REX Ambassador Update

What’s the difference between tumbled and brushed finish?

Tumbled is the Parts rubbing against media and a burnishing action occurs. It’s helpful with deburring and smoothing out the metal uniformly. Gives a satin to semi gloss finish to all parts. A true mirror finish is hard to achieve through tumbling alone.

Brushed is manually brushing the parts against an abrasive paper or wheel. Think a Scotch bright pad. It will leave fine lines that will form a pattern. it can’t get into fine areas but Is good for flat surfaces.


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OTOH, faint tooling marks remaining after the tumbling don't bother me at all.

They do bother me. The Rex I have has circular machine marks on the bottom side of the head, where the engraving is.
I polished my Rex, like I did with other razors, but the Rex can't be polished properly because this would make the laser etching disappear. If it was diamond engraved polishing wouldn't be a problem, as the engraving would be much deeper. To do a proper job, IMO the Rex needs to be polished BEFORE laser engraving it, which leaves no option for a DIY job.
The top cap, on the other hand, looked fantastic when polished.

We changed the way the parts are processed a few weeks ago and these concentric circles are no longer present.


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What’s the difference between tumbled and brushed finish?

Tumbled is the Parts rubbing against media and a burnishing action occurs. It’s helpful with deburring and smoothing out the metal uniformly. Gives a satin to semi gloss finish to all parts. A true mirror finish is hard to achieve through tumbling alone.

Brushed is manually brushing the parts against an abrasive paper or wheel. Think a Scotch bright pad. It will leave fine lines that will form a pattern. it can’t get into fine areas but Is good for flat surfaces.


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Tumbling to a high polish is possible,not exactly harder to achieve,just different media and much more time consuming.The initial tumbling needs to be spot on so as to have the product ready for high polish.
I use lapidary equipment to make small knife like items from single pieces of stone.One minute less prep in the initial polishing stages can have a major affect on the final outcome.The same principals apply as when working metal.Start with low grit and work up to higher,personally I finish on 14,000 for most pieces before Tin Oxide.
So....if tumbling/polishing at say 1,200 grit is not done correctly,then there will be imperfections showing right through the process to final polish at 14,000.You cannot polish out a 1,200 scratch with 14,000.The difficulty is in the time factor of the preparation.

Thanks guys. So in terms of razor glide what has a smoother face feel, a tumbled finish or a brushed finish? I have a few razors with a glass bead blasted finish( Ti Baby Smooth and SS General) and like the way they feel when shaving. I imagine that’s similar to what tumbled looks like or it is more like what Italian Barber does?

Thanks guys. So in terms of razor glide what has a smoother face feel, a tumbled finish or a brushed finish? I have a few razors with a glass bead blasted finish( Ti Baby Smooth and SS General) and like the way they feel when shaving. I imagine that’s similar to what tumbled looks like or it is more like what Italian Barber does?

I’ve experienced tumbled razors feeling smooth and polished razors feeing rough. I don’t think the finishing correlates (necessarily) with the feel - that’s likely blade gap, blade angle, blade exposure.


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Thanks guys. So in terms of razor glide what has a smoother face feel, a tumbled finish or a brushed finish? I have a few razors with a glass bead blasted finish( Ti Baby Smooth and SS General) and like the way they feel when shaving. I imagine that’s similar to what tumbled looks like or it is more like what Italian Barber does?

I’ve experienced tumbled razors feeling smooth and polished razors feeing rough. I don’t think the finishing correlates (necessarily) with the feel - that’s likely blade gap, blade angle, blade exposure.


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Also angle and pressure. I used to notice drag with my Blackbird until I figured out the right angle.

I asked because I noticed some people polish their razors for improved glide. I personally just use the razors the way they are manufactured.

“Burnished” would be perfect! For me, anyway. I don’t care about or even want a mirror polish. To me, media blasting and brushing are just ways to degrade the finish uniformly. If there WAS an option to bypass that step, I’d take it! Oh well, maybe it’s just me.

But like I said Matt, if you wanna save a little time on mine ....

I’d even pay extra for an option that would actually reduce the manufacturing cost. Win-win!

“Burnished” would be perfect! For me, anyway. I don’t care about or even want a mirror polish. To me, media blasting and brushing are just ways to degrade the finish uniformly. If there WAS an option to bypass that step, I’d take it! Oh well, maybe it’s just me.

But like I said Matt, if you wanna save a little time on mine ....

I’d even pay extra for an option that would actually reduce the manufacturing cost. Win-win!

No no no!!! Let’s give people the option to get it polished, maybe at an extra cost, like many other manufacturers do.

Regardless, I’m ready to start shaving! Are we there yet?