Thread: HHT and Wedges (actually, Near Wedges)

Well, if you hone them right, they all perform the same.

I don't regularly do the HHT but have found no difference with it between wedges and hollows.

Now that we got that out of the way, I have one question. Do you use fresh tape regularly? I'm assuming that you use tape on wedges and you probably know that the tape wears and leads to an angle change at the edge.

Your photo shows scratches in three directions. Was this fresh off the hone or after stropping? The bevel is slightly darker in the third of it closest to the edge, and the prominent diagonal scratches stop at its margin. All of this makes me wonder if you are reaching the edge.

I don't use tape. I don't have any true wedges, but if I did, I would use tape, but the last stone always gets a fresh piece of tape to make sure the edge is reached.

The bevel was finished with a suita, thus there are less than uniform scratches, but they are not deep like a synthetic, so they don't terminate in a notch at the edge.

This is post stropping, the edge of the bevel is dark due to chromium oxide. I wouldn't use it on most razors, but I've noticed that on stainless razors, the finish is better (and the shave less crispy) than with natural stones. That shouldn't be a surprise because they're 440C, which doesn't finish as neatly on a given stone due to its propensity to hold foil, even at the tiny levels of foil on razors. I don't find any improvement with crox on a harder carbon steel razor.

re: the tape thing again, this is a new razor, a friodur 11 (something I haven't seen before). The bevel is still small, but if someone over hones it, it will grow quickly due to the profile of the grind. It's less "wedge" than an old wostenholm or something of that sort, but it's a very thick and heavy grind without much hollow. The edge is reached, and the razor shaves hair well. It passes the HHT in the condition shown, but much like the hayashi razor I had, not the silent effortless way.

I've noticed also on the very hollow razors, the HHT often passes with a very quiet ping. It leads me to believe that the edge is being played a little bit or it wouldn't make that ping (if it pings, it's moving a little with the hair).

I'm way down the rabbit hole here with this supposition, but have found it curious.

It's very hard to judge the shaves with these razors (of course, it's fine, but they don't have the same feel that an ultra hollow light weight razor has. they just shave the hairs off silently).

In terms of trying to make the bevel look pretty when the edge is excellent, it's not something that I generally do. I scope an edge like this when I don't get the results I want to ensure there isn't notching or foil damage (which is often the cause of poor HHT results). If the edge has been reached and it is as uniform as this one is, it's a better edge than I've gotten on purchased "professionally honed" new razors, which I would suspect are honed very quickly due to the sellers' need to put through a lot of razors quickly.

Bunch of variables, too - would the test be different with another type of hair? No clue, I don't change variables (like using my wife's much heavier hairs) because I can't conclude much.

What I typically get without crox is shown in the attached picture. Edges like the one shown don't look as pretty as a bevel that's been croxed off (so that nothing shows up optically), but the shave is comfortable and spectacular - close with no weeps. Adding a bunch of crox work to this edge with a hanging strop will make it more dull. Less darkening to the edge, but a little bit of foiling because it's post strop. It's invisible pre-strop. The lack of darkening is just because the edge has seen non-abrasive linen and horse butt, which burnishes it a little bit, but that's about all - further into the use cycle, more of the edge would be dark because of the leather, but I'm not sure if all of the superficial scratches would ever be burnished off - I have to admit that I haven't looked at an edge that's had 200 shaves on it without any abrasive, but those edges still pass HHT reasonably easily.