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Hone 15t | Titanium Unobtanium

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Having recently acquired the brass Hone 15 razor I'm suddenly interested in all things Hone.

Hone Ti 15. Weights. Head.640.png

Has anyone ever seen or used a titanium Hone?​
The razor, all 22 of them, was sold with two handles, a beautiful case, and a small synthetic brush with a titanium handle.

The price was significantly north of $1000. Pushing $1300. Wow! That's steep.​
Hone 15 Titanium Kit.640.png


Several members have mentioned using their brass and/or aluminum Hone 15 razors. Anybody ever seen a titanium Hone? I'm curious about its shave and how it compares with the brass and aluminum models. SS is on the way, maybe, one day. The Hone website has all the details and might be an enjoyable read for you.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I have not seen one. I inquired with the owner a few months back when I was chatting him via email about the stainless model. He did not reply to the that email.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I wish him and the shaving community the best with his stainless steel model. I wonder, too, if the razor will be produced again in the brass and titanium?

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I wonder, too, if the razor will be produced again in the brass and titanium?

Hi Jim, the brass is planned but I have my doubts about titanium. The owner of Hone is reluctant to make more as the original release was limited to 22 razors and mass producing them will devalue the original batch. Don't let that stop you writing to Hone and asking for one: when I asked about it Andrew did say he'd consider making more if the demand is there. Clearly the priority is getting the SS razors made right now.
 

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
When I saw Tatara muramasa earlier this year, I immediately thought of Hone 15 (and merkur futur), but it was full of handle dimples.
The same part is that they all try to make the appearance of the razor as "a whole". It's like a future spacecraft that uses beams to teleport and has no obvious entrance.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I don't know if any more of these will ever be made, but I know consideration to making more would include consultation with the 22 people who purchased them as razors limited to 22 examples having ever been made in the history of time. (Thus making them extremely rare.)

The man at Hone is all about his customers. I can tell you that from my experience with him.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I have one. But I don't have the 15b or 15a to compare with it with, so not sure I can help you at all with your question. In fact, I have never owned any brass or aluminum razor before. For me, the weight is quite nice; it is much more tangible than, say, the Blackbird TI, which I find far too light.

It shaves wonderfully; if you go over to the ATG website, I posted my thoughts in the 15s thread.

If there's one thing I don't love about it, it's the handle length. Something in between the short and long handles would have been perfect, though either way it's not something to complain about. I have never looked up the dimensions of the handle for the 15b or 15a, but the diagrammed length of the 15s handle falls in between those of the 15t and would be perfect.

The green leather case is nice, but I would NEVER dare take this razor traveling, so it stays in the box. The brush hasn't been used yet, but in terms of dimensions, the handle has a larger diameter than the stainless steel-handled brushes from Tatara. Weight-wise, it is lighter than the Tatara.

I've been playing around with shavettes and straights recently, so haven't used the 15t in a while, but it is a keeper unless the 15s comes out and I like it more. I have been going back and forth as to whether I need ("want") the 15s. The waitlist closed just because I finally decided I wanted one, and then all the issues started popping up.

Hone 15t long.JPG
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Zhang Doe's Hone 15t.10-12-21.640.png


I have one. But I don't have the 15b or 15a to compare with it with, so not sure I can help you at all with your question. In fact, I have never owned any brass or aluminum razor before. For me, the weight is quite nice; it is much more tangible than, say, the Blackbird TI, which I find far too light.

It shaves wonderfully; if you go over to the ATG website, I posted my thoughts in the 15s thread.

If there's one thing I don't love about it, it's the handle length. Something in between the short and long handles would have been perfect, though either way it's not something to complain about. I have never looked up the dimensions of the handle for the 15b or 15a, but the diagrammed length of the 15s handle falls in between those of the 15t and would be perfect.

The green leather case is nice, but I would NEVER dare take this razor traveling, so it stays in the box. The brush hasn't been used yet, but in terms of dimensions, the handle has a larger diameter than the stainless steel-handled brushes from Tatara. Weight-wise, it is lighter than the Tatara.

