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REVIEW: The Tatara Nodachi Razor

Excellent review of a fine razor. I have a Tatara frankenrazor. Masamune handle with Nodachi and Masamune baseplates and Nodachi cap. The Masamune is a great daily driver and the Nodachi mows down a few days growth with ease.
 
How common is the variant Masamune cap with Nodachi OC plate? What would be a comparable Razor in terms smoothness/efficiency for this combination?
 
Hi Gents. @nav thanks so much for the review. May I ask for advice about the Masamune/Nodachi from the gents here?

Background: I'm quite new to wet shaving and have been experimenting with Chinese razors (yaqi flipside, Mellon, Yintal adjustable and the bronze). While they give decent shave but I can feel the chatter as I have coarse, tough, but not dense beard. Tried a few blades available in Indonesia and the sharpest I can get does help. But then again chattering still there. Best so far is with the Mellon, mild yet quite effective, but it requires a consistent angle.

I also have merkur 34c and 37c but have not had great success with them with my sharpest blade. Will try other blades.

PROBLEM: I have a very sensitive upper lip. Cannot stand ATG and even gentle XTG pass can irritate me if I'm not careful. My jaw line, chin and neck are fine, though. I have a rockwell 6s coming as I heard it has negative blade exposure even for the R6, which could be great for my skin.

While being smitten with the looks on the Tatara (and a newbie RAD :-D) Will the Masamune + nodachi heads complement the rockwell? Rigid blades and ability to try different exposures are things Rockwell doesn't have. Hopefully that will make me understand better what kind of razor works for me.

I'm thinking to try homelike start/taiga but I think the "smoothness" factor should be well covered by the rockwell. Blackbird is gorgeous but then again I'm worried that it's s too much blade feel for me.

Thanks and hopefully I can learn from you guys.
 
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How common is the variant Masamune cap with Nodachi OC plate? What would be a comparable Razor in terms smoothness/efficiency for this combination?

Can't say exactly which razor, but I find that combo is even less efficient than my 34c.

Hi Gents. @nav thanks so much for the review. May I ask for advice about the Masamune/Nodachi from the gents here?

Background: I'm quite new to wet shaving and have been experimenting with Chinese razors (yaqi flipside, Mellon, Yintal adjustable and the bronze). While they give decent shave but I can feel the chatter as I have coarse, tough, but not dense beard. Tried a few blades available in Indonesia and the sharpest I can get does help. But then again chattering still there. Best so far is with the Mellon, mild yet quite effective, but it requires a consistent angle.

I also have merkur 34c and 37c but have not had great success with them with my sharpest blade. Will try other blades.

PROBLEM: I have a very sensitive upper lip. Cannot stand ATG and even gentle XTG pass can irritate me if I'm not careful. My jaw line, chin and neck are fine, though. I have a rockwell 6s coming as I heard it has negative blade exposure even for the R6, which could be great for my skin.

While being smitten with the looks on the Tatara (and a newbie RAD :-D) Will the Masamune + nodachi heads complement the rockwell? Rigid blades and ability to try different exposures are things Rockwell doesn't have. Hopefully that will make me understand better what kind of razor works for me.

I'm thinking to try homelike start/taiga but I think the "smoothness" factor should be well covered by the rockwell. Blackbird is gorgeous but then again I'm worried that it's s too much blade feel for me.

Thanks and hopefully I can learn from you guys.

Then Nodachi (or a Nodachi cap/Masamune plate) might be too aggressive for you. As for clamping, don't worry about that. The blade is held super tight in all Tatara razors.
 
Can't say exactly which razor, but I find that combo is even less efficient than my 34c.



Then Nodachi (or a Nodachi cap/Masamune plate) might be too aggressive for you. As for clamping, don't worry about that. The blade is held super tight in all Tatara razors.

thanks @Baunseribicu. Will consider just getting the Masamune then.
 
Can't say exactly which razor, but I find that combo is even less efficient than my 34c.



Then Nodachi (or a Nodachi cap/Masamune plate) might be too aggressive for you. As for clamping, don't worry about that. The blade is held super tight in all Tatara razors.
That sounds like full Nodachi OC with the shorter Masamune handle for me.
Thanks :thumbsup:
 
Hi Gents. @nav thanks so much for the review. May I ask for advice about the Masamune/Nodachi from the gents here?

Background: I'm quite new to wet shaving and have been experimenting with Chinese razors (yaqi flipside, Mellon, Yintal adjustable and the bronze). While they give decent shave but I can feel the chatter as I have coarse, tough, but not dense beard. Tried a few blades available in Indonesia and the sharpest I can get does help. But then again chattering still there. Best so far is with the Mellon, mild yet quite effective, but it requires a consistent angle.

I also have merkur 34c and 37c but have not had great success with them with my sharpest blade. Will try other blades.

PROBLEM: I have a very sensitive upper lip. Cannot stand ATG and even gentle XTG pass can irritate me if I'm not careful. My jaw line, chin and neck are fine, though. I have a rockwell 6s coming as I heard it has negative blade exposure even for the R6, which could be great for my skin.

While being smitten with the looks on the Tatara (and a newbie RAD :-D) Will the Masamune + nodachi heads complement the rockwell? Rigid blades and ability to try different exposures are things Rockwell doesn't have. Hopefully that will make me understand better what kind of razor works for me.

I'm thinking to try homelike start/taiga but I think the "smoothness" factor should be well covered by the rockwell. Blackbird is gorgeous but then again I'm worried that it's s too much blade feel for me.

Thanks and hopefully I can learn from you guys.

There are 3 aspects I look for in a razor design that give confidence it will have low blade chatter:

Sandwich style blade clamping.
Exaggerated blade bend.
Minimal blade reveal being top cap.

