Thread: Can't get HESS "44" HHT-sharp!!

Greetings All,

Well, I finally spent too much and got my first "vintage" (cool) razor----a HESS "Forty-four". It's my second straight, my first being a new Dovo Tortoise, which is great!

My problem is getting the HESS sharp-----I can get the Dovo to pass HHT pretty easily, but the HESS is giving me some trouble passing HHT. After stropping the Dovo on the linen and leather sides, it will pop hairs pretty easily. But the HESS is giving me trouble.

I tried honing it on a wet medium Spyderco stone and then the wet ultrafine Spyderco hone, then linen, then leather using the standard advice of making sure to keep it flat on the stone, light pressure, etc. etc. and it STILL just won't get sharp enough to pass HHT.

I'm wondering if maybe the bevel was so rounded over from use/improper honing by past owners or blunt that the edge hasn't been established yet and therefore needs more honing on a coarser stone to reshape the bevel first.

Any advice? I know I could send it off to any of a number of guys to have sharpened, but I need to learn how to do this myself!!

Thanks!
Mark

Have you tried shaving with it? imo, the hht really isn't that great of an indicator of shave readiness. Especially with my thinning hair

Kubrick is right HHT means little to nothing, try the shave test.

I use the HHT just to see how sharp I can get the blade but it is tricky. Try shaving the hair on your arm or leg dry and just to see if it cuts hair. Try several parts of the blade. If this is an older razor that you just purchased it is hard to know how the bevel was set. I always start by setting the bevel on Ebay, Auction or Antique Shop purchases. I also find that the edge may not come to shave ready at the same time. Probably because I am not going far enough when I set the bevel. If the edge comes shave ready in one area like the middle or one end or what ever and I keep honing the blade developes a wire edge where it was sharp and the 'dull area may just be coming up to my standard. Back hone "spine leading on the hone" for a few strokes and then go back to edge first honing. You may need to do this several times until the complete edge has the sharpness you desire. Don't rely solely on the HHT to determin the sharpness of your blade. Some call it a parlor trick. It's just not a dependable test and may give you a negative result when the edge is good.

As an Avid Hess-o-maniac I can tell you that the 44 is a little tricky, but once honed will be one of the sharpest and smoothest shavers you'll ever use....
The bevel needs to be really, really, sharp first, then all your going to do is refine the edge..
That 44 doesn't seem to react well to the middle grit stones, it took a good bevel on a 1k Norton, didn't like the 2k Shapton nor the 4k Shapton so, I went really light there, loved the 8k and the 16k...
It seems that the more razors I hone the more I find that each type has a different sharpening "Combination" to getting the most out of it...

One thing I do is re-set every razor bevel first, I want to know that it is my starting point and not somebody else's

Hope that helps a little !!!!

Did you do the magic marker test?

I had a problem similar to yours and since it had a nice looking bever I kept grinding away with periodic checks under the microscope without making any progress. After some experimentation with tape and magic marker it appeared whoever set the bevel used about 3-4 layers of tape.

I haven't gotten up to HHT off of the hones more then once. I started doing a routine that I got from a post by mparker which is 50 linen followed by 30 leather and bingo. HHT almost all the time.

Yesterday I picked up locally a Solingen made razor by Hartkopf. It is made with Kayser-Ellison steel which is a favorite. Honed it up and couldn't get HHT so I finally pasted a Tony Miller 4 sided paddle with 3.0, 1.0 and 0.5. I hit all of those 10 laps and then followed with another 10 on chrom ox. Did the same stropping routine and was cutting hanging hair effortlessly.

Mabe overkill ? I will shave with it later and see how the edge holds up and if it is harsh or smooth. I have been reluctant to go to the diamond paste but figured I would give it a try.