Thread: honing progression and hht

I think I'm starting to get this honing thing down but I'm still just not passing the hht on some razors. I'm trying to keep the strokes on the hone and pressure on the hone to a minimum but it I'm just not passing this hanging hair test with some.

I'm doing the norton pyramid, followed by the coticule, and I've got a pasted strop with .5 and .25 pastes. Do I want the razor to pass the hht before I move from the norton to the coticule?

Many people will tell you not to worry about the HHT and that the shave test is all that matters. Personally I can tell a lot about how a razor will shave by how it passes the HHT and TPT. You should be able to pass the HHT off the Norton 8K without a problem at least after the razor is stropped. I do not move to the coticule unless I get a HHT and/or TPT that I am satisfied with along the entire edge off the 8K Norton; however, I strop the razor before performing the tests.

I've never used the HHT for my razors.. After a while I got pretty good at gauging how they'll perform on the most important test of all -- the shave test, based on the AHT.

The razor should shave fine right off the 8K. The coticule adds that something extra to it all. I never use the HHT. I can tell by arm hair shaving when its shave ready and/or ready to go to the next stage. Like others have said, don't get caught up with tests. Shaving is the ultimate "test".

OK,
so you're honing along, and you want to get a sense for where the blade is... you try a fingernail test, and you get your idea, but probably you just damaged your edge a bit.
So you're honing along some more, and you want to check your progress, you do a thumb pad test maybe... now you've got another measuring stick to guage where the edge is, but you also are ruining your edge a tiny bit by rubbing your thumb over it like that.
So you complete a few more strokes, probably finishing off your Norton 8k pyramid, and you do a hair test. Either moving the blade into the upper tufts of your arm hair to see how it 'bites' or cleaves the hair, or you do the Hanging Hair Test to see if it cleaves the hair. Either it passes, or it doesn't, but at least you didn't wreck the blade this time checking.
Hopefully it'll pass, but if it doesn't, it doesn't mean your edge isn't shaveable. So you strop it a good number of times, maybe linen first, maybe on pasted paddles, finishing up on smooth (clean) leather.
Now you shave with it, and whaddya know - it shave that stubble off your ugly mugg. It might not be as SMOOTH as a Lynn honed razor, but it's cutting the hair and not causing too much discomfort. So what does this mean if you didn't pass a HHT?
What I've come to realize is that while a HHT can tell you if your blade is sharp and smooth, not passing doesn't mean that you can't shave. Passing a HHT basically tells you that your blade is as pretty F*ing good; like getting a B+/A- on your razor test. But what if you got a B/B- blade? Well, you're not failing, and you're not being told it's not good enough.

• So imagine you pass a HHT - you think the blade is good at this point, and you strop it and shave with it and low & behold you're right - it's a smooth shaver.
• Well, what if you pass the HHT and you mess up in stropping it, now your shave isn't as smooth as you'd hoped - so what did that HHT actually tell you? Nothing, I guess - just that you were close, and now it's not.
• And what if you don't pass the HHT? You strop it and shave with it, and it shaves alright. Sure it could be smoother, but it'll get you through the week until next weekend when you have time to try to hone it better.
• Or you could fail the HHT and try to shave with it and it a) doesn't cut your whiskers, b) pulls like the dickens at every hair, c) causes you some razor burn.

But basically, the HHT is not the B-ALL-END-ALL answer to test where your blade is at - your face is for that. The HHT CAN tell you something, but it isn't EVERYTHING!

So what I'm beginning to gather is that different blades are made from different steel and react differently to different stones, pastes, and techniques and that shaving is the way to test the blade. A good pre-shave involves stropping, lathering up, steaming the face, lathering up again, and shaving. Do we just do repetitions until we are bored, shave (but now it's pulling), stop, clean up, hone more, shave (something else is wrong), stop, clean up, etc.?

Saladbar,

I don't think anyone would want to do that repetitious routine all in one day. And it would be murder on your face. But over weeks, months, and years, that is basically how you learn to shave with a straight razor.

Little successes here, and little failures there collectively teach you what to do, and not do, over time.

Regarding the HHT: It's just a test or indicator and can be very usefull. I think that the HHT is to straight razors what the ripe tomato is to kitchen knives. The difference is that kitchen knives are meant to cut more than just ripe tomatoes. Straight razors are designed to cut only hair. Therefore it makes sense to apply the HHT at the stage where the razor is going to cut hair, not before.

There are some standard tests that can really help, especially while honing, namely the thumb nail test. It is very easy to under or over hone a razor. And unless you want to spend hours instead of minutes honing, it pays to learn to correctly use the thumb nail as an indicator of when to stop honing. The thumb nail is a standard barbers "test" and will not damage your edge.

The thumb pad test is used only after stropping and will no more damage a razors edge than the hairs on your face will.

Keep in mind that you are learning to use a barbers tool and so you should learn the barbers tests. No barber would have test shaved himself before each customer, nor would he have test shaved the customer. Both would have been bad for business.

Now in our case we are both the barber and the customer so we can do as we please. And as far as test shaving goes, we can only complain to and blame ourselves for poor service. Still you are doing yourself a big favor by learning and perfecting the barbers methods for preparing and testing your razor.

Good luck,

Scott

sorry, I've got some more questions. If I'm not passing the hanging hair test than it is safe to say the razor isn't overhoned so I should continue doing a low-level pyramid on the norton until it passes, right?

also, I was hoping I could get some further explanation of the way the thumb-pad test and the fingernail test should be done.

If you overhone the fin *may* bend to the side and you won't pass the HHT. But just as well an over-honed edge *may* pass HHT, and proceed to deteriorate drastically in the actual shave

The other tests - I think there are detailed descriptions on the help files.

Cheers
Ivo

Thumb Nail Test (while honing):

Lightly run the edge of the razor over the moistened thumb nail. You are checking for three possible sensations:

a) the edge passes smoothly over the nail without cutting into the nail (this is an under honed edge).

b) the edge passes over the nail with a very slight and unpleasant gritty feeling and cuts into the nail at the same time (this is an over honed edge).

c) the edge passes smoothly over the nail and cuts into the nail at the same time (this is a properly honed edge ready for stropping - note: there are different degrees of "cutting into the nail". At first, just as the edge starts to take on the correct "fin," you will feel it cut into the nail very lightly. After a few more strokes the edge will start cutting in more heavily. This will be just before the edge becomes over honed. The trick is to stop honing just past the light cutting sensation and just as the heavy cutting sensation is reached).

Thumb Pad Test (after stropping):

Lightly and carefully touch straight down onto the edge of the razor with the moistened thumb pad (do not move the thumb sideways or back and forth, just directly straight down. Do not press the thumb down, just a light feather touch). If the edge is trully keen, it will feel sort of sticky because the sharp edge is catching the moist skin.

It helps if you lightly touch multiple times (sort of like lightly tapping on the edge) as a single touch will often not deliver enough sensory info. This requires lots of practice because the beginner usually doesn't know exactly what they are feeling for. But once you feel it, you won't forget it.