Quote Originally Posted by avatar1999 View Post
Bart,

I love your article, really I do. My problem, and it seems that others can't seem to understand what I mean, is that so far, despite all the testing that people on the forums have done, there is no standard "test" that can be performed by everyone and come up with the same results. I keep reading "you just have to figure out your own way to make it happen", "your hair is too thick", "your hair is too thin", etc.

IMO, that is not an adequate "test." It is just a bunch of people finding several different ways to get the same result. That proves NOTHING other than these people can get the same thing to happen with different methods. I could cut a hair in half many different ways; I could burn your house to the ground in several different ways; I could give you the same haircut using several different ways, but it proves nothing.

The quote below (and several other posts that I am not gonna waste my time looking up) tells me that the HHT, as it stands, CANNOT without a doubt, prove that one razor is "sharper" than another.




Unless you STANDARDIZE the test so that ANYONE, ANYWHERE, with ANY hair, can get the same result with the SAME edge, there there is no way you can really say that a razor is sharper for having passed the HHT. I can't seem to get anyone to understand this. But if you want to say "my razor is sharper than yours cause mine passes the HHT" then fine. Go ahead. But you are only blindsiding people, and deceiving them.

I can cut a dog in half with my chef knife, can you?

My kitchen knife is sharper than yours! SO THERE!

You can't get a razor as sharp as I can, so sod off!

It's not a standard, so it means nothing more than someone can cut a hair, which any halfway sharp razor can do.

Your absolutly correct in stating that no one person can give you an ultimate test that guarantees the blade is the same sharpness from any number of people.
These tests that are used by everyone are only relative to their type of honing. Some use different stones, some finish differently, some use crox, some use diamond spray or paste, some use naturals, some use synthetics, you get the idea.
If you were to take a razor and have it honed by two of the pro's here, you might find the results different when you shave with it. Both will do the same tests and yet both might come up with a different, but subtle, edge.
There is no standard guaranteed test that anyone can use because of this, if there were everyone would use it without fail. That's why you need to find your own definition of HHT or whatever and go with it. If it works for you, and you can get duplicate results, then you are good to go.
I know this might not answer your question but I do hope it leads you in the right direction.

Enjoy!

Ray