Thread: Titan

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.

Stick to vintage straights or quality new stuff. You'll thank yourself later.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Stick to vintage straights or quality new stuff. You'll thank yourself later.

Or customs

Originally Posted by outback

Or customs

Yeah, I was thinking custom too but I was kinda including that in the quality new category. It deserves saying though. Lots of good custom razor makers these days.

I think it should be stated that buying this ilk razor is not wrong per se. They can be made to shave well. This though really requires a firmly rooted knowledge of straight razor anatomy and a healthy working experience with working with and on them. There are those alchemist types among us making gold out of lead so to speak. Our friend CCR is one example BUT he fits the description I have just given. One of the first razors I bought was an Annie which is in that same category of inexpensive Asian import razors and I never did get it shave ready. In fairness I gave up on it and bought other vintage ones afterwards so I basically just forgot about it. However, I really beat myself up trying to get it shave ready. Take that for what it's worth. YMMV.

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...