Thread: Forever Sharp?

So, Mr Boccicolu is in his barber shop one hot humid day in the Bronx a long time ago and Mike the Cop walks in and says,” I’ll have a shave and it better be free”. So Mr B says well I have a real treat for you Mike. My Uncle just sent me this great razor from Italy and he says he’s been using it 10x a day for ten years and has never had to sharpen it up and it shaves great. So Mike says, you get that thing away from me. Your not gonna butcher me with that monster. So Mr B says no, you don’t understand this shaves so great that if you don’t get the best shave of your life I’ll shave you for free for the next ten years. So Mike figures he can’t lose out and says sure go ahead.

So as Mr B is shaving Mike (he happened to have his shop door open as this was before air conditioning and it was a hot day) and he’s working on his neck young Joey Baggadonuts comes riding through the front entrance on his scooter and can’t stop and hits Mr B and Mr B slices right through Mike’s Jugular. So now there’s blood all over the places and Mr B is just saturated (and this was before 911) so he goes running out the shop covered in blood and waiving the razor dripping in blood and people are diving for cover in panic. Well Sgt. Gillespie in his cruiser is looking for Mike who’s long overdue on his beat and sees the panic and sees Mr B running yelling, full of blood and draws his weapon and orders Mr B to drop it but Mr B doesn’t speak or understand English too good and runs toward the Sgt. So the Sgt fires two rounds and double taps Mr B Killing him instantly.

So whats the moral of the story? 1) Things that seem to be free often have a heavy price and 2) no razor is sharp forever, or is it?

So that brings us to this review for the TI Damascus Razor.

Now I’m sure I did a review of this thing a while back but during the big crash (I’m not talking the stock market here) I think it was lost.

So for those not familiar with it TI makes a Damascus Razor in 5/8s size. What’s unique about this razor is that it’s not the typical Damascus made from damasteel ingots but is a true Wootz Steel razor. I know some have had doubts about that fact but it is true and the patterns on it look nothing like the variants made from damasteel and since I have several I can tell the difference.

Much has been said in the past about this razor and I intended on this being more of a follow up rather than a full review. But since the original review is toast…

The razor comes with typical TI Horn Scales, black in this case and the fit and finish in my case was great. No crooked pining here. The scales could have been better polished which I did and it comes in the typical TI leather pouch.

The blade was perfect in every way. The only slight malfunction (he,he) was that when I first attempted to shave with it the blade didn’t quite shave as good as a butter knife and this is where the story really starts. At the time I only had two hones, the Norton 4K/8K combo and a Kitayama and to make a long story short I spent months on and off doing probably many many thousands of strokes on this thing. As a matter of fact I wound up getting some diamond pasted strops and that’s how I finally honed the thing. It was and has been the most difficult razor to hone I have ever encountered to this day and that is due to its hardness. How hard? I don’t know but it’s hard.

So back to the title of this threat and the late Mr B. I got this razor probably 5 or more years ago and have well over a couple hundred shaves on it and it has not had to have been touched up in the least. It still shaves as good as the day I finally got it honed up. Other than linen and a plain leather strop that’s all it has seen.

So is a forever sharp razor a possibility? Is this the holy grail of every straight shaver? How many shaves can I get out of this thing and what will it take to touch up if it ever needs it? Sounds like a plot line for a razor opera eh?

So how would I rate this razor? As a shaver it’s 10 out of 10. For fit and finish I’d give it a 9. For an overall score including the lack of honing and difficulty in honing and considering the high sales price, almost $800 I’d knock the overall score down to a 7. Supposedly the TI Rep said they originally sold this razor intending it being a display piece and that’s why it wasn’t better honed from the factory but I don’t believe it.

That is one handsome razor,But I had problems bringing a pair of new supergnomes up to speck,& this made me believe that the new thiers blades are very hard,so as much as i would love to own one of these I think I'd rather have a blade that is a bit kinder to hone even if I have to hone it more often .Cheers Paul

Whoa! Watta bevel!