I've been playing around with shavettes and straights recently, so haven't used the 15t in a while, but it is a keeper unless the 15s comes out and I like it more. I have been going back and forth as to whether I need ("want") the 15s. The waitlist closed just because I finally decided I wanted one, and then all the issues started popping up.

Wow, what a nice looking example.

Thank you so much for telling us about it and showing it off.

Could I ask why you'd want a longer handle than the short handle on yours? Is it a matter of balance or aesthetics or what? (That's assuming of course that the matter can be easily articulated.)

Personally I like handles with an overall length from the bottom of the baseplate of about 80 mm or maybe 85 mm or shorter. Even 75 mm is okay with me. That's not me saying I've used a short handled Hone (by those standards one doesn't exist). My brass Hone has a very long handle but I'm soon to acquire the shorter Hone brass handle. (I'm not sure of the exact or even approximate length of the one I'm getting, only that it's short relative to the long one I already have.)

Congratulations on owning such a fine and rare razor.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Could I ask why you'd want a longer handle than the short handle on yours? Is it a matter of balance or aesthetics or what? (That's assuming of course that the matter can be easily articulated.)

Personally I like handles with an overall length from the bottom of the baseplate of about 80 mm or maybe 85 mm or shorter. Even 75 mm is okay with me. That's not me saying I've used a short handled Hone (by those standards one doesn't exist). My brass Hone has a very long handle but I'm soon to acquire the shorter Hone brass handle. (I'm not sure of the exact or even approximate length of the one I'm getting, only that it's short relative to the long one I already have.)
Both handles are reasonably comfortable to use, so my views on handle length are purely aesthetic.

The shorter handle looks better than the longer one IMO. The picture is taken at a bad angle, so just note that the 0cm mark is effectively the bottom of the base plate (for other razors), and the 1cm mark is pretty much where the handle screws into the head. The shorter handle results in an effective length of 86-87mm if compared with other razors ... normally okay, but just a little shorter than ideal given the size of the head.

The longer handle, though, results in an effective length of 10.5cm, which is too long for me. The bulk of the head means that the total sum doesn't look as bad IMO as, say, the Blackbird (beautiful head) with the long handle, which you couldn't pay me to own. [Obligatory comment that I am #TeamDart. The Dart is one of the best and most beautiful razors ever and one of my keepers.]

Given the size of the head, something around an effective length of 92-94mm would feel just right, and the Hone 15s was ("is" ... it WILL come) going to land at 92.5mm. To your point on not knowing the length of the standard handle for the Hone 15, it's also 92.5mm. If you go to the product page, he has images of the dimensions.

Since I broke out the box, I went ahead and took a picture of the brush in comparison with the Tatara boar brush. You can't really see it here, but the diameter of the Hone titanium brush is about 2mm more than that of the Tatara. Contrary to what I said before, the Hone is noticeably heavier.

Hone 15t 01.jpeg
Hone 15t 02.jpeg
 
I have both handles in the brushed brass, the short one definitely gives me better shaves. Not that the oversized one is bad but is certainly is heavy assembled. I can whip the Hone around my face pretty easily in the shorter format, well as much as you can with a 165g razor. The long handle sits idle since I got the shorter handle.

IMG_0890.jpg


Now I really want that titanium one but can't get one...
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
1634126602142.png

It's very hard to get a visually accurate photo of the long handle Hone regardless of metal.

This is my long handled brass Hone 15.​


Both handles are reasonably comfortable to use, so my views on handle length are purely aesthetic.

The shorter handle looks better than the longer one IMO. The picture is taken at a bad angle, so just note that the 0cm mark is effectively the bottom of the base plate (for other razors), and the 1cm mark is pretty much where the handle screws into the head. The shorter handle results in an effective length of 86-87mm if compared with other razors ... normally okay, but just a little shorter than ideal given the size of the head.

