Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it took 24 weeks for this razor to reach me. Nine of those weeks was for PhilPost to ship it from Manila to Cebu (a one-hour flight away). Still, I was happy to receive it.
As for this razor, I checked the bevel as it was supplied and found that it was properly set, without the use of tape, and little spine wear. As supplied, the edge shaved arm hair with ease but needed further refiling to tree-top.
With the bevel already properly set, I went straight to my lapping film progression, starting off at 9um the 3um and finishing on 1um. At this stage, the edge was tree-topping with ease at about 10mm. The lapping film progression took about 50% more work to achieve the same results that I would get on a normal high carbon steel (HCS) blade. I put this down to this Titan ACRO blade having a hardness of 64 RHC compared to normal HCS having a hardness of 60 RHC or slightly less.
From the films, I went to diamond pasted balsa strops of 0.5um, 0.25um and finished on 0.1um. As the film lapping took about 50% more work, I also increased my balsa stropping by 50%. The end result was another atomic edge that tree-tops at about 20mm along its full length.
The manufacturer's final polishing of this blade was not perfect. Some faint grounding marks were still visible near the heal stabiliser on both sides. You can see these marks in the face markings photo in this review's overview. This is only cosmetic so I am not worried for the price I paid. Other than that, the overall quality is as good or better than European razors costing twice as much.
I haven't yet shaved with this razor, but once done, I will report back here.
As for this razor, I checked the bevel as it was supplied and found that it was properly set, without the use of tape, and little spine wear. As supplied, the edge shaved arm hair with ease but needed further refiling to tree-top.
With the bevel already properly set, I went straight to my lapping film progression, starting off at 9um the 3um and finishing on 1um. At this stage, the edge was tree-topping with ease at about 10mm. The lapping film progression took about 50% more work to achieve the same results that I would get on a normal high carbon steel (HCS) blade. I put this down to this Titan ACRO blade having a hardness of 64 RHC compared to normal HCS having a hardness of 60 RHC or slightly less.
From the films, I went to diamond pasted balsa strops of 0.5um, 0.25um and finished on 0.1um. As the film lapping took about 50% more work, I also increased my balsa stropping by 50%. The end result was another atomic edge that tree-tops at about 20mm along its full length.
The manufacturer's final polishing of this blade was not perfect. Some faint grounding marks were still visible near the heal stabiliser on both sides. You can see these marks in the face markings photo in this review's overview. This is only cosmetic so I am not worried for the price I paid. Other than that, the overall quality is as good or better than European razors costing twice as much.
I haven't yet shaved with this razor, but once done, I will report back here.
