Thread: What makes a razor pass the HHT?

Originally Posted by Sammer

Alright, I can't even believe this. Am I the only one that thinks this
whole situation is ridiculous? Somebody obsessed with cutting a
hanging hair with a razor that apparently shaves just fine?
.

Sammer, you also missed this subtle line from the OP, it isn't just the HHT that is missing but the shave as well at least the way I read that...

The shaves so far are alright, but I feel like I'm not getting the most out of my razor.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Oh, this is nothing. You should see the SEM photos of hone garnets, the workshops of guys who not only make their own razors but make their own tools to make the razors with, and long trigonometric discourses on bevel angles of razors laden with differing layers of UL approved electrical tape

Pushing the frontiers is part of what SRP is about

AFAIC if they don't mine and then smelt the ore themselves they are posers. Gotta go now, I'm hunting a gazelle to harvest the horn to make my own scales.

Originally Posted by zib

I'd like to say, Don't worry about the HHT, just shave, but it is a good gauge of how sharp your razor truly is. Barbers hones are ok for keeping a shave ready blade, shave ready, but to bring back an edge to pass the hht may require more work than that....Once your blade is shave ready and passing the hht, (it can be shave ready and not pass the hht) you can do 3-5 lapps on the barber hone to keep it that way...

Right now, you have a few choices, send it off to someone to hone it up for you, or buy stuff like Glen mentioned....How big is your pocket book?

Quickly,cheaply, and easily, you can get some paste, and bring back your edge. (Diamond paste, spray or lapping film will work fine) It'll work for a while, then you'll need to send it off, or buy rocks...

I'd get a set of Nortons, and 12k, ..You'll be good to go...

I could also get a coti and 12K right?

For you honers out here, where along the process does a razor pass the HHT? 1K? 8K? 12K?

You really might want to read through this thread about HHT it is just the last big one, there are many more on here...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-talk-hht.html


HHT is developed, only you can determine where, when, and if, it is going to work...

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Oh, this is nothing. You should see the SEM photos of hone garnets, the workshops of guys who not only make their own razors but make their own tools to make the razors with, and long trigonometric discourses on bevel angles of razors laden with differing layers of UL approved electrical tape

Pushing the frontiers is part of what SRP is about

Absolutely...Let's not forget the .000001 flat honing plates...

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

AFAIC if they don't mine and then smelt the ore themselves they are posers. Gotta go now, I'm hunting a gazelle to harvest the horn to make my own scales.

Hey, Your a funny guy.....

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

AFAIC if they don't mine and then smelt the ore themselves they are posers. Gotta go now, I'm hunting a gazelle to harvest the horn to make my own scales.

I'm just growing my fingernails really long.

But seriously. I imagine that a razor with a sharpish and really jagged edge is probably as good at the HHT as a sharper AND SMOOTHER razor, for the same reason those weed whackers have notched blades. I'm interested in Gull's question above, at what grit do people get passing HHTs? I guess I haven't tried it until I'm off the 8k stone. But maybe a light touch on the 1k could do it, just because the edge is still toothy.

To the original poster: As you work on this blade, stop after every step and re-do your HHT. That's the only way to make it really useful, is to calibrate it to your own honing, stropping, and use. Try one before you strop to shave, after you strop but before you shave, right after you shave, then once more after you give your blade its "putting-away strop." You'll notice very subtle differences, but they should correspond to what you've just done with the blade.

When you can afford to, treat yourself to a meister-honed razor to keep as a reference edge. I didn't really gain any honing traction until I did that and realized how much better shaves could be.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Sammer, you also missed this subtle line from the OP, it isn't just the HHT that is missing but the shave as well at least the way I read that...

The shaves so far are alright, but I feel like I'm not getting the most out of my razor.

Spot on G. An alright shave is not optimal & the OP feels this.

An optimally honed razor may pass a calibrated hanging hair test because it shaves well. Likewise a less than optimal shave may be reflected in the same HHT.

Originally Posted by roughkype

I'm interested in Gull's question above, at what grit do people get passing HHTs? I guess I haven't tried it until I'm off the 8k stone. But maybe a light touch on the 1k could do it, just because the edge is still toothy.

The answer may surprise you - at any grit starting at 1000. The caveat is that 'passing' means different things at different points of the honing process.
The big misconception of most people who don't hone, or use the test while honing, is that they think of it as a simple pass/fail test. It is not. The important part is how the hair interacts with the edge, and then the test is unambiguous and rather useful. But that poses a bit of a chicken-egg problem as one needs to be good at honing to calibrate the HHT throughout the process.

At this point my hair has about 4 different kinds of hairs, each of them interacts very differently with the same edge, but I know what to expect from each.

Forum discourse surrounding the HHT is fascinating indeed. The fact is that the HHT will vary from person to person, razor to razor, stone to stone. Shave, test, shave, test, shave, test = Success.