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

I've been jonesing for a TI for some time, but I've been reluctant to pay what they cost. The Art of Shaving sells a 5/8 full hollow for $105. It appears to be the same as the Evide Sonnant Extra, which Classic would sell for $133 (if it weren't out of stock).

I have two questions for the group:
1. Is it the same razor?
2. Is anyone aware of a cheaper source for a "singing" TI?

Thanks for your thoughts, gents.

I bought the 6/8 Sonnant Extra from Classic, so mine would be different from the 5/8 on the AoS website, I assume.

That said, I don't seen the knurling (for lack of a better description) pattern on the bottom of the shank that my Sonnant Extra came with.

Also mine was presharpened from Classic Shaving, which would up the cost a bit more, and totally worth it.

The prices of those razors seem to have come down on AoS's website. Or maybe they differ from the physical store? IIRC I was told they were in the $200 range for all their razors, when looking at them in the display case.

$105 is a great price for that TI if it is in fact the Sonnant Extra. Although prepare to hone sooner than later.

I decided to order one . . . after all, how bad could a brand new TI for $105 be? It arrived today and measures bang on 6/8" from back of spine to edge and has good heft and quality of manufacture. The blade is perfectly centered in the (surprisingly nice) black plastic scales and is polished to the point it looks like chrome on the tang, tail, and spine, even though both faces of the blade are satin-finished.


Here's a crummy picture:





Most interesting is the blade shape. To my eyes, the shape of the blade is identical to the Silverwing pre-production blades, which ignatz reviewed on B&B (here), except that the back of the tang on mine is stamped W, rather than Q. Here are some pictures from his review:







His review also compares the shape of the blade to the "old 'new'" TI blades:




So, again, the question comes up of what steel is TI using in what blades. Any thoughts, gents? if the steel is the same as the new Silverwings, this seems to be a great bargain. At a minimum, it seems that TI is making these of the same shape as the new Silverwings (but without the top jimps). I wonder if they're the same steel and treatments?

All this guessing, is it this metal or that metal or this razor or that razor. There are no discount stores for razors guys. You get what you pay for and the sales of razors is such that the few places that sell them have no trouble unloading them. I think you can figure based on the price the relative quality comparing one to the other. However if you want to know contact one of the major vendors like classic and ask them.

Thanks for the post!

Well, from Ignatz's review it would seem that indeed your razor is made from the "new" steel. It has the double bands on the tang, and a letter denoting what heat treatment batch the blade went through.

In my opinion: same metal + same shape=great deal! (Damn....my credit card is heating up...must control purchase urge...........GGGGGGggggggggggggggggggaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA.. ..)

In the Dovo lineup you can get the #41 stainless blade for $119 in simple ebony scales, or pay ~$300 for the same blade with MOP scales. For me, I could give a damn about scales, and certainly wouldn't pay the extra premium for scales. For a better blade? Sure.

The Silverwing has very nice cocobolo scales, and was the first of the new steel blades to be released, so they charged a premium for them.

I love the pic of the razor on your desk. Nice!

Razor deliveries made at work so SWMBO is none the wiser....

I see you are working on blade angle, tragetory and velocity diagrams on the whiteboard in the background. You can never be too prepared!

One more thing:

Please tell us how it shaves!!!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

All this guessing, is it this metal or that metal or this razor or that razor. There are no discount stores for razors guys. You get what you pay for and the sales of razors is such that the few places that sell them have no trouble unloading them. I think you can figure based on the price the relative quality comparing one to the other. However if you want to know contact one of the major vendors like classic and ask them.

I consider that response, ironically, condescending. It's well known that many manufacturers sell the same items under different labels. It's a way for them to increase profits by increasing sales and production efficiency without diluting the value of their premium lines. Of course, to protect their premium sales, manufacturers are loathe to disclose that they're selling the same basic product as two different things, so asking TI or Classic is unlikely to reveal reality.

I'm not saying that this must be TI's new steel just because it's the same shape as the new forgings, but it I still think it might be and I continue to be interested in others thoughts on the matter.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Please tell us how it shaves!!!

I'll be happy to, once I get it honed up . . .

The razor was clearly dull in the middle when I received it, so I marked the bevel with a Sharpie and sat down with the Norton 4K. After a bunch of strokes on that, I realized that TI either rounded the bevel or honed it with something like tape on the spine, because (while the back of the bevel was making good contact) the edge of the bevel wasn't making contact with the stone in the middle of the blade. So I went back to the DMT 1200. So far, I've spent about 20 minutes on that, but I still haven't gotten the bevel to the edge. Between that and the fact that there's essentially no incremental wear on the spine, I've concluded that this is hard steel.

Steve,

The new TIs are supposed to be made from a really high carbon steel which is hardened to near file temper and is reported to be a real bear to hone. I think the Silver Wing was the introductory razor made from the new steel. Friend and local razor cognoscenti and honemeister, Randy Tuttle, when asked how things went when he honed a Silver Wing for someone answered essentially, "grrrr". I think this means the new TIs will be really grrrrreat razors once thoroughly honed.

Honing update: I've just spent another 40 minutes doing light-pressure laps on the DMT1200 and I've eliminated the double bevel along almost the entire length. Where I've honed out the double bevel, it's popping arm hairs like no other razor I've honed at the 1200 DMT stage.

I'm now feeling like Randy apparently felt; I'm giving up for the evening.

This is certainly interesting. It will be good to find how the blade shaves. If I understand correctly the batch of steel that was used for the silverwings was marked as V.

The blade from AOS certainly looks to have a similar profile to the new silverwing blades, but is marked as W