel. Simple as that.
I got mine today, and no, mine is'nt shave-ready either.
I tried to do the HHT, but no hairs came off my arm. I tried to shave the hair off at skin level, and it barely tore some hair off. It didn't cut.
As mentioned, the scales are a bit heavy. I don't know how much that will affect the handeling. I've so far only used a Parker shavette and a Feather Artist Club SS in my "straight" career.
Well, I guess I have to learn how to hone someday anyway. Might as well be now.
I tried to do the HHT, but no hairs came off my arm. I tried to shave the hair off at skin level, and it barely tore some hair off. It didn't cut.
As mentioned, the scales are a bit heavy. I don't know how much that will affect the handeling. I've so far only used a Parker shavette and a Feather Artist Club SS in my "straight" career.
Well, I guess I have to learn how to hone someday anyway. Might as well be now.
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