Titanium Is it a good metal for Razors?

I love my titanium razor, but it was purchased as an extravagance, something that I would only ever do once. My name came up on the Wolfman list (before the institution of the lottery system). Since I had the option to order basically anything I wanted, I decided to make it worth it and go for something really cool. Wolfman uses Grade 5 titanium, which is dramatically harder than the pure element, and, I'm sure, considerably tougher to machine. Honestly, if you didn't know what you were holding, you would think it was made from cheap pot metal; it weighs only about 65 grams or so.

I've grown to appreciate light razors over the years, and have sold most of my stainless razors out of dislike for their weight. The only stainless razor still in my possession is an ATT S1, which might end up on the block if the aluminum S1 ever makes it into production. I like the lighter weight of titanium, in addition to its tremendous strength and toughness, but would not order it again both because of its obscene price tag and, now, because of its environmental impact, of which I had previously been unaware. The only other Ti razor I would ever consider purchasing is one of the tremendously rare Ti BBS-1 line. I had the opportunity to put a few shaves on one awhile back and it was, without question, the single most comfortable and efficient razor I have ever used. The BBS-1 design benefits tremendously from lower weight; I tried a stainless version around the same time and found it to be unpleasantly harsh and difficult to control. If James or John were willing to produce an aluminum version, I would order one in an instant (please note that that is speculation; I have no idea if they're considering it, are against it, or if it has never even occurred to them, though I find the last one highly unlikely).

My Ti Wolfman shaves beautifully. Is it markedly better than an aluminum razor? No, but it's certainly much tougher, and I will very likely have it for the rest of my life. Titanium definitely has its place, admittedly in large part because of its "coolness" factor, but I don't think it's an unsuitable material for razor manufacture on the basis of its material properties. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The BBS-1 design benefits tremendously from lower weight; I tried a stainless version around the same time and found it to be unpleasantly harsh and difficult to control. If James or John were willing to produce an aluminum version, I would order one in an instant (please note that that is speculation; I have no idea if they're considering it, are against it, or if it has never even occurred to them, though I find the last one highly unlikely).

If they were to produce such a razor, and sell it at a reasonable price (meaning that aluminum razors tend to be less expensive than their stainless steel counterparts), I think it’d be an absolute runaway hit. It would seem that aluminum razors are becoming more common, and I think there are many good reasons for the trend. It will be interesting to see what kind of trend titanium will follow.

A few members have commented negatively on the environmental impacts of mining titanium. I knew little about the process so I did some cursory internet research. Yes Google. Now its a given that mining has an impact on the environment, however, if its done responsibly and in accordance with current state of the art environmental standards and all remediation is done properly the ultimate impact can be manageable. The main concern would be that titanium is generally mined using the strip mining process - that involves stripping off vegetation and the bio-active layer of soil to get at the ore bearing material. This process tends to look unattractive during the operation phase of the mine, however, once the economically recoverable ore is removed and remediation is conducted the landscape will look like the rest of the surrounding area after a few years. Proper remediation isn't just backfilling a hole and throwing some grass seed over it, it involves replacing material, particularly the bio-active layer (which is about a meter or so thick) in exactly the same composition of micro-organisms as previously existed. Same grasses, same trees, same bacteria, same plants. Done correctly, mining titanium is not considered to have a heavy environmental impact from what I've been able to glean. Its about human activity , how its conducted and how we clean up after we're done. As a species we've learned a lot and continue to learn more about how to do things correctly so we have as small a negative impact as possible, walk softly and not step on anybody's toes. I'll say this - when we boast about the high environmental standards we have here in North America or Europe and then outsource the work/mining/production to countries with little to no standards in the name of corporate profits, we're hypocrites and other things I can't say on this forum.

My conclusion - titanium does not have unacceptable environmental impacts. Its a vitally important metal in the medical, aeronautical/aerospace fields and many others as well.

A few members have commented negatively on the environmental impacts of mining titanium.  I knew little about the process so I did some cursory internet research.  Yes Google.  Now its a given that mining has an impact on the environment, however, if its done responsibly and in accordance with current state of the art environmental standards and all remediation is done properly the ultimate impact can be manageable.  The main concern would be that titanium is generally mined using the strip mining process - that involves stripping off vegetation and the bio-active layer of soil to get at the ore bearing material.  This process tends to look unattractive during the operation phase of the mine, however, once the economically recoverable ore is removed and remediation is conducted the landscape will look like the rest of the surrounding area after a few years.  Proper remediation isn't just backfilling a hole and throwing some grass seed over it, it involves replacing material, particularly the bio-active layer (which is about a meter or so thick) in exactly the same composition of micro-organisms as previously existed.  Same grasses, same trees, same bacteria, same plants.  Done correctly, mining titanium is not considered to have a heavy environmental impact from what I've been able to glean.  Its about human activity , how its conducted and how we clean up after we're done.  As a species we've learned a lot and continue to learn more about how to do things correctly so we have as small a negative impact as possible, walk softly and not step on anybody's toes.  I'll say this - when we boast about the high environmental standards we have here in North America or Europe and then outsource the work/mining/production to countries with little to no standards in the name of corporate profits, we're hypocrites and other things I can't say on this forum.

My conclusion - titanium does not have unacceptable environmental impacts.  Its a vitally important metal in the medical, aeronautical/aerospace fields and many others as well.

Thanks for doing some diligence for those of us who had neither the time nor the energy to do it ourselves, Marko. That said, titanium is still bloody expensive, so I'll probably stick with the one I have.

A few members have commented negatively on the environmental impacts of mining titanium.  I knew little about the process so I did some cursory internet research.  Yes Google.  Now its a given that mining has an impact on the environment, however, if its done responsibly and in accordance with current state of the art environmental standards and all remediation is done properly the ultimate impact can be manageable.  The main concern would be that titanium is generally mined using the strip mining process - that involves stripping off vegetation and the bio-active layer of soil to get at the ore bearing material.  This process tends to look unattractive during the operation phase of the mine, however, once the economically recoverable ore is removed and remediation is conducted the landscape will look like the rest of the surrounding area after a few years.  Proper remediation isn't just backfilling a hole and throwing some grass seed over it, it involves replacing material, particularly the bio-active layer (which is about a meter or so thick) in exactly the same composition of micro-organisms as previously existed.  Same grasses, same trees, same bacteria, same plants.  Done correctly, mining titanium is not considered to have a heavy environmental impact from what I've been able to glean.  Its about human activity , how its conducted and how we clean up after we're done.  As a species we've learned a lot and continue to learn more about how to do things correctly so we have as small a negative impact as possible, walk softly and not step on anybody's toes.  I'll say this - when we boast about the high environmental standards we have here in North America or Europe and then outsource the work/mining/production to countries with little to no standards in the name of corporate profits, we're hypocrites and other things I can't say on this forum.

My conclusion - titanium does not have unacceptable environmental impacts.  Its a vitally important metal in the medical, aeronautical/aerospace fields and many others as well.

Thanks for doing some diligence for those of us who had neither the time nor the energy to do it ourselves, Marko. That said, titanium is still bloody expensive, so I'll probably stick with the one I have.

Thanks Will, I know that there will be those with a differing view when it comes to Ti and mining/resource extraction in general, however, I still hold to the view that the question isn't whether it should be done or not but rather that we do it correctly in accordance with the latest knowledge that we have. Humans are going to be around for a while yet and there really is no going back to our caves. Enjoy that Ti Wolfman