Thread: Norton 4/8 sharpness

Struggling a bit. Should I be able to reach the hanging hair sharpness test with the Norton 4/8K? Any advice appreciated.
Gus

I've been shaving with a straight for 28 years and have never been able to get the HHT to work for me, even with professionally-honed razors. I wouldn't worry about it.

Welcome to SRP. I think the answer to that is maybe but it is not necessary to get a smooth, comfortable and close shave. I find that if after honing and stropping the edge will pop hair off of my forearm with it not touching the skin but suspended slightly above it is sharp enough for my beard. YMMV. If it will pass HHT all the better but as Lynn says the shave is the important test.

I always went from the 4/8 to a 12k because I had it. Randydance advised me to try shave testing off of the 8k and I did. I found it was plenty good for me. The added smoothness of the higher grits or pastes was icing on the cake.

If you haven't already done so the SRP Wiki on the left of the toolbar above offers tutorials on honing, stropping, shaving and all things straight razor related. Check it out.

Originally Posted by Chimensch

I've been shaving with a straight for 28 years and have never been able to get the HHT to work for me, even with professionally-honed razors. I wouldn't worry about it.

Kind of sums it up for me too. The only true test for sharpness is when the rubber meets the road (or blade meets the whiskers in this case...).

Originally Posted by walgus

Struggling a bit. Should I be able to reach the hanging hair sharpness test with the Norton 4/8K? Any advice appreciated.
Gus

Maybe, maybe not, but you should be able to get the blade sharp enough for an excellent shave.

I just started and can't get my blades to reach the hanging hair sharpness test with the 8K either. Since I don't yet have a coticule it's the best I can do on my own. I did find that stropping 50 on the linen and 50 on the leather does the trick! Welcome and good luck!

I use the Norton 4k/8k, and have always gotten hairs off my wife's hairbrush. She has black hair, not thin and not coarse.

I never have gotten the full-on, hair-popping, scary-sharp results from the HHT. I was gratified to see that this was even true for blades honed by a real hone-meister. So, it's not just that I am a clumsy honer (which I am, though my touch is getting lighter).

I still use the test, because I can see a continuum between these states (again, these are just my results):
1) Hey, it cuts hairs cleanly along the whole blade, though it's noisy and I really have to line the hair up just right and cut close to my fingers; this is as good as it gets for me.
2) Well, it sort of tears or mangles the hair, or cuts through it sort of poorly. I'm still good to shave with this thing, especially with some extra stropping.
3) Hanging hairs are not afraid of this edge at all. Depending on the shave I'm getting, either I've fouled it up with a clutzy bit of stropping (it burns!), or I've waited too long to visit the hone (it feels smooth but doesn't shave well).

This hasn't always been what it's like, and things may change later, but this is what it's like for me now!

The HHT is overrated as a test for shaving sharpness, or at least the oversimplified version is of questionable utility. It's not so much that the hanging hair is cut, as the way the blade and hair interact that's important, and that is different for everybody. It's something you'll have to pick up from experience, by comparing HHT performance with shave performance.

You may or may not be able to cut a hanging hair off the norton, but nearly everyone should be able to get a good shave off of it. But it may take some time to master the norton sufficiently to accomplish this.