Hi. I beg you this pics are not seen as advertisement outside the vendor area, please. They are my own handles. I show them for colective enjoyment, like a fellow member of the forum. I do not want to be warned by any mod, please.
Well, this is what has brought Santa. I'll tell the story of each handle, because each has its own.
"The Missing Link": I have a U1.1 I bought second-hand, since I did not be in time for the first U1 series. In August I showed it in the SOTD thread, and my dear friend in the antipodes, Ben, took an interest in it. Since it is a closed series, which Rafael will not produce more, I made efforts in the Spanish forum to see if anyone wanted to part with one. By chance, I got two instead of one. For one of them had to pay more than the initial price. It had already appreciated! Most perfect traveled to Australia, you know the great love of Ben for beautiful things. And for the second, I had an idea. I sent it to Seville, to the home of Rafael. I asked him to turn the knob eliminating a little knurled area and modifying the neck to make it like the U2 and so it can be used in NEW heads. (The U1 can not be used in some NEW heads). So now I have a unique piece that I called "The Missing Link" as is halfway between U1 and U2. This happened in September, but I had to wait Rafael had a little time. I prefer he spends his time in you. Mine is not important. It has been difficult with some health problems that Rafael had, wich delayed the TiTAN series, and so has come so late. This has delayed the entire shipment of my handles. Here you can see it between my U1 and U2. Notice that U2 is not standard. It has neck ring. It was the prototype, but then Rafael changed his mind, and he did not make the ring. I liked the prototype, and at the initial sale of the Spanish forum I convinced him to sell me this unit.
TiTAN: The TiTAN's history is this. A friend of the spanish forum and I were pushing Rafael to make three titanium handles. As a personal project for us three. As a challenge for him. I bought in July three Weber ARC heads for them. We assigned the name to the handle, how could it be otherwise was TiTAN. I was pushing more. But Rafael did nothing but bring problems. He said he had asked prices of material and was very expensive, it was very difficult to work with, it was a material that he did not know, he had no proper tools, he did not know if he could knurling it, etc. As the project was not progressing, in the month of July, I bought the first titanium rod bar calculating material length that he could waste in tests, and I sent it to Rafael's home. Ha ha, then he had no turning back. He was forced, or be seen by us as a coward. It took a while to make the first, which is the one announced in the sales thread, and it is this same unit, mine. In the meantime he had some health problems, a set of knurls wasted with the hardness of titanium and had to buy another, broke several blades, etc.. But went ahead with mastery. Rafael is THE BOSS! Now we have for our enjoyment a titanium handle (I do not know if it is the first or the only one). Titanium is more flexible than steel, and very hard, so it is more difficult to knurling, but produces a deep knurled, crisp and clear, with less metal ripples than steel. It is by far the most gripping handle I have from Rafael. And it is by the material. Also more difficult to polish. Do not get the full mirror polished as steel. And has a spectacular color. A slightly brown tone that blends well with nickel plated heads. In the pic is mounted on a nickel plated head.
Kaiser aluminum bronze: Our good friend Ravi ordered us a short Kaiser (85 mm long) in aluminum bronze. Long time ago Rafael had made one or two prototypes in this metal. But he had not returned to this metal. This metal weighs about as steel, and is almost as hard as it. Lighter and tougher than red bronze. Rafael had to reduce the caliber of a bar to 13 mm and the handle came out of the third. He wasted two handles before, they did not be good. When he said that it was made, I told him that he was wrong. Ravi wanted a short handle. I told him to cut it, amend it. But Rafael is like Gollum. He said no. He would make one for Ravi. And that was his precious. That was it. I told him that the tools are expensive, the machines are expensive, the handles are for sale, it would be for selling. And he said no, that was his precious. It has a clear and crisp knurling, not as much as titanium, but sharper than steel. And golden brown, dark, effect of aluminum oxidation, which gives a spectacular old taste. Aging faster. Finally I convinced him not to keep it. I wanted to try a handle 100 mm long, as the Kaiser, and I would kept it for me, that the handles are for sale. Well, it was a struggle with Gollum. My precious, my precious. It's mine now.
Goliath XL red bronze: This handle has crossed the English Channel twice. The red bronze is a cast spinning metal. Sometimes have a bubble or imperfection. After periodic cleaning it revealed two small dimples in the neck. A material defect. You know that Rafael's commitment with satisfaction of his friends is firm. A new handle flew there and this returned to Seville. I persuaded Rafael to send it to me. With a little sanding he has removed one of the dimples, but there is another that looks very closely at the macro camera. But it is not suitable for anyone to pay for it. Rafael does not permit it. He would destroy it. But I convinced him that sent it to me. Nobody will never see the defect. I never will get rid of it. Sine qua non condition to rescue it from the scrap.
Here pics with white background to compare colors. It is difficult in the pics. I do not know if you can see the differences.
