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Thread: Just to clarify

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    Nautical Madman SailorJ's Avatar
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    Default Just to clarify

    After spending a little time honing razors, and getting too hung up on the HHT I think I have finally found the a place for this in my routine.

    It won't show you anything that a shave test won't indicate more clearly

    However it is useful for me in this way and I hope that this will make it easier for folks starting out to understand the limitations of this test.

    Hair comes in many different sizes, coarser hair will pass a razor that may provide a terrible shave. Alternately if you are attempting this test with an extremely fine hair, while a razor that passes this test will undoubtably be extremely sharp, failure with a fine hair does not exclude a razor from being a good shaver.

    Just to add to that point your own facial hair will change what type of keenness you are looking for.

    Also there are a couple things that may be going on with the edge that passes the hht. What you are hoping for in an hht is to demonstrate the the bevel is thin enough to wedge itself between the layers of hair (if you look at a hair under extreme magnification it you can see them clearly)

    on the other hand a false positive for this test may well be due to serrations on the edge.



    So at least for myself I use this test with my own arm hair as a prerequisite that a blade must pass before I finish honing it, but not as a final test.




    This is how it has worked for me thus far,
    Has anyone here gotten a great shave off of a razor that couldn't pass an HHT (given a reasonably coarse hair)?

    Cheers- Sailor
    Last edited by SailorJ; 03-01-2015 at 05:20 AM. Reason: typing on computers > iphone
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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    I rely on thumb nail and thumb pad test, and an eye loupe to check my progress. Then I shave, if it's not comfortable, it's back to the hones. I've never used HHT, bald as a baby.....
    CHRIS

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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Can you please define "Medium Coarse"




    Does that one sentence explain the weakness of using the HHT to Describe or Define the shave readiness of an edge...


    or

    All Sharpness Tests used for honing, must be calibrated by the person doing the honing, for the person doing the honing

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    Senior Member blabbermouth Chevhead's Avatar
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    I must be tired because I can't understand what SailorJ said?
    Huh?

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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Heck maybe I misunderstood too
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    MJC
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    I've been honing for about a year - and consider myself a noob at the art/science.

    The results have run the gamut from back to the hones for a few, very good results for many and once and a while it comes together so well I am in Honing/Shaving heaven.

    Also have what hair left on my head cut to a #2 or shorter...(I think that's 2mm)

    So what I have been using in addition to the loupe and thumb pad is "tree-topping" arm hair.
    It's not as course as beard hair, but I've found if pass 1/2 to 3/4" - 12-20mm over my arm with the blade parallel to the skin - and the blade is covered in little clippings things are going to go ok.

    I noticed on one of the video of the Dovo plant tour that the person honing was plucking a hair off of what looked like one of those brushes that the barber uses to whisk off the clippings at the end of your haircut. I may pick one up to try it.

    And interested to see the other responses...
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    Nautical Madman SailorJ's Avatar
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    It was meant to describe the weakness, or limitations.

    And I guess just to outline yet again for people like myself that got razors to pass an hht that still shaved like crap. That the hht at least in the beginning coincides with a great shaving edge, but is not causal.

    As far as I have seen the best indication that I am honing correctly is how the edge undercuts the water.
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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SailorJ View Post

    As far as I have seen the best indication that I am honing correctly is how the edge undercuts the water.


    Bingo !!!!

    "Watching the Wave" as I like to describe it is a really good indicator ...

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    Nautical Madman SailorJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MJC View Post

    I noticed on one of the video of the Dovo plant tour that the person honing was plucking a hair off of what looked like one of those brushes that the barber uses to whisk off the clippings at the end of your haircut. I may pick one up to try it.

    And interested to see the other responses...
    This is aproximately what I meant when I said medium coarse hair. It is definitely individual to the person if you are using your own hair. So I should not have included that bit in my description.

    I think I'm just conviluding the point that I was trying to clarify for people just getting into honing

    Now I think I understand why when I researched it many said that hht was not a good indication of shave readiness. I was hoping to go more in detail, but too much of this test is reliant on things that can't easily be repeated from person to person.
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    Nautical Madman SailorJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chevhead View Post
    I must be tired because I can't understand what SailorJ said?
    Huh?
    I was a little jumbled up on that first attempt. Maybe the edit expresses what I was hoping for a little clearer
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