Thread: Thumb Pad Test

TPT is the hardest test to learn and the only on that is useful in finding a shave ready edge in my opinion.

Levitating armhair test and to a much lesser extent HHT actually perform better on worse edges. I can pass the levitating armhair test easily on a low grit bevel, but a polished razor can't do it (I've developed an alternate test I use that relys on fileting the hairs and leaving them standing... this requires ~1" long or better hairs though) simply because there is no roughness to snag the hair and start the cut. To ever succeed requires you to saw the same hair back and forth until by act of god the edge snags a sizable imperfection in the hair and gets into it. I'm sure it's much easier if you have brittle or damaged hair though. But with healthy hair... it's no small feat.

Nail test is fantastic... when setting the bevel. But that is ALL it tests. I can pass the Nail test off of 100grit. It basically just confirms that your razor meets at something resembling a point. Nice when you're restoring a bevel. Useless beyond that point.

TPT I still don't do very well. But I have noticed one thing. Shave ready razors to me feel just like butterknifed ones... with one distinction, if I tilt the razor slightly I can feel the skin being pulled apart and the raised side gets lifted. Or I can just check the pad afterwards and see if there's a slit in the spot I was testing.

If I feel drag, it usually means I'm using a honed but not finished or stropped razor. (Razors off my 4k king have a little drag to them).

I feel a lot of it depends on your thumbprint and the amount of callous on your thumb. I can watch all the videos in the world and still the only way to improve is to just try it with a LOT of razors. I've been getting better by doing the TPT, then shaving and comparing how well the razor cuts in the shave with how it performed in the TPT.

Edit: I don't use the perpendicular TPT on razors out of fear of damaging the edge, but I use it on knives and did it a time or two on razors. A sharp edge on a razor with a (perpendicular) TPT feels like a perfectly aligned wire-burr on a knife. Because that's pretty close to what it is. It just happens to be desirable here. On a knife a piece of metal .5-1 micron thick will just fold over, get in the way and possibly damage the edge. On a razor, that is the edge. If you use this test, I'd recommend a VERY light touch as well as restropping after.

This being my first razor ever, I'm not quite up to date on all the hone stuff. I don't really understand that much about honing as of yet... that's next on my todo list, after getting my stropping technique down. But I do use a VERY light touch.

Although, I'm still trying to find the best method for testing... I find that I need just the slightest amount of pressure to do the TPT, and I would expect that to be bad for the razor... If you, or anyone else, can share with me their method for testing a razor (prefferably with a lot of detail, because I have no idea what you are trying to explain) that would be very helpful

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you probably shouldn't be trying any tests, except shaving, at this point in your shaving experience.
It would serve you much better to just learn how to properly strop and re-juvinate your edge, when it needs it, and the current edge should last you maybe 3 to 4 months before you have to even think about honing or touchup.
Maybe even your first honing should be sent out too. If you can force yourself to get the basics down first it will make your journey a whole lot easier.

JMHO.

Ray

Originally Posted by ShavedZombie

Okay, I'm new here, so if I'm passing out knowledge that everyone else knows already, my apologies, but here goes:

I recently purchased my first REAL straigh trazor (my first buy was a Kreigar. Lesson learned) and since I got it through VintageBladesLLC.com, I knew it had been honed by Lynn and would be guaranteed shave ready. However, when I tried the sharpness tests, I could never find the right feel (specifically the Thumb Pad Test. I was going across the edge and never got that "magnetic" feel as some have described it.) I did some googling and found this.

For ease of reference, the TPT is shown at 3:11 in the linked 10-min video.

Frankly, I haven't found any way to really test the shave-readiness of a razor short of actually shaving with it. I've had the HHT repeatedly fail with razors that came directly from honemeisters, on the other hand, I've had razors pass it, yet provide less than satisfactory shaves. And the same with the TPT: it gives me inconsistent results. I've tried using microscopes and everything else. For me, the bottom line is that no test is 100 percent accurate.

Originally Posted by rayman

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you probably shouldn't be trying any tests, except shaving, at this point in your shaving experience.
It would serve you much better to just learn how to properly strop and re-juvinate your edge, when it needs it, and the current edge should last you maybe 3 to 4 months before you have to even think about honing or touchup.
Maybe even your first honing should be sent out too. If you can force yourself to get the basics down first it will make your journey a whole lot easier.

JMHO.

Ray

No offense taken... I'm sure you're right, and I will probably end up buying another razor for my rotation, or sending this Dovo Best Quality out for pro-honing, before trying myself... I'll probably go with the Norton hones, they have the best rep that I've heard so far... And I'll wait until I'm good at shaving, and damn good at stropping... If I've gathered anythign from this board so far, it's that the stropping is even more important than the honing, because it's the daily blade maintenance, not a once every few months upkeep. And thanks for the input, Ray