Quote Originally Posted by bill3152 View Post
I use the hht. Works for me. You dont have to. Shave test is supreme obviously. To ridicule it or tell somebody its useless or the only way to tell if the blade is ready is ridiculous. Like to use it? Great, find its a waste of time? Great. Whatever floats you boat. Some guys hone their blades on the frosted edge of their car windows. Great. Whatever makes you happy.
I stated early on in this thread that I thought the most interesting thing about these HHT threads, and there have been lots of them and will be more, is that they tend to devolve into sarcasm and ridicule so quickly. If anyone wonders why that is, here's a clue.

What if there was an objective test for razor sharpness that predicted shave quality? Certainly this is not impossible, as some have attempted to state, because quantification of an edge's sharpness is amenable to scientific inquiry and mathematical calculation. Although whiskers and faces certainly vary from one person to the next, edge sharpness itself is another matter and can be quantified fairly easily. Edge sharpness is a function of steel quality, bevel angles and the degree of refinement of the bevels where they meet in the edge. That is a matter of physics, measurement and calculation and therefore objective.

The HHT is another matter, of course. The HHT is not a scientific test, and that is mostly a result of the uncontrollable variables involved in it. Some people may find it predictive of a shave ready edge, but some others are unable to get it to work or unwilling to exert the effort required to make the test functional for them. That part is understandable.

What doesn't make much sense, especially in a straight razor shaving forum in which the quest for a sharp edge occupies much of the posting found here, is that attempts to discover a simple test for sharpness and evaluating an edge for shave readiness are almost universally dismissed, ridiculed and responded to with sarcastic posts. There are sub-forums on SRP about hones, strops, honing, stropping, blade maintenance and other topics all related to edge sharpness and maintaining that sharpness. Yet anyone's attempt to find a way to evaluate that sharpness prior to shaving with the blade is frowned upon.

In a rifle or sharpshooting forum, would attempts to predict accuracy in terms of barrel rifling, bullet shape or different charges be dismissed so quickly and easily? Wouldn't members of a handgun or rifle forum be interested in establishing ways of predicting accuracy based on such factors? Why is it different here?

Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that a test, the HHT just for example, could be found that did predict shave readiness. Assuming that could be done, wouldn't one ordinarily expect that test to be of some interest to those shaving with straight razors? Would it matter much if the test was hard to conceptualize, difficult to master at first, and that considerable work would have to be expended in practice to get it right? What if even a brand new Newbie would then have the ability to tell if a razor was shave ready and a practiced shaver could tell immediately whether a blade was ready for a touch-up?

Are there people threatened by that possibility? Why are they threatened?