Thread: The Pride Razor....

Hey guys

I recently stumbled upon this beauty, can't believe no one pulled the trigger on this, ahem, colourful specimen.....

The Pride Razor

(For the record, I have absolutely nothing against homosexuals, just a joke)

In all seriousness, I'm certain that there is a 99% chance this razor is garbage, but is there any merit at all in using titanium as a coating? Would it even hold an edge? I've never seen titanium used to make a razor (perhaps for a good reason), so maybe one of our razorsmiths could elaborate further.

Well, titanium is a rather unique material. I've never heard of it being used in any fashion related to sharp edges, be they knives, swords, etc. Part of the reason is that it is a very difficult metal with which to work, and a very expensive one to boot. I think you're correct in that it is probably garbage.
Come to think of it, IIRC, didn't Graf or Daoust attempt to manufacture titanium skate blades 25 years ago or so?

Actually Titanium is a rather soft metal. It's claim to fame is it is very light and very strong. Ask anyone with a Titanium cased watch how fast it scratches up. The coating might make it look nice but sharpness wise I see no advantage.

Titanium can be a decent metal for knife blades, just ask any EOD person working on a magnetic mine what his choice of tool would be. These fellows claim to fame is based on the very concept: Mission Aerospace and Knives

Titanium, in certain alloys, will heat treat, get harder so to speak. But comparing a Rockwell score of 45 for a titanium blade to say a 1095 or O-1 blade at Rc 60 doesn't work out so well. Any machinist that has to work the stuff will not have pleasant things to say about what happens to all their cutting tools if they are not carefull. The titanium structure is much more abrasion resistant and will cut as a blade, not razor sharp, but fairly aggressively. There have also been some interesting experiments with titanium-ceramic blades. The trade off is abrasion resistance which keeps the edge from degrading rather than hardness per se.

As to coatings, Razor Blades & Slitters • ADCUT KNIVES it's quite common as the Ti-carbide-nitride can run upwards of Rc80 or so. Very hard is supposed to equal a durable edge. But the beard hair can be like cutting copper wire so the edge eventually degrades. Once you hone such an edge you remove the Ti-carbide and you're left with only the base material and its ability to perform. Plus the manufacturers can spray this stuff on in atomic thicknesses so they aren't spending a lot of money to improve the edges for only the time necessary to sell them as the "latest greatest."

Here's another article: Boron carbide tool coatings make their entry | Modern Machine Shop | Find Articles