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…

Originally Posted by Brent375HH

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've lost count of how many times I've read a post from a reputable honer, or a custom razor maker, where a client has either tried tree-topping, hanging hair tests, or some other subjective test then contacted them to give them absolute h*** about their 'substandard honing job', and that the customer had to hone the blade themselves - only to find out that they didn't even try to shave with the blade and have no clue how it would've performed. And in almost every instance, it's almost guaranteed the honemeister/blade maker in question did a better job than the person second guessing their work.

Long story short, if you have somebody hone a blade for you, put it to work and see if it actually performs before second guessing them. You may very well find that his honing is superior to yours when you try out the blade you haven't messed with yet.

Granted I've yet to see a razor that shaves but can't catch hair, I have seen a razor catch and treetop hair that tugs and doesn't shave comfortably. So it would not surprise me to see the reverse, especially if the case is as Utopian suggested and the blades were oiled before being mailed out.

The 'tree top" test is my final test before the REAL test which is the shave test. I've had more than a few that pass the TT test but failed the shave test and had to go back to the hones.

Originally Posted by Brent375HH

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?

All great points.

Im no honemeister but Ive been able to tree top arm hair off a 1k with a few razors, yes I could have shaved with it but It wouldnt be comfortable. This is a nice thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...k-shave-2.html

Shave test is the way forward.

I think all hairs on people are different, while one may have hair that will tree top or pass the hanging hair test. The another persons hair may not pass either of them, My arm hair is very fine, so I use my leg hair ( Neither will pass tree top or HHT) BUT when I go to shave my leg hair a shave ready razor will cut my hair smooth to the skin, Then I shave my face with it, never had it fail me yet. I don't have a 12k just a 8k Norton for a finishing stone, I then put it on a linen strop with some crom ox then an few strops (20 or so) on the leather, if it starts singing on the leather I know its time to test it. Remember, each person will have different hair qualities.