I had an experience this weekend that really drove home the limits of the hanging hair test.

I was honing up the little 4/8 that's for sale in the By Sell Trade forum, and I was working out a nick on my 1000-grit Norton. I progressed to light strokes before moving to the 4K, and on a whim, I did a hanging hair test right off the 1K.

This blade cut hanging hairs like nobody's business. Now I have thick hair, but this was one of my medium-thick hairs, not a really heavy one.

Lately I've been doing the HHT with different blades, and it really is only useful to a certain level. A Feather blade, supposedly the ultimate in sharpness, doesn't do much better than that 1K edge did. After 8K, there's no change that I can detect.

I'm starting to see the HHT as a test for a proper bevel, not for sharpness. As long as the bevels meet properly, the grit doesn't seem to matter as much as I thought.

For me, an edge won't shave well if it doesn't pass the HHT, but passing the HHT doesn't mean it's shave-ready--or even close.

Just some food for thought,
Josh