Thread: shaving arm hair?

Hello gents,

Please let me say I'm sure there are many threads on this and please don't be mad at my asking but...

I am setting the bevel on a near wedge right now, under magnification the edge shows a solid peak all the way down, on a tpt there is stick but not too scared it will rip my thump off, finally shaving the back of my hand. ..it does with medium pressure, but not if I just glide the weight of the razor across my skin.

So the question is how much pressure, if any, in order to shave arm hair off a bevel is acceptable to constitute success?

Again I'm sorry for redundancy, just in the middle of it now and wanted to ask that specific question.

Thanks in advance.,

Max

that's a good question. i usually settle for some pressure probably more than the weight of the blade. but i'll be waiting for reply's from the experts.

I'm going to assume you mean off the 1K or similar. It has been shown you can shave off the 1K and get quite a satisfactory shave. it may not be comfort city but it works nonetheless. So to your question, you should not need any real pressure.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I'm going to assume you mean off the 1K or similar. It has been shown you can shave off the 1K and get quite a satisfactory shave. it may not be comfort city but it works nonetheless. So to your question, you should not need any real pressure.

+1. In my experience, you want the sharpening to occur during bevel setting and everything after is edge refinement and polishing. When I was learning to hone, I was always in a hurry to move on to finer grits before the bevel was properly set with the idea that I would finish the sharpening with the finer grits. The problem with this is that you tend to end up with a very nice looking set of bevels that don't meet properly to form an edge. Take the time to get it right on the 1k and all will flow smoothly from that solid foundation.

As a suggestion, if you thing the bevel is properly set but isn't shaving as well as you'd like, try a dozen of so light finishing strokes on your 1k and test again.

Hair test are very unreliable, because all of our hair, is different and a dull knife can shave arm hair at the base, on some knives and people.

So first, test your arm hair with a new sharp double edge razor, see how easily it will cut hair. You may find your hair is not easy to cut and if so it will also not be a good test for razors for you.

A better hair test is to simply grab a hair, see if the edge will grab/cut into a hair, half way up from the skin, if it does test the middle and heel. If all grab, look at the edge, straight down on the edge. If you see shiny spots, the bevels are still not meeting fully.

Hair test at, best tell you that the one micron tested may be meeting, it does not tell you, if the edge is chipped or rolled. Looking at it will.

95 percent of all new honer issues are simply, a lack of a fully set bevel. I suspect a large percentage of those are a result of various inconclusive hair test.

Look at it. Looking is a simple, non-destructive, conclusive test.

Visually it looks great, even striations toe to heel, no shiny spots, nice clean peak all the way down. This last time I tested even all along the edge actually like grabbed and tugged at the hairs, that was very exciting to feel for a change.

That brings me to an observation I want to run by you guys:

so I'm using a Norton 1k, it's been soaking for quite a while before use and I add water very often, but I noticed it might be cutting better when I let it run a bit dry as opposed to a big pool of water.

What is the general consensus with water and Norton 1k... I think I read to keep a pool on surface all the time but I think it cuts, at the very least faster, without a pool on top, though still soaked and supple mind you.

Also thanks for the replies, I hadn't thought of the bevel setting as the sharpening stage and finer grits as just smoothing over the 1k striations and polishing it, that was very helpful.

When I finish setting the bevel at 1K, it should remove arm hair with the ease of what I get while removing whiskers during a shave.

I can only tell you what works for me and my arm hair. When my bevels are set the hairs will almost pop off when the blade hits them with just the weight of the blade. If it's not there yet it will take a bit more pressure or a more aggressive angle and the hairs won't "pop" off in the same way. I think hair tests can be very reliable but the meaning of the results very from person to person. So what indicates a set bevel for me could mean something else for you and your arm hair. Like all of the test that we do in honing, you have to do them a few times before you really understand what you're looking/feeling for. I would recommend doing many tests(TPT,TNT, tree topping, etc) all throughout the process to learn them. The more experienced you become with each test, the more information you'll get out of them.

I see people shaving patches of arm hair off to test for bevel set. It's unnecessary and makes you look like a weirdo. Pick one or two hairs and just pop them off with the razor at a reasonable shaving angle. Leg hairs will work too but they may, or may not react differently.

Keep in mind that the bevel is not set as soon as you start to see positive tests. It's set when the bevel passes your tests(and passes them well) from heel to toe. If in doubt, test, hone and test again.

+1 to what Bejay said about 'looking like a weirdo'. I think most of us go through our early honing days shaving arm hair until we have to move to our legs. Razor mange is a curable disease common to new honers and caused by enthusiasm. After awhile we use other methods to figure out where our edge is.

Originally Posted by Maxx

Visually it looks great, even striations toe to heel, no shiny spots, nice clean peak all the way down. This last time I tested even all along the edge actually like grabbed and tugged at the hairs, that was very exciting to feel for a change.

That brings me to an observation I want to run by you guys:

so I'm using a Norton 1k, it's been soaking for quite a while before use and I add water very often, but I noticed it might be cutting better when I let it run a bit dry as opposed to a big pool of water.

What is the general consensus with water and Norton 1k... I think I read to keep a pool on surface all the time but I think it cuts, at the very least faster, without a pool on top, though still soaked and supple mind you.

Also thanks for the replies, I hadn't thought of the bevel setting as the sharpening stage and finer grits as just smoothing over the 1k striations and polishing it, that was very helpful.

lack of standing water on the hone probably signifies a slurry. Slurry will cut faster.