Fatip Frankenrazors

[les24preludes]

Here's a thread to post pics of your Fatip Frankenrazors. I'll start with pics of my Grande plate with a top cap and handle - all solid brass - from a Yintal Bronze. That was $12 off AliExpress. Total weight 108g, very solid and well made. Looks to me like a poor man's Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC or Karve OC. It's pretty efficient but smooth as well - I like it. The blade is very rigid and well supported.

 

[jmudrick]

Here's a thread to post pics of your Fatip Frankenrazors. I'll start with pics of my Grande plate with a top cap and handle - all solid brass - from a Yintal Bronze. That was $12 off AliExpress. Total weight 108g, very solid and well made. Looks to me like a poor man's Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC or Karve OC. It's pretty efficient but smooth as well - I like it. The blade is very rigid and well supported.

View attachment 41243 View attachment 41244

Handy, I might have to pick one up. I think I've used Old Type, Yaqi DOC, Boss, and Fine Marvel caps, the latter was particularly good with my Schone.

 

[TobyC]

Here's a thread to post pics of your Fatip Frankenrazors. I'll start with pics of my Grande plate with a top cap and handle - all solid brass - from a Yintal Bronze. That was $12 off AliExpress. Total weight 108g, very solid and well made. Looks to me like a poor man's Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC or Karve OC. It's pretty efficient but smooth as well - I like it. The blade is very rigid and well supported.

View attachment 41243 View attachment 41244

I'm bothered by the "Process: electroplating" thing.

product information:

• Material: brass + alloy(A) /copper(B)
• Process: electroplating
• Size: 109 * 41 * 24 mm(A) /11.3 cm / 4.45"(B)
• Weight: 112g(A) / 88g(B)

 

[les24preludes]

I'm bothered by the "Process: electroplating" thing.

product information:

• Material: brass + alloy(A) /copper(B)
• Process: electroplating
• Size: 109 * 41 * 24 mm(A) /11.3 cm / 4.45"(B)
• Weight: 112g(A) / 88g(B)

Can you tell me more? What's the bother? The handle is solid brass. The top cap must be brass because of the weight, though it looks plated in some way. The Fatip is also plated brass so there should not be any galvanic corrosion I'm aware of unless the plating is involved?

 

[Chris]

Can you tell me more? What's the bother? The handle is solid brass. The top cap must be brass because of the weight, though it looks plated in some way. The Fatip is also plated brass so there should not be any galvanic corrosion I'm aware of unless the plating is involved?

I think he means that as the head is plated to look like brass it may well not be, and I’m inclined to share the same concern.

 

[les24preludes]

I think he means that as the head is plated to look like brass it may well not be, and I’m inclined to share the same concern.

It says brass in the description, the handle is definitely solid brass because I machined the end to shorten it. I'm going with plated brass for the head since it weighs 37g. I can't see it being zamak at that weight, can you?

 

[Chris]

It says brass in the description, the handle is definitely solid brass because I machined the end to shorten it. I'm going with plated brass for the head since it weighs 37g. I can't see it being zamak at that weight, can you?

I guess not, my EJ 89 head is 29g. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but if it’s brass why plate it to look like brass?

 

[les24preludes]

I guess not, my EJ 89 head is 29g. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but if it’s brass why plate it to look like brass?

Good question. My guess would be to stop it tarnishing. For every razor collector that loves a Karve or a Charcoal Goods in solid brass there must be 100 times this number that prefer something shiny that stays shiny.

 

[TobyC]

Can you tell me more? What's the bother? The handle is solid brass. The top cap must be brass because of the weight, though it looks plated in some way. The Fatip is also plated brass so there should not be any galvanic corrosion I'm aware of unless the plating is involved?

My concern would be that it's not brass, and the underlying metal may be something not as strong or corrosion resistant. I wouldn't want to take brass parts off of my Fatip and replace them with something inferior. Electroplating means that what you see is not what you get.

 

[les24preludes]

My concern would be that it's not brass, and the underlying metal may be something not as strong or corrosion resistant. I wouldn't want to take brass parts off of my Fatip and replace them with something inferior. Electroplating means that what you see is not what you get.

The Fatip top cap is brass and weighs 15g. The Yintal top cap weighs 16g. The listing says electroplated brass, I know the handle is brass. I'm going with brass here. If it were zamak it would be lighter than brass, 6.6g/cm3 to 8.7g/cm3. You're right to be curious, of course.

 

[TobyC]

I believe the head may be the Maggard V3A, which is zinc alloy.

Which may explain Yintal's description; Brass + alloy.

 

[les24preludes]

I believe the head may be the Maggard V3A, which is zinc alloy.
Which may explain Yintal's description; Brass + alloy.

Well spotted - the bottom plate is identical. The top cap could still be brass. I assume they're made on the same production line. What I don't know is whether both brass and zamak could be used with the same tooling. There is some difference for sure because the Maggard weighs 32g and the Yintal weighs 37g.

 

[Chris]

At the end of the day the longevity of zamak only becomes a problem when it fails, and you still have the original Fatip top cap if that happens. It'll probably be fine whatever it's made of, although I agree that the weight would suggest brass.

 

[les24preludes]

Now here's a very different beast, courtesy of rusdrunkbear on eBay who supplied me with this marvellous titanium handle. This is quite another razor, uber solid and good to hold and the handle is just the right length. With my Yintal supposed-brass top plate which gives a very rigid grip on the blade it looks and performs like a high end razor now. I'm a bit in awe of it - efficient and smooth and quite a shave. Weight is 87g and balance is excellent.