Impressions of the AOS TI
I've been wanting a TI for a while and pulled the trigger on the basic TI from AOS. Felt this was a decent deal ($135.00) and heard that it was a new forging (C135 steel).
I've had the razor for several weeks and have put it through the paces. When received, the box said C135 on it, confirming the steel. The scales were decent black plastic, although there is a lot of space between the toe and scales when the blade is closed. In addition, there were some plastic flakes on the edge of one scale that had not been polished away after the scale was cut. This was not a big deal as the flakes polished right off with a rag, but you'd think that could have been done during manufacture.
The blade showed light hone wear and was nicely polished. The instructions stated the razor was shave ready from the factory. I tried the hanging hair test and, surprisingly, it passed. I'd planned on honing it myself, but just gave it a good strop before the first shave. The shave went well. The blade was shave ready and pretty sharp. As far as grind, the blade says full hollow on it, and appears to be, but I'll say it shaves very stiff, which I like, especially on my tough beard on the chin.
After several good shaves, I decided to touch it up on my hones. All I did was hit it with a simple naniwa progression of 25 laps on the 8k, 20 laps on the 10k, 15 laps on the 12k, 10 laps on chromium oxide (balsa), and finally 5 laps on .25 diamond spray on felt. Stropped it up and gave it a go. The shave was excellent. While the factory edge was good, this edge was even better, possibly the best edge in my mug.
