Thread: Titan

Anyone know anything about Titan japanese SR's?

Originally Posted by Cattleman02

Anyone know anything about Titan japanese SR's?

I've heard of them but know nothing about the quality of the steel or anything. Good question!

Originally Posted by Cattleman02

Anyone know anything about Titan japanese SR's?

Yes, I have some limited experience with them. The company is indeed Japanese, but the factory is in Taiwan, so it is actually a Taiwanese razor.

I was sort of challenged to try the brand by a fanboy that I sort of mentored some years ago on another forum, because I stated categorically and with no first hand knowledge that they are in general not enough better than the infamous Gold Dollar razors to justify the price. I tried three different models at three different price tiers and three different steel alloys. The only one that I really liked was surprisingly enough, the cheapest model, costing a bit over $20, and they have other models that range up to around $50. The steel in all of them seems to be of excellent quality, but the higher priced models are VERY HARD steel, and you might think that is a good thing, but it actually is not necessarily so. The more expensive models have very pocketknife type scales and flat spacers instead of wedges, a black mark to me against any razor. I did not find them particularly easy to hone to a comfortable edge, either. The cheap one was actually a quite satisfactory razor. I believe it is called the ACRM-2 th.60, referencing the steel alloy used, and the design Rockwell hardness, which seems generally ballpark accurate to me, judging by file skate test and general ease of honing.

However, in that price tier, I honestly like some Gold Dollar models more. Is the lower tier Titan worth $20? Yeah, I guess so. But it was not significant enough to make it into my regular rotation, and its life in my collection was uneventful enough that I no longer recall whatever happened to it. I probably gave it away to some noob. OTOH, I shave with GD66, 208, P81, and other models quite often. The scales are pretty cheesy, on the plastic scale models, The wooden ones are big, heavy, and clunky, and come with huge heavy massive metal flat spacers instead of wedges, and this is the trend that they are following these days. If you want a cheap and tacky razor that you can hone up into a daily driver, I suggest, if you can find one with the original checkered plastic scales, a Gold Dollar 208. They wholesale for around $300 per hundred. A budget reseller will let them go for under $10 apiece shipped free, if you shop around. You will need to profile the heel, of course, and there have been threads here on how to do that. The overall geometry and grind of the razor is okay, these days, though the bevel angle as manufactured is a little on the obtuse side. Here is a link so you can see what this one looks like:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CO5BQ02
The most well known model is the 66 and they were notorious for awful grinding early on, but they cleaned up their game a bit over the years and I was actually honing and selling these a couple years back, along with other models, and the only one ever returned to me was from a guy who decided he simply could not learn how to shave with a straight razor. The steel is similar to 5160 with slightly less of the alloying elements, according to an x-ray flourescence assay I had done on one. I would guess that the typical hardness is around 58 or 59 HRC, in the neighborhood of many old Sheffield razors. The problem is because of the price range, they were picked up by LOTS of newbies, who of course were the absolute worst guys to try to fix and hone these razors, and along with the cheesy scales, they got a lot of mostly well deserved bad press from the community.

Anyway, didn't mean to go so deeply off topic. If you want a Titan, by all means get one, but only get the The ACRM-2 model I think it is called, which is also the name of the steel alloy used, the one with the thin scales and at the bottom end of their pricing. You will find it a satisfactory shaver, but overall not a better deal than a mid-range Gold Dollar like the 208. The Titan's grind will be a bit more refined and slightly easier to hone, is all, but you will pay a few bucks more.

Neither brand is in any way superior to a decent, undamaged, lightly worn vintage razor, let me point out for the record, nor is either brand a particularly beautiful work of art.

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.

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...

I think that Paul is spot on with his answer.

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.