Thread: Art of Shaving - cheapest place for "singing" TIs?

Originally Posted by JetHed

I have a TI from AoS and I'm pretty happy with it. It also hones up nicely with just one pyramid on the 4k/8k and 40 or so passes on the Chinese 12k.

Is the tang the same as shown in my picture?

Originally Posted by JetHed

I noticed that my TI is stamped X instead of Q. Is there a difference?

I believe the letter indicates production batches of blades.

Progress, finally!

I did more very light (rolling x) laps on the DMT 1200 than I can to mention and only managed to get the the toe sharp. Out of frustration, I did about 50 with a little pressure, which got the whole cutting edge grabbing, then cutting arm hairs. I don't know whether it was a coincidence or this just needed a little pressure, but I'd think it's the former. At any rate, I did another 50 or so very light laps on the DMT, then progressed through the Norton 4K (100+ laps), 8K (75 laps), coticule (400 laps without slurry), and Nakayama (100 laps), plain linen (50 laps), and plain leather (75 laps).

I shaved with it this morning and got a good shave. It was about as close as I usually get and very comfortable. It's stiffer and heavier than most full hollows its size and cut hairs more quietly. It felt nice and soft on my face (which most razors do after the Nakayama). It seemed to shave closer and cut whiskers better at the end of the blade near the heel, so I should be able to improve the edge further with more time on the hone.

I don't have a Silverwing, but I'm confident that this is different (harder) steel than regular TIs. Production economics being what they are and this blade being physically indistinguishable from the Silverwing blades, I'd bet it's the same blade as the Silverwing.

I'd recommend this razor as a nice razor at a very nice price, but be prepared to spend way more time honing than anyone should have to do with a brand new blade. Even though this razor didn't have any geometry problems, it took a lot of time on the DMT 1200 to set a sharp bevel and a lot of strokes on each subsequent hone to wipe out earlier hones' scratch marks.