I have an early version of this razor, back when it was sold with thick chiselled horn scales. It certainly does seem to keep its edge, though nothing lasts forever...
The other TI damascus I have is one of the five 8/8 with ironwood scales they made as a special for the old Yahoo SRP. Now that one is the most challenging razor I have ever tried to hone (saving for those with warped blades etc), and this makes me think I shall have to have another go at it, since I have learnt a bit since those days. Here is the picture that classicshaving used on their website when they sold them:



Chris

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Whoa! Watta bevel!

That whole shiny area is not the bevel, it's just a ground region. If you look closely, you'll see a standard sized bevel.

That's a really nice beast of a razor. I wish I wasn't allergic to paying over $100 for a razor.

I've got the same one as bigspendur, but mine was shave-ready when I got it, though it wasn't a particularly awesome edge. Maybe they started honing them after you talked to them. I'd read Biggie S's original review and was curious how this unusual steel would handle on the hone, so after the first few shaves I honed it on a variety of different hones. It's certainly extremely hard, though this is difficult to judge given the amount of carbide granules in it. It's probably gotten 30-40 shaves on it since then and it's doing just fine, getting sharper and sharper each shave.

It's a really beautiful razor, and for some reason I prefer its understated contrast and the natural randomness of the patterns to the artistically arranged swirls of Zowada or Livi. I feel a similar attraction towards the patterning in Tamahagane-based steel.

AFAIK Wootz production in India never really ceased, it just became low enough that it stopped being interesting at a commercial (and exportable) scale, and the more industrial production of steel just swamped them.

@ thebigspendur,

How do you compare this razor to your other damascus steel razors? i.e. Tim Zowada, Robert Williams et.al.

Originally Posted by ZethLent

@ thebigspendur,

How do you compare this razor to your other damascus steel razors? i.e. Tim Zowada, Robert Williams et.al.

Its hard to compare because its such a different beast.I find shave wise they shave equally well with probably the Livi being the smoothest shaver. I don't have a Williams damascus. I find the Zowada seems to need touch-ups more frequently with the Livi's lasting longer between them. I think the TI shaves very much like a wedge because of the stiffness of the razor. Its an interesting comparison with the TI Silverwing which shaves with a very heavy feel to it and is unlike any other razor I have. Its really unique and that also was difficult to initially hone though nothing like the TI damascus and it too hasn't needed any touchups though I probably only have about 30 shaves on it. In general I find with most of my razors after 10-15 shaves they need a touchup and that includes my other damascus razors.

So in the end assuming the new ones are either shave ready or very close to it its a matter of do you think its worth the price. Its really nothing special to look at the way a Livi is being not so much pretty but more he-man but then again the Zowada's aren't anything special to look at as an overall package save the pattern on the blade.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Its really nothing special to look at the way a Livi is being not so much pretty but more he-man ....

I've taken mine out camping because it just seems like a rugged woodsy sort of thing.

Utopian is correct about the polished area above the bevel. TI does that. I also love the understated pattern of the Damascus. I was not aware that it is Wootz and that is even cooler. I got my 6/8 TI Damascus in a trade with a friend who never really used it much if at all. I had read thebigspendur's review along with another that described the great difficulty in getting the TI Dam up to snuff.

After some initial honing and shave tests I PMed Nelson and asked for some pointers. He graciously offered advice and I began to make some headway. At the same time I was having a heck of a time getting a Bill Ellis custom ATS 34 sharp enough to suit me. I am always reluctant to use diamond pastes and plates as I like to think that I am skilled enough to get there with stones alone.

In these two cases I gave in and after many honing sessions I went to a friend's house and used his DMT 8000. Based on the results I ordered my own for the tougher steels like the TI Dam, ATS 34 and CS30V. Anyhow, I got both sharper on the diamond plate and then after a session with the Shapton 15 and 30k I took them to the Lynn Abrams felt hanging strop with 0.5 diamond spray. Both of these bad boys were transformed from a beautiful but not sharp enough for me to beautiful and great shavers