The Fatip Gentile Closed Comb, a brief review.

I took advantage of a mightier U.S. Dollar last month and pulled the trigger on a Fatip Gentile Grande Black safety razor. As always, connaughtshaving.com had my order at my door in less than two weeks from their UK locale.

My initial impressions of the razor were positive.
The heft of the deep, rich, black gunmetal finished brass was and remains flawless. The handle is thick like an Aristocrat which appeals to me. The aesthetics of this black razor are superlative, but pretty don't catch the baby. I loaded the Fatip with my favorite Feather blade and lathered up. Performance wise this razor is okay. I had a typical, three pass DFS on the first run and in subsequent days duplicated and/or improved the shaves.
I'm am however, an experienced DE shaver and checked out my new Fatip before use. It was at this point that the Fatip fails, build quality. It is possible to put this razor together and really misalign a blade. As such, it is a cut in waiting. I'm not talking a slight misalignment, I'm talking a "dear Jesus! Why has this happened to me?!?" slice the kisser kind of misalignment.

So, would I recommend this razor? Not only no, but no way. Check out the photo and tell me if this is a quality piece of gear.

 

Wow.. Epic fail on the alignment.. That is crazy scary. Thank you for the write up.

 

I had that same problem with my Utopia razor. If you are aware of it, you can avoid the blood, but I don't like having to be checking alignment every time I load a blade.

 

That's just horrible Tony! It's a damn shame cause it's a classy looking razor especially in black. What a nightmare...

 

I agree, a real spoiler as the razor is beautiful. I'm sure it was disappointing.

 

Man Tony!! I thought this was going to be a good review, I've almost bought this razor twice now. I'm sorry that it's an epic fail. Like Jim wrote, I don't like having to check blade alignment every time I load a blade. Thanks for the review! And taking one for the team.

 

Thanks for the write up and exposing the flaws of this razor.

 

That's disappointing but from what I hear not entirely surprising from them. I happen to have a flawless Piccolo but I've heard many horror stories regarding their quality and control. If the price is right I might still risk it.

 

I have two Fatips, (grandes) and they both need to have the blades aligned carefully each time. Ordinarily, I would junk the both of them, but two things: The blade is very easy to line up, you don't have to flex or use pressure as you tighten the cap like some others I have had trouble with. You just have to watch it when you tighten it. Secondly, one should consider the big picture. A brass razor, that gives an amazingly close but comfortable shave, for less than $30 USD. If it was being sold at a higher price point, I would give it a thumbs down too, but as is, I wholeheartedly recommend it as long as a person is aware of the potential.

 

Thanks for the review. I almost ordered one of these yesterday but was going to wait till the weekend. Now I'm going to just stick with what I've got.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

Nice writeup.

I get better alignment out of my YUMA.

 

I have a piccolo that aligns quite well, but I bought three Fatip razors (piccolo, grande, and retro) and, of the three, only one top plate had pins that were properly aligned. It appears that the 2 pins on the underside of the top plate are brazed on -- easy to see why they're difficult to get straight, but inexcusable to allow them to pass quality control. I can shave with any of the three Fatips I bought, but I have to use the "good" top, swapping it out for the misaligned ones -- truly, a shame.

Still . . . I've gotta say that my favorite (the piccolo) is a joy to use and gives a marvelous shave -- just watch that blade alignment!

 

Hopefully you got a refund

 

Okay, that is not cool. The two Grandes I have had are easy to mix the blade alignment up, but super easy to fix. What you describe, is pretty much a deal breaker, and inexcusable.

 

Nope, no refund -- I'd bought these as a lot (all three for around $35 if memory serves) so I blame myself for being a little greedy -- they were in official Fatip boxes, but my guess is they were factory seconds. If that's the case, then maybe I'm lucky to have one good one.

My only advice would be to buy your Fatip from a reputable dealer, check it carefully when you receive it, and be suspicious if the price seems too good to be true.

The shave a "good" Fatip can give is extraordinary.

 

My Grande was fine out of the box. I guess I got lucky.

 

You did.

 

Geez this technology was invented in the 1880's. You'd think by now they'd get the hang of it..

 

I was two barriers away from ordering one of the Gentile golds on Friday. First, Italian barber was out of the Gold type finish, which would be my prefernce. Reading here, I'm kinda glad I didn't settle for one of the other finishes. Thanks for the heads up.

Second was not related to the razor, but delivery. Italian Barber says delivery to PO boxes is basically a crap shoot. .?? I don't understand that, since they use USPS for delivery in the US. Anyone have issues with delivery besides longer wait times? I don't have local USPS service so have to go to the PO box or UPS/FedX to my door. I'm assuming they mean Canadian PO boxes? I've never had issues with packages gone missing in the past.