Soap: Pb Red Dwarf
Brush: SOC Cherry Boar
Razor: Titan R1 T.H. 64
AS: Barristers Reserve - Spice
Received the Titan in the mail this week. I decided to purchase one after
@rbscebu created some interest with his Titan seven day sets. The idea of a cheap razor is appealing but not if it's going to be rubbish or not perform. The clincher for me was that the Titan is made of Japanese steel and Titan offers a few models of varying hardness steel. Initially I thought I'd go the cheaper model as I was trying to keep this exercise within reasonable economic bounds but again thought I'd be better off spending a little more and trying the harder blade.
This model is stated as R1 and has a blade hardness stated as between 61-65 HRC.
The razor comes in its own box, which is a nice touch, and a small strop. There are some contradictions in quality i.e. some aspects of the razor speak quality whilst other details are a bit 'how's ya going', but overall it comes across being a solid, reliable unit which I also think looks appealing. The blade is well pinned and tensioned within the scales.
The razor has reasonable heft with not only the blade being a decent chunk of steel but the scales are quite thick and weighty.
Initially under the scope the factory finish on the blade looked OK but once I started honing there were several large question marks appearing which suggested this was not going to be a quick job. The bevel was very rounded so once I started honing the wear marks were not touching the bottom half of the bevel, nor were they touching the heel or toe of the blade (the blade has a slight smile). Three honing sessions later (I spent a whole honing session on my Naniwa 1K stone and seriously thought I should've started on my Atoma 400K) and I had finally got the edge to about where I wanted. One positive aspect of the drawn out honing process was it was reflecting a hard steel, which all the through the honing process was showing up under the scope an edge with very good integrity.
When I started to shave with the razor this morning my initial thoughts were, this perhaps isn't a sharp as edge as I'd like, but the further I progressed into the shave it became apparent it was doing everything I asked of it, comfortably and efficiently and surefootedly (no sense it was going to bite if I didn't handle it well). After two passes and clean up passes I was very happy but had plenty of lather left so went another pass 'cause I could. Result - BBS.
The heavy scales take a little getting used to but overall I was very happy and looking forward to more shaves with the Titan. I'm interested to see how the blade responds to different finishing stones and which gives the best shave.
I would happily recommend the Titan but would suggest going for the models with harder steel as that is what makes this razor stand out, the superb edge that can be attained from good quality high hardness steel. The caveat being don't buy this razor if you don't enjoy your honing.
