Thread: Titan

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

I didn't think about custom razors. I will however say this about custom razors from the outside looking in. Any custom razor that I have looked at, the seller wanted a ton of money. Sometimes in excess of $400.00. I personally cannot justify buying a razor to shave with for that amount of money. However, they are worth it to some people. Just depends on your personal preferences.

RigaRazors are about 300 bucks and to me are great value for money, the fit and finish are excellent. The time and effort a custom razor takes to make some forgers are not making much money from them.
The trouble is if your lucky you can find a Solingen razor in mint condition for 10 bucks that will shave better than 90% of the custom razors out there.

I personally wouldn't bother, they seem expensive when you can get a GD for a hell of a lot cheaper. There has been a few threads with members that have used them and they don't get much love.

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

I didn't think about custom razors. I will however say this about custom razors from the outside looking in. Any custom razor that I have looked at, the seller wanted a ton of money. Sometimes in excess of $400.00. I personally cannot justify buying a razor to shave with for that amount of money. However, they are worth it to some people. Just depends on your personal preferences.

Definitely customs are worth it to some people, mostly those who can afford them. My beef with the custom razors on the market these days is they are what I call "menu custom", i.e. you go down the list and pick your options. It's not like visiting Maestro Livi (Remember him?) back in the day and having him look at your face and whiskers and hands and maybe watch you shave, and a few days later you go back and fork over $1200 or so and pick up your razor, and it is 100% one-off. And the menu customs are STILL more expensive than what I can justify for myself, especially considering that as far as other makers go, most of the Dovo Bismarcks right out of the box and off the assembly line, are close to razor perfection, at a third the price you mentioned. I get the impression that the average disposable income of the membership here is quite a bit higher than mine or the average straight shaver, and so of course custom and semi-custom razors are all the rage here. Hey, I absolutely concede that every custom maker mentioned in a good light on this forum turns out superb razors. But there is a huge body of wannabe straight razor buyers that will never even spring for a new Bismarck or for that matter even one of Dovo's "Best Quality" razors, because of the price. Newbies compare straight razors to pocketknives and since razors are sort of a specialized one trick pony, they don't see why a razor should cost more than a moderately priced folding knife that is sort of a jack of all trades. So many shoppers gravitate toward vintage razors of modest price, or the budget brands.

If someone were to cut a good deal with the factory for 100-lots of Titan ACRM-2 th.60 razors, do a GOOD JOB honing them, and resell them, they could make some money. It is a lively potential market niche that suffers not from lack of buyers, but lack of knowledgeable vendors who will make the razor get up and dance. If you could snag them for say $15 shipped, hone them to treetop sharpness with no burrs or snagglies or possum teeth visible under the loupe, and sell them shipped domestic for $50 or $60 and free returns, you wouldn't lack for buyers. Would I do that? Nah, I just don't like them all that much and I don't have the time to do half the stuff I actually want to do.

Originally Posted by Bill31521

Titans are good steel but the scales as was mentioned are really heavy and clunky. All models of titans seemed to be harder steel than the gold dollars. The hardest steel gold dollar was a stainless model. I forget which one. Im of the opinion that plain ole carbon steel is more than adequate. It will hone up and shave for sure.

Indeed you are right about the carbon steel, Bill. But some of the new stainless "supersteels" are looking pretty good. I have a stick of MagnaCut that I hope to turn into razors before year's end, maybe the first razors made from that steel. The S35-VN is another stainless that specs pretty good and I am thinking about giving some of that a go, too. I tried 440C some years back and was meh on the SS for a long time because of that experience. But still, what is the biggest heartbreak a straight shaver experiences other than a break or crack? RUST. It is never a big deal until it happens to you the first time. Or two. A stainless razor that hones and shaves like good carbon steel but doesn't rust easily would bring a lot of new blood into this straight shaving thing.

All of the 300 and above models from GD are available in SS and carbon steel and TBH you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The 800 and 900 are the ones with a different alloy altogether and they do not come in carbon steel at all. I like the 800 just fine, or at least the 800 that CiCi sent me as a freebie. The 900 or I should say the unmarked razor that I suspect was a 900, also a freebie, I did not care for. The steel seemed about like 440C or the 420N that Buck uses for their folders. The scales and spacer and bolsters are heavy and awkward. And it costs or did cost around $50. Both of those high end GD models are about as rare as an honest politician, and overpriced for what they are. The other models available in stainless I think are actually "near stainless" tool steel similar to A2, D2, etc or they might be the same nearbeer almost 5160 that the carbon steel ones are made of, with a little extra Cr in the mix, I don't know. I know CiCi is silent on that even when I sent her the assay on the 66, she said she couldn't comment except that it was probably wrong since the figures were not official and from the company, who will not share them. The truth is, I suspect nobody in Ningbo even knows what steel they are using and IYAM it is okay steel purely by accident. Of course I could be wrong...

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

I personally wouldn't bother, they seem expensive when you can get a GD for a hell of a lot cheaper. There has been a few threads with members that have used them and they don't get much love.

It sort of looks like a buck 110. Well, the scales anyway!

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

It sort of looks like a buck 110. Well, the scales anyway!

LOL yeah it does, doesn't it? The model I prefer does not have brass bolsters, and the scales, though wood, are thinner and lighter. Unless they have changed it. But that's what I mean by pocketknife type scales. Oh and there is probably a metal liner, too! I guess they think uneducated buyers want to be able to gut a deer and crack pelvises with their razor or sumpn. All of the cheapo brands and the RSO makers are going to this style. Apparently it sells well to the unknowing.

I have honed quite a few of them since their appearance under many names

Everytime I get a request I tell the owner the same thing, I can get them shave ready, I can't say how long that edge will last

Just too many better buys out there

Yep. Stick with Vintage or Custom. Dont waist your money. Although they do make great letter openers.

Be vigilant as perusing customs.
While they may look 'cool', some have inconsistencies in temper from razor to razor and even from the heel to the toe.
I can recommend learning/shaving with vintage first.
What some call great, some (being honest) will say 'meh'.
JMO