Thread: Titan Straight Razor Unboxing - Shave To Follow Tomorrow

I just got my Titan razor yesterday. $30 USD. 10 days from order date from China via AliExpress. Fastest I ever got anything from Ali Express from China. I have friends in Japan that really like these Titan razors, so I had to finally try one. There are many styles you can find at the Titan store on AliExpress, and I just chose one at random. These are mostly hand made and hand honed razors that tout shave ready (as most all do), but my friends tell me theirs actually came shave ready. They have been to the actual Titan store(s) in China and were impressed by the quality and presentation of these razors and the ambiance of the store(s) in general. One told me that the store he was in made him think he was at the Ala Moana Mall in Waikiki, which is a very high end specialty store Mall.

Here is the unboxing. Well packaged. Fooled me. I had ordered a power supply for my Chomebook and thought that's what I got so I didn't open the box yesterday or I would have shaved with this razor this morning. You get a small catalog-brochure, a small strop, strop wax (as they call it) and the razor in a genuine leather case. OK, so the strop is not something that most of us will ever use, but it is included so it's featured here.



Titan says that the razor is mostly hand made so there will be some irregularities from razor to razor with regard to scales. They like to use African Black Algum Mahogony and Copper or Mahogony and Copper. The Blade is wrought from VG-10hz to 59-61HRC.
The presentation is done very well and I have to say the leather case is very nice with chrome trim and a heavy duty vinyl zipper. You'd probably pay 30 bucks for just the case like this on Amazon, and another 20 bucks for the strop.



And Finally the RAZOR;



I will give this a finishing hone with my 12k stone and a stropping and do a shave tomorrow and follow-up to this.

Aloha!
-Zip

Winner! I look forward to your follow-up post.

Just be careful it doesn't steal your password file and other user information.

Indeed. I have to say I was impressed by the presentation, and the build quality of the razor in general. It may not be everyone's cup of tea for various reasons, but I am giving this razor a fair shake. It does pop hairs on my arm right out of the box, so just a finishing hone and strop will do for the shave tomorrow morning.

I just realized that some may want to see (out of curiosity) the strop unrolled. Not bad for a FREE strop. I can see myself actually traveling with this strop. The brass hardware is well done and the leather is supple. The denim is not bad either. Again, it's included with the razor so it's shown here;

I'll follow your experiences with it with interest.

I'm definately in favour of a brand new razor for not a lot more than a GD. I hope it works out for you.

Have you got a GD, how does it compare, thick spine and heavy etc?

Originally Posted by STF

I'll follow your experiences with it with interest.

I'm definately in favour of a brand new razor for not a lot more than a GD. I hope it works out for you.

Have you got a GD, how does it compare, thick spine and heavy etc?

You are in luck as I am very experienced with Gold Dollar razors. I used them to hone my honing skills. I have four different models and have shaved hundreds of times with them both out of the box and re-honed. I'll definitely give you a comparison, no worries. I'd want to know this myself. My Asian friends choose Titan Hands-Down over Gold Dollar, but I'll be totally objective in this regard. I have no horse in this race, so I am impartial to either.

From a presentation aspect of unboxing, the Titan blows the Gold Dollar out of the water. The build quality of the Tian seems better, but I have not compared them side to side yet. Will do tomorrow with a few pics for you. From memory, the weight of the Titan is a bit more than the Gold Dollars I have. Slightly thicker spine. I have a feeling the steel of the Titan is a cut above many of the Gold Dollars.

Stand by. More to follow.

-Zip

will be watching.

Ooh, yes...this looks interesting. Looking forward to your results.

Pretty sure they are glorified GD. Did I just say that?!

$30 for all of that, sounds to me like you got a free razor. Even if it was from China, that is still a good deal if the thing actually shaves. Personally I tend question marketing hype, especially from China and Pakistan. I would be skeptical of the steel type and hardness, but hey if it works who cares.

This guy is a bit dramatic and long winded, but he does actually test to see if the advertised properties on this Damascus knife are delivered. I'm not saying that you should break your new razor to test it, but I'm looking forward to your review.
https://youtu.be/UeeE9DyI52w

I have honed a few of those in the past few years and was gifted one by a customer that I had hones some for. They are pretty much rescaled and packaged Gold Dollars. Some are hard, very hard, some not. They can be made to shave but have issues common to Chinese razors.

Will be interested to see your results, touching it up with a 12k, as they are “honed” with the spine off the stone, so with the spine on the stone the bevel angle will be off and you likely will not touch the edge, without resetting the bevel.

That razor appears to have a narrower toe than heel, it is in need of heel correction and honed over the stabilizer, common cause of a narrow toe.

It all can be fixed, and typical of Chinese razors. One of my big complaints are the thick clunky scales, that make honing, stropping, and shaving awkward.