Thread: HHT Levels?

I gave the reference to the Library article on the first page of this thread and, being tired of arguing the point, I thought I'd just let it go at that, but......

Despite all the negative press the HHT gets, lots of guys who are well-respected here use it and use it productively.

What doesn't work is for a new guy to pick up a hair, apply it to a blade of unknown sharpness and try to make some conclusion from the result.

The HHT is certainly NOT bullshit.

With the help of a respected mentor here (whose name I won't mention because of the inevitable HHT backlash), I worked on getting the HHT to a point where I could really use it to my advantage. The result of that is that it is an indispensable part of my honing routine.

Hair variability is not an issue for me. I have collected hairs from friends, male and female, and have two sandwich bags full of them. Of course they are all different, but that is a plus, not a minus.

I don't bother with HHT testing (and never worry about HHT numbers, although I see the point of them), until I get a razor close to shave ready. Usually that is somewhere in my progression from 8K to 12K and then on to the Gokumyo for finishing (and, yes, my expensive Escher now goes unused).

The truth is that if I didn't have the HHT, I wouldn't know when to stop honing. I have gotten to the point that using the HHT tells me, without fail, when a razor will shave well. I use different hairs, observe the results, and when finer hairs are getting snipped easily, I know the blade will shave. I can take any blade I have out of my storage cabinet, check it with the HHT and know whether it will shave or needs a touch-up.

There is no question that the shave is the most important thing, but I'll be damned if I'm going to have to lather up and shave to test a blade when I have found an easier, quicker and infallible way of checking the edge while I'm honing. With all the different hairs I have to test with, and with the experience I have developed in years of using it, it NEVER fails to predict precisely how the shave will be.

Why doesn't it work for Newbies? It doesn't work for the same reason that a person who has just learned to drive can't be expected to jump into a 1963 427 Chevrolet Impala SS and turn a sub-13 second quarter mile. It takes practice and experience to achieve success in either case. But don't blame failures on the HHT, anymore than you'd blame the 427 for missing shifts or a bad start. It's not the test that is at issue, but the talent and experience of the person taking the test.