Fatip - Lo Storto

[efsk]

A razor that has been waited for with a lot of anticipation all over the forums is the Fatip slant, Lo Storto as they brand it themselves. Early February for those of us in Europe it became pre-orderable, and shipping commenced 20-02-2020. The mail was sent 12:47, so there's a missed opportunity there.
Available with safety bar or open comb, with a barberpole type handle with a knob at the end. The transition from pole to knob (talking about razors here) has a bit of a sharp edge. The razors seem well finished, nothing obvious wrogn, although there is a bit of wiggling room for the blade so complaints about alignmentissues will be abundant.
Only one shave in, so will not comment on properties yet. Damaged packaging is how they came to me. Whether that is factory, reseller or transport will remain a mystery.
One thing: the razors were mailed out the 20th from an area that went into lockdown because of an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 the 23th. I'll let you know when I develop symptoms.

 

[gvw755]

Yours must be defective as both guide pins are attached to your cap. No wonder there is an alignment problem.

 

[DarkSpy]

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The posts are welded to the top cap and I also believe that's why there are alignment issues.
At least that's what it seams with my SE version. The blade can get in that small space between the post and top cap.
Been trying other top caps with the baseplates and don't have alignment issue.

Now, the problem is that with the slant that's not possible.

 

[efsk]

So Some shaving report might be in order.

First of, my CC and OC are both well-produced. No visible issues, plating is done well, no parts breaking of although we know of cases where that happened, just nice. Packaging is nice too, although in my case the inside of the packaging was damaged, as if the razors had been shoved in roughly.
There's apparently some freedom in tolerances: in my OC the blade aligns automatically to the baseplate, nice in the middle, no wiggling room to speak of. In my CC the blade has wiggling room so care must be taken to place it in the middle, and then it is possible to align to the cap or the base.
The handle holds nice, not slippery, stable, all fine. If anything, th point where the shaft changes into the knob (talking razorhandles here folks) is a bit sharp-edged.
When shaving, the razor performs best with the blade aligned to the base. Aligned to the cap the shave is a bit rough, not very pleasant, and not very efficient either. Aligned to the base the shave is a lot more comfortable, though less so than for instance with a Merkur 37, ATT S1/S2, PAA Bakelite slant. First shaves were not that efficient, but getting better each time, and with a few more shaves I'm convinced there will be perfect shaves possible every time. It's just that with some other available options, that point is reached much easier.
This is way better than the Yaqi slant or the ATT S1 in aluminum (I dislike that one utterly, made a mess of my face where I love the SS S1), but lags a bit behind Merkur 37/39, PAA bakelite slant or ATT S1.

 

[DarkSpy]

Have you tried using the OC top cap with the CC base plate and see if the problem is resolved?

 

[The King]

Maybe I threw in the towel a little too early but it doesn't happen often that a scraper can't charm me at all but this Fatip SB didn't suffice at all.

 

[Snuff]

Your friend may have a peculiar taste when it comes to shaving soaps but what razors is concerned you should by now know that my judgement is right, don’t say I didn’t warn you about this one.

 

[gvw755]

Based on the recommendation from @efsk when the lo Storto became available on Connaught, I went with the OC version and shaved with it last night. Build was solid like you would expect from Fatip and overall, the razor is pretty good looking. That knob at the bottom of the handle looks out of place with the barber pole upper part. It is almost as if you would expect the razor to be one wit the baseplate attached to the handle and a shaft post. As noted by efsk, the blade aligned perfectly with no problems. I started with the angle I usually start with and found the razor to be quite rough with a lot of blade feel. I then remembered it was a Fatip and so immediately adjusted the angle to be more cap. After that, the shave was very smooth and efficient. I was impressed with it and this was just my first shave. I ended up with a two pass plus touch up near BBS. I know with subsequent use, I can get a solid BBS.

Based on other folks reviews, I think the lo Storto Gentile can wait until one hits BST or goes on sale, as I am totally happy with the OC version.

 

[The King]

Here the assessment of the Fatip OC slant which I received from Jaap, my thanks for that and it is and remains of course only my subjective opinion.

The build quality of this Fatip has surprised me very positively because until now every Fatip I have been allowed to own was of inferior quality. A lot of slack and quite difficult to align the blade are some of the complaints that were common with older specimens.

The little brother of this slant or the one with the closed comb was a razor that worked on my laughing muscles because one side really didn't do anything and the other side hardly performed better.

The only thing to notice on this open slant is that the blade on one end protrudes much further under the top plate than on the other side.

Then the most important thing is how does he shave? Well, it's a pretty efficient Razor you'll get the hang of pretty quickly. On top of that I'm a big fan of slant Razors and until about 6 years ago I only used slant Razors.

It's a comfortable shearer and because of its open comb it needs a little more attention than a closed comb. But because of the open comb it is a bit easier to shave on certain places like under the nose.

The shaving angle is very easy to find and because of the light weight you can let the scraper glide smoothly over the skin. The grip is short but I found it surprisingly easy to hold.

The Razor costs about € 30 and that is of course very cheap for a new Razor. Considering its efficiency and comfort it scores very high on quality/price ratio for me.

If I give him a grade in a ranking of my known slants he comes out on place 7.
The undisputed topper for me remains the Saba which scores a hard ten and then the Mulcuto Nadelspitzen which scores a 10.