The tatara has a great sandwich clamp and with the masamune cap, you'll get neutral exposure.

The Rockwell has higher blade bend which gives it good rigidity. It doesn't have sandwich clamping nor minimal reveal but the bend does minimise chatter, although I have doubts it would have low chatter of Rockwell released higher gap plates.

Once you have experienced the Rockwell, you'll get a good idea of what type of razor you like.

Perhaps you could report back after using the Rockwell for a while?
 
There are 3 aspects I look for in a razor design that give confidence it will have low blade chatter:

Sandwich style blade clamping.
Exaggerated blade bend.
Minimal blade reveal being top cap.

The tatara has a great sandwich clamp and with the masamune cap, you'll get neutral exposure.

The Rockwell has higher blade bend which gives it good rigidity. It doesn't have sandwich clamping nor minimal reveal but the bend does minimise chatter, although I have doubts it would have low chatter of Rockwell released higher gap plates.

Once you have experienced the Rockwell, you'll get a good idea of what type of razor you like.

Perhaps you could report back after using the Rockwell for a while?

Thanks for your advice, @nav. It makes sense. Yep, I will try the rockwell first when it (eventually) gets here. Cheers.
 
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The Nodachi is a very smooth razor, efficient enough, with an impeccable fit and finish. I love mine!
I very much prefer short handles, so I’ve ordered a mini.
75 mm, great balance, perfect for me. As a comparison, the razor has the same size as a Gibbs.
I appreciated that it arrived in a box designed for the mini handle.
The customer service is also great!

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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
The Nodachi is a very smooth razor, efficient enough, with an impeccable fit and finish. I love mine!
I very much prefer short handles, so I’ve ordered a mini.
75 mm, great balance, perfect for me. As a comparison, the razor has the same size as a Gibbs.
I appreciated that it arrived in a box designed for the mini handle.
The customer service is also great!

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Superb 👌
That looks awesome!
 
Since getting the nodachi razor, I had found myself curiously wondering how the nodachi base with the masamune cap would feel for my daily 4 pass shave (WTG, XTG, 2xATG).

The nodachi head is a highly efficient beast. Two or more days growth get swiped away effortlessly!

So I got a masamune cap and as usual Tatara were very easy to deal with, providing great service and fast shipping!

Here are some pics of the head…cos we all love pics right?

The Samurai logo on the bottom of the base plate is my favourite branding of any razor brand!

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For daily shaves, I added the masamune cap, which reduces the blade exposure from +0.13mm to -0.03mm, but retains the 0.90mm blade gap.

The net 0.16mm reduction of blade exposure is something I could notice from the first stroke!

The combo of negative exposure with the relatively larger gap really muted the blade feel and added comfort for my daily shaves, with a little less efficiency than the full nodachi head.

This feels quite close to being in between Karve C and D plates...good combo of smoothness and efficiency.

One difference I want to note when comparing to most other razors is that the tatara head weighs less than most other SS razors. I presume this is due to the thinner base plate. This means the razor needs to be pushed forward as the weight of the head is lighter. This however adds a level of maneuverability and makes it incredibly nimble!

I would suggest this combo for anyone that want a higher blade gap without the positive exposure. Luckily, tatara allow customisation so one can choose any combination they like.
 
The Nodachi is a very smooth razor, efficient enough, with an impeccable fit and finish. I love mine!
I very much prefer short handles, so I’ve ordered a mini.
75 mm, great balance, perfect for me. As a comparison, the razor has the same size as a Gibbs.
I appreciated that it arrived in a box designed for the mini handle.
The customer service is also great!

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Wow the short handle looks amazing. Is this a custom part? I can't find it on the Tatara page...
 
Since getting the nodachi razor, I had found myself curiously wondering how the nodachi base with the masamune cap would feel for my daily 4 pass shave (WTG, XTG, 2xATG).

The nodachi head is a highly efficient beast. Two or more days growth get swiped away effortlessly!

So I got a masamune cap and as usual Tatara were very easy to deal with, providing great service and fast shipping!

Here are some pics of the head…cos we all love pics right?

The Samurai logo on the bottom of the base plate is my favourite branding of any razor brand!

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


For daily shaves, I added the masamune cap, which reduces the blade exposure from +0.13mm to -0.03mm, but retains the 0.90mm blade gap.

The net 0.16mm reduction of blade exposure is something I could notice from the first stroke!

The combo of negative exposure with the relatively larger gap really muted the blade feel and added comfort for my daily shaves, with a little less efficiency than the full nodachi head.

This feels quite close to being in between Karve C and D plates...good combo of smoothness and efficiency.

One difference I want to note when comparing to most other razors is that the tatara head weighs less than most other SS razors. I presume this is due to the thinner base plate. This means the razor needs to be pushed forward as the weight of the head is lighter. This however adds a level of maneuverability and makes it incredibly nimble!

I would suggest this combo for anyone that want a higher blade gap without the positive exposure. Luckily, tatara allow customisation so one can choose any combination they like.
Hi, that is the combo I use for my daily shaver. I found the full masamune too mild and as you say the Nodachi baseplate with masamune head is an excellent combo!

The build and finish of this razor is possibly the best in the business. I havent handled a Wolfman but it can't be too far away fron that quality of build or finish.

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk
 
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Wow the short handle looks amazing. Is this a custom part? I can't find it on the Tatara page...

It was a limited edition, drop them an email.
I’ve ordered a silver one also; there was none left in stock (Nodachi) but they’ve been very kind to sandblast a black one.
I think they still have the mini-Masamune version (a wee bit thinner).


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