The longer handle, though, results in an effective length of 10.5cm, which is too long for me. The bulk of the head means that the total sum doesn't look as bad IMO as, say, the Blackbird (beautiful head) with the long handle, which you couldn't pay me to own. [Obligatory comment that I am #TeamDart. The Dart is one of the best and most beautiful razors ever and one of my keepers.]

Given the size of the head, something around an effective length of 92-94mm would feel just right, and the Hone 15s was ("is" ... it WILL come) going to land at 92.5mm. To your point on not knowing the length of the standard handle for the Hone 15, it's also 92.5mm. If you go to the product page, he has images of the dimensions.

Since I broke out the box, I went ahead and took a picture of the brush in comparison with the Tatara boar brush. You can't really see it here, but the diameter of the Hone titanium brush is about 2mm more than that of the Tatara. Contrary to what I said before, the Hone is noticeably heavier.


Thank you very much for your response, particularly on the functionality and aesthetics of your handles. You have quite the collection of Hone titanium handles. Two short handles! Wow.

Sounds to me that your long handled Hone 15t has the same handle as my Hone 15 in brass, or at least a handle very close in length.

I like my Hone 15 but will like it better with a shorter handle. Andrew is sending me one. Exactly how short it will be I don't know. (Probably the same as yours.) I believe the razor will function better for me with the shorter handle, but, then again, I don't like long handles much, and cutting even a little of the Hone's weight will help I think. Of course, until the shorter handle arrives I'm only speculating. (Unlike the previous poster, @Fedsbackhand, who already has both and prefers the shorter handle.)

I'd guess that the weight of the ti razor with either handle is substantially less than the weight of the brass with either handle.

Here's my post with first impressions of the brass Hone 15 and also some illustrations of the Hone dimensions. (Illustrations from the Hone website).

A good machinist could cut down a longer handle and make it into any length you might desire. It could also be drilled to make it lighter in weight. Not saying I'd necessarily do that to a long titanium handle, but it's a possibility.

Brass could be subjected to the same modification of course.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Thank you very much for your response, particularly on the functionality and aesthetics of your handles. You have quite the collection of Hone titanium handles. Two short handles! Wow.
There's a customer service story in there. The set comes with one short and one long handle. I picked this up about two years ago from someone who I believe was the first owner. After using it a bit, I happened to notice that the short handle wasn't exactly straight; it screwed in at an ever-so-slight angle such that there was a tiny gap on one side where the handle meets the head.

I emailed Hone to ask if something could be done. Mind you this would have been about two years after release and I wasn't the one who purchased it direct from Hone. Andrew simply wrote back to say that it clearly was flawed and sent me a replacement handle from what is no doubt a very limited stock. Fortunately it fit perfectly. He didn't take me up on my offer to send back the flawed handle in case there was anything he could do with it, hence the extra in the photo.

To this day I'm still (pleasantly) shocked at Andrew's generosity on this and will only ever sing the dude's praises.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
There's a customer service story in there. The set comes with one short and one long handle. I picked this up about two years ago from someone who I believe was the first owner. After using it a bit, I happened to notice that the short handle wasn't exactly straight; it screwed in at an ever-so-slight angle such that there was a tiny gap on one side where the handle meets the head.

I emailed Hone to ask if something could be done. Mind you this would have been about two years after release and I wasn't the one who purchased it direct from Hone. Andrew simply wrote back to say that it clearly was flawed and sent me a replacement handle from what is no doubt a very limited stock. Fortunately it fit perfectly. He didn't take me up on my offer to send back the flawed handle in case there was anything he could do with it, hence the extra in the photo.

To this day I'm still (pleasantly) shocked at Andrew's generosity on this and will only ever sing the dude's praises.


I have an even better Andrew, Mr. Customer Service, story but I'm not sure I should tell it. I will always support his company in some way or another. He's a first class gentleman in my experience with him.

A good machinist could fix that handle for you, I think. (I'm not any kind of machinist.)

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
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