Thread: TI Quality ?

Hi All,

I've just received a 7/8" TI from a member to re-scale. It is dreadful.

The blade is not centred at all. One edge touches the scales.

The 3rd pin is way to high and not centred so the blade does not close correctly. Had the pin been in-line with the butt and pivot pins the scales would not have been deep enough and the blades edge would have protruded from the scales making it a very dangerous object.

The scales are way to long. A huge gap between the toe and wedge.

The finish of the red stamina scales look like they have been dipped in varnish..yuk.

Considering how much these razors cost I would rather buy a NOS vintage straight that are offered by a few respected ebay sellers.

Alternately if you only want the blade, send the thing for a decent set of scales to any one of many members that offer this service.

Pic attached (borrowed) with annotations.

The member in question will be pleasantly surprised when he gets it back

Gary

Thanks for posting this Gary - it's not the first time I've heard about poor detailing on current TI razors but it's the most specific. I guess the lesson here if you want a TI blade is that your best bet is to buy the blade you want with the least expensive scales available since you'll likely need to have them replaced anyway. What a shame.

I have that exact same TI and mine was perfect except for the gold on the blade....that was pitifull...but the scales are perfect...although they do have a lot of varnish on them.

Stuff like this drives me nuts! People pay good money for their razors and yet it seems it's too much to expect good quality.

My first razor came from Joe Chandler. It was inexpensive (35) but there were no issues with it whatsoever... My next purchase from mr. barence (Dirk) was a shock - right off the bat I found 5-6 issues on a NOS $100 + razor. And, what do you know, the resident experts told me this is nothing unusual... hm. I am used to getting good quality on the things I purchase, regardless of the price.

Until shavers start demanding quality / call customer service and bitch, I don't see TI (and others) changing its attitude and providing top quality...

EDIT: I am not flaming Dirk here, he gave me a partial refund - just using this as an example.

Originally Posted by izlat

My first razor came from Joe Chandler. It was inexpensive (35) but there were no issues with it whatsoever...

I'll second that.

Big up on Joe Chandler.

I have about a dozen TI's of various types all bought new and probably half of them have issues as was pointed out here. My attitude about this is if you want a pretty razor with excellent finishing buy a Dovo if you want the best quality blade buy a TI. Fit and finish is an after thought with them. sad but true.

Yep! That's TI's quality control for you! They make great blades, but when it comes to pinning those scales on, it's a crap shoot!

That raised middle pin was off center on purpose. The guy that pinned it realized the scales were too thin so he offset the middle spacer so the blade would not stick out. Imagine if instead he actually found a set of scales that would have fit the blade? I guess when it comes to effort or common sense you can not rely on others.....

Wouldn't it be great if we had the option of JUST buying the blades so that we could take care of the scales ourselves?!

Would save on cost of the razor, and the cost of shipping the damn crap-pin job back!

C utz

Man I will say that my Dovos and TIs are both great shavers. The Quality of the one TI I have is great all around. My Dovos are my favorites of my new razors. But you are right with the cost of new razors in the middle range (100-200) you would think there would be good quality. You should not have to buy a razor and replace the scales to make it a good razor. I recommend specific feed back to TI and a shared response. As a community SRP should carry a little weight. Nothing in anger only specific comments toward quality should work.

I only own one TI razor, this one http://straightrazorpalace.com/compo...1/key,0/hit,1/ and it is flawless. I bought it about 8-10 years ago. Above reproach in every respect.

Jeff

I guess it depends when your got the razor and what day it was made on.

I have just fitted the scales, one side of the tang is flat the other tapered, a machine press no doubt. I fixed it by clever pinning and washers which is why in the first instance the blade was never centre.

Looks better now though...

Gary