Thread: The HHT test

Yep.

I haven't experienced that yet, but it seems that ultra sharp and ultra smooth blades can fail the HHT but still shave nicely. For me at this point, if the razor doesn't pass the HHT it feels like a crosscut saw on my face...

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

The points you guys are making about the usefulness of this test are valid. New shavers will still have to learn what a sharp edge feels to shave with, and how sharp an edge has to be for their particular beard.

So this fishing line idea doesn't solve the whole problem, but it's still extremely useful, I think. My hair works great for the HHT, but I have some hairs that are really thick and others that are really thin. Sometimes an edge will pass on one hair and not on another.

Remember, the hardest thing for new honers to learn is when to stop honing. I just picture the poor guy with wispy blond hair who's honing his fingers off, creating an edge and then overhoning it because it won't cut his silky locks...

This would give him a point where he could say, OK, it's cutting this fishing line, so let's shave test.

We'll never eliminate the learning curve, but a more standardized test would shorten it for a lot of guys.

Just my two cents,
Josh

My wife and I both have very fine hair and the hairs won't pass a traditional HHT easily. I have to replicate shaving by passing the hair right near the tips of the fingers that hold it which I understand isn't the way I should do it but if I try the regular or traditional test, I'll never pass it

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

What I don't understand is that I think I've read posts where people claim to have razors that will not pass the HHT on any hair but still get good shaves ---am I right here?

Yes. It's not unusual that my razors topple hairs great at 4k, less so at 8k, and have real trouble at 15k+. Several of my sharpest and best razors are like this, including the Feather, my Lynn-honed Wonderedge, and one each of my Sta-Sharps, Watervilles, and Mappin&Webbs. It's not universal; my Robert Williams razor pops hair like mad and it's probably my sharpest razor, and my other top razors pop hairs fine. But because of this inconsistency I don't really worry much about the hair tests above 8k, I just make sure my honing technique is solid, and get a definitive answer from the shave test.

Boy --I'm glad we picked such a simple way of shaving. Which brings up one question. How much actual thought did the people of yesteryears give to this whole business. Maybe they were not striving for the ultimate shave --- maybe compared to walking and traveling by horseback and having to endure all types of hardship, any well honed razor was a pleasure by comparison. Should we be striving for the ultimately honed Zeus wielding razor or should we accept something a little short of this? It's all fun and good to strive for perfection but smell them roses fellas.

Justin

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Boy --I'm glad we picked such a simple way of shaving. Which brings up one question. How much actual thought did the people of yesteryears give to this whole business. Maybe they were not striving for the ultimate shave --- maybe compared to walking and traveling buy horseback and having to endure all types of hardship, any well honed razor was a pleasure by comparison. Should we be striving for the ultimately honed Zeus wielding razor or should we accept something a little short of this? It's all fun and good to strive for perfection but smell them roses fellas.

Justin

Yep, I think that's very true. Shave and get back to business. But since we live in a time with more free-time on our hands (maybe too much), we can pursue a more artistic form of the mundane routine. I've mentioned before that I'd like to keep it as simple as possible since I don't want to get into restoration, collecting, etc. I just want a good shave. The problem comes in getting a good shave consistently. Which comes back to regular honing, stropping, testing, shaving. Skills more common to the oldtimers than to us whippersnappers.

If you go back in the SOTD forum a month or so I posted a link to an article Mark Twain wrote about his local barber's shaves. Besides being terribly funny, it's also likely to contain more than a kernel of truth about the realities of straight shaving back in the day (otherwise it wouldn't have been funny to his contemporary readers).

Originally Posted by mparker762

If you go back in the SOTD forum a month or so I posted a link to an article Mark Twain wrote about his local barber's shaves. Besides being terribly funny, it's also likely to contain more than a kernel of truth about the realities of straight shaving back in the day (otherwise it wouldn't have been funny to his contemporary readers).

How do I find this. What is SOTD? (please forgive me)


Justin

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

How do I find this. What is SOTD? (please forgive me)


Justin

SOTD = shave of the day (forum)

or

Shaving, Ouch That's Dull

Originally Posted by steve

SOTD = shave of the day (forum)

or

Shaving, Ouch That's Dull

Thanks Steve ----- And on my part : Mark Twain quote:
"It is better to be thought a fool than to open
one's mouth and remove all doubt."



Justin

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Thanks Steve ----- And on my part : Mark Twain quote:
"It is better to be thought a fool than to open
one's mouth and remove all doubt."



Justin

OUCH!!!!!!!!!