Thread: The Almighty Hanging Hair Test (HHT)...

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I'm not sure I understand this. THere are different sensations for different impefections, and I find it the most reliable test of a wire edge (other than a microscope.

I can detect a wire edge with my thumb pad (TTT) so I don't have to put up with the icky feeling of the thumbnail test (I guess that should be TNT).

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

Ture, but it's agood test to tell you if you're almost there, just like popping instead of a quiet dismemberment.

You lost me.

X

Originally Posted by xman

You lost me.

X

If you don't pass the HHT the first try, so it's nice to know if you're on the right track and improving the edge. So, even if you don't pass swiping the hair along the edge, if it succeeds tells you you're getting there. If you keep working and testing, when you det a pop you know you're really close, and when you get a quiet, gentle decapitation, you know you're there. So you have a set of markers to follow instead of a go-no-go test.

The only reliable thumb pad test I know for a wire edge is along the edge, which is risky compared to a quick thumbnail test. Then you also have a test for an edge that way dull (angle the nail and see if the blade slides sideways). One swipe also gives you a test for coarseness and invisible chips.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

... even if you don't pass swiping the hair along the edge, if it succeeds tells you you're getting there.

I would never bring the hair along the edge, just straight down upon it. That is what gives me results I can understand.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

The only reliable thumb pad test I know for a wire edge is along the edge, which is risky compared to a quick thumbnail test.

I guess I have sensitive thumbs.


X

It may have been posted here somewhere before, but as far as the HHT goes, I learned from one of the original honemesiters (Dave Uthe... where is that guy anyway?) to get a cheap badger hair brush, and use the bristles from the brush for the test (cut them off at the base). The texture much more resembles whiskers than one's own arm or head hair do... and it doesn't hurt as much when you have to retrieve one (the badger may have a different view of this... but anyhoo). I then hold the blade still, and "choke-up" on the bristle so only a little bit is exposed, and come at the blade with a 30 degree angle along three different places on the razor. If it pops, the razor is probably shave-ready. If it slices, it's close, etc., etc.

Andrew

Great tip Andrew!

Would that work with a boar hair brush, or do you think the bristles are too thick/stiff to accurately represent a beard?

I wold think boar or even synthetic would probably be o.k. as well. In either of those cases, the texture is certainly more representative of a whisker than is arm or head hair.

Andrew

By the way... I tested this theory with all of my razors (Some that are great shavers and some that are not and still need work). The razors that shave just o.k. merely slice the hair. My really good shavers pop it off clean. I don't have as extensive a razor collection as many on this board, but I feel I have a big enough sample size to feel pretty good about this test's accuracy. For me, this test gives the most consistent and accurate feedback of any of the other sharpness tests, with the excpetion of actually shaving.

I seem to be quite lucky because my hair is able to do the HHT. For me this is good because I can tell the difference with any other method. I like the HT because I can actually tell which parts of the blade are sharper then others.

Steven