Thread: “Tree topping” as a measure of sharpness?

I am a newb with only a month in of straight shaving. Mystandard of sharp is whether or not my blade catches and lops off the ends (lastquarter inch) of my arm or leg hair. If it does not do this I work on it untilit does. I recently purchased twovintage razors from a man who shaves daily with a straight and honed them bothto his liking. They do not even come close to catching hair. I rehoned and thefirst one, but not the second. I have not tried shaving with it yet.
My question: Can a razor that won’t catch arm hair be sharpenough to provide a comfortable shave?

I'm not being flip here.
Try shaving with it and you will be closer to answering your own question. All tests need to be calibrated for the individual but all of those calibrations are in relation to the shave test.

Yeah That ^^^^^^^

As stated shave with it and you'll find out.

Everyone has their own sharpness tests. The principles are the same but the arm, leg and head hairs all differ from person to person.

This makes each of these tests useless until they are calibrated to your specific hair source.

What everyone else said ...... you're in luck in that you live in the same area a honemiester and mentor randydance062449 . Shoot him a PM and you can probably go over his place and he will show you stuff in a day it would take years to learn by your own efforts.

Welcome to SRP ...........

No, maybe, it depends…

Hair test are notoriously unreliable, for a variety of reasons, mostly your hair.

A better test is to look at the edge, to ensure that the bevels are meeting fully and then as said shave with it. Tree topping arm hair, may be a good start to testing an edge, but only if you know how your arm haircuts and at what degree of sharpness is required.

From the time the seller honed it until you tested it, many things could have happened to the edges.

What did you re-hone the first on, and what kind of razor is it. Pics are always useful.

Welcome to the forum, there is a wealth of information here and folks to answer your questions. Lots of good reading and information, in the first 3 post of the Honing forum.

In the end, no matter what or how many test you do, the shave is all that counts…

Test have some value if they mean something to you from experience. Sharpness is one variable that maybe quantified by a test. Smoothness and comfort is a whole other ball of wax. The only way is to shave with it and judge for yourself. So yeah what they said hehe.

Thanks for the replies. I have inferred that it is entirely possible to have a blade that won't even catch arm hair give a very acceptable shave. I will be finding out tomorrow morning.

When I finish honing a razor for someone else, I wipe it off, strop it, and shave test it. After the shave test it is lightly stropped again, disinfected in Barbicide, wiped dry, and then very lightly oiled. If I bothered to do it, the razor would pass the hanging hair after stropping it, but it sure would not pass it after it was oiled. Any bit of oil on the edge will block its ability to pop hairs.

Did you wipe or strop your razors before you tested them?

Originally Posted by Brent375HH

Thanks for the replies. I have inferred that it is entirely possible to have a blade that won't even catch arm hair give a very acceptable shave. I will be finding out tomorrow morning.

Not quite

This is dead accurate

Originally Posted by Utopian

I'm not being flip here.
Try shaving with it and you will be closer to answering your own question. All tests need to be calibrated for the individual but all of those calibrations are in relation to the shave test.

Basically there is no inference, it is a testing method only YOU can determine how it works in relation to how it shaves for YOU

Once you do the calibrations then you will be closer to knowing for sure, it is something we can't really "Tell" you since there are simply way to many variables involved

Just for instance, your edge honed on your finisher, might react differently to that edge honed on an unknown finisher, yet both may shave just fine, only you can decide what it all means to your tests