Chiseled Face Titanium Razor Review

Chiseled Face is probably better known for their shave soaps but did you know that they make razors, too? During the recent Maggard Razors meetup Ron with Chiseled Face introduced me to their Titanium razor line.

Chiseled Face offers their own razor lines, in brass and titanium. The titanium line offers six handles on their standard titanium head, with a price range from about US $200 to about US $350. Ron offered me an “Industrial” handle at Maggards.

From the Chiseled Face website:

This razor is designed to be efficient, low on blade feel, and perfect for your everyday shave. The stubble groove is wide and virtually clog-proof. Efficient enough for a single pass shave, but mild enough that a 3 pass would be no issue, and buffing is just fine. I’m not sure if it’s useful to compare this razor to others or not, but the blade gap is 1.12mm. We recommend “riding the cap”, or resting the cap against your face and angling the handle until you get a good cut. We think that this is preferable over resting the safety bar against the skin, and angling the handle away from the face until a good cutting angle is achieved, as it puts less pressure on the safety bar, theoretically leaving more lather in place for the blade to glide on.

This razor is 100% titanium, and 100% made in the USA. We take just over 1 lb of solid titanium and carve it down to a razor that weighs in at less than 2 ounces (15g head, 40g handle).…

This is not a razor pulled from a machine en-mass. This is a small production product made in a garage with love and care. Each custom razor comes with a card with its # in our production sequence. We call these “semi-polished” since they may not have a full mirror finish, but they stand up to the majority of razors advertised as high polish.

My Experience With The Chiseled Face Titanium Razor

Presentation

I really like the look of this razor. The head looks rather plain (it does cover blade tabs) but I find the handle particularly interesting. Chiseled Face calls it their “Industrial” handle and I kind of get where they are coming from–it looks like it could be a part from some kind of milling or drilling machine. But it does not communicate the elegance of the look to me. The texturing is deeply etched and extends throughout the handle length. I think the chances of this razor slipping through my hand is quite low. It’s a great-looking razor.

The Shave

I find the 85 mm handle length (call it 3.5 inches; about 4.5 inches overall with head) good for my hand and I imagine most others as well. I find the 62 gram (about 2 oz.) weight a bit more than some other titanium razors (I prefer heavier over lighter razors) and to me feels maybe a touch heavier because the center-of-gravity is weighted more towards the razor’s head. The handle is also slightly wider in diameter at the end than many other handles (the overall shape is kind of hourglass).

Lather flow-through is excellent. As Chiseled Face states above, I doubt you will ever have a problem with this razor clogging.

Chiseled Face suggests “riding the cap.” While I think that does provide slightly better results for me, I find this razor’s “sweet spot” quite generous with a wide range of hold angles providing a good shave.

Chiseled Face says this razor is “[e]fficient enough for a single pass shave, but mild enough that a 3 pass would be no issue, and buffing is just fine.” I think I might take a bit of an issue with that. I prefer “mild” razors and I think this razor’s sales copy infers it is fairly aggressive. To me it is more toward the “middle-of-the-road” in aggressiveness. I’m not sure I would be satisfied with a single-pass shave (though maybe with a Feather blade…? I normally use Parker or RK blades) but I do get an excellent three pass shave with no irritation.

Summing Up

The Chiseled Face titanium line of double edge safety razors joins an increasing number of artisans who are offering titanium razors. This razor line offers some interesting-looking handles and a head specification that should be suitable to the majority of safety razor shavers. If you are looking for an artisan-made, premium safety razor with a commensurate life expectancy (e.g. heirloom quality) you should definitely take a look at this razor.