I am happy to say I have been able to get two of my five razors to pass the hanging hair test. They also happen to be my two favorites. The other three are close but no cigar. However I do believe shaving with them is the ultimate test. :twisted:
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I am happy to say I have been able to get two of my five razors to pass the hanging hair test. They also happen to be my two favorites. The other three are close but no cigar. However I do believe shaving with them is the ultimate test. :twisted:
When trying the hanging hair test DO NOT do it in the bathroom in front of the mirror. Your natural tendency (well, mine anyway) is to look into the mirror and perform the test instead of looking directly at the hanging hair resulting in you now looking at the inside of your freshly opened thumb.
Yeah, I did it. Not proud of it but man enough to admit I did it.
Tony
I am happy to say I have been able to get two of my five razors to pass the hanging hair test. They also happen to be my two favorites. The other three are close but no cigar. However I do believe shaving with them is the ultimate test. :twisted:
Hi all! I haven't got it yet. But I'm learnin' ! D :shock:
I still just use the shave for testing, but Bill Leppler was over last weekend and he really could tell the sharpness by the thumbnail test. We also were using my new microscope which was a gas. Unreal to see the edges that up close and personal. You can easily see a wire edge, or little micro chips or rougher striations......Love it.
Lynn- what is your new scope??? :?:
I've never passed the hanging hair test, because I've never had a hair on my head to test. lol... I use the hair on my left forearm for preliminary testing, but in the end rely on the shave test.
Hal
Here's an interesting little factoid I've been meaning to get around to researching. I took one boar's bristle from an old shave brush, one badger hair from another old brush, one of *my* arm hairs, one of my scalp hairs, and one of my whiskers near the chin (ouch!). I taped them in a row on a piece of white paper and looked at them with the 60X microscope I have for sale on the Yahoo! site: http://tinyurl.com/7rmb5 That scope has a reticule in the objective lens with gradations in 1/1000ths of an inch (.001") allowing me to measure the with of each sample with accuracy. The results:
.0020" scalp hair
.0028" arm hair
.0037" whisker
.0070" boar's bristle
.0085" badger hair
My point in this exercise is to point out that arm hair is not the same as whiskers in thickness. I typically substitute badger hair for the hanging hair test. Even though it is thicker than boar's bristle, it is more pliable and closer to a whisker in detail than the other three.
And, no .... I will *not* test hairs from other parts of my anatomy, thank you very much, LOL
Could somebody explain the hanging hair test in detail. It's not just cuting an arm hair, right? How do you hang the hair?
Hanging hair test is finding a hair in your wifes hair brush and holding it gingerly in one hand while carefully pushing the edge of a razor through the hair approximately 1/4" to 1/2" from your fingers. If your razor doesn't pass the hanging hair test, I end up pulling several hairs from my head and muttering under my breath...and that way I have several hairs already set to go for the next test. :roll:
Bob (string) (formerly of vicki and bob...aka moonstrings2003)
Hold the razor in one hand, stationary with the edge pointing up. Pinching a hair between your thumb and forefinger, with about 1/2" of hair protruding, carefully touch the hair to the edge at about a 30º angle. Ideally the hair will "pop" off, or at least do so if lightly dragged against the edge. I test in three places along the edge on each side to make sure the edge is evenly prepared. Do NOT move the razor while performing this test.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Lerch
Alternately, some will glide the razor about a quarter inch above the skin of the arm. Little hairs ought to fly everywhere. Sometimes you even hear little ping sounds as its doing its thing, if you have a full-hollow "singing" blade.
Thanks for the explanation, guys.
David, how often do you need to replace your badger brushes?
The badger brush hair donors are junk that came with eBay lots of other shaving gear .... its amazing what people throw in a lot .... I mean, who would really want used, double-edge razorblades?Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Lerch
Thanks for posting that information David. I will have to do some experimenting with the different hair types you have listed. Could explain some of the mysteries I have been enjoying with razors that are "scalp hair cutting machines" but don't shave as well or as smoothly as I would have expected. While I can understand your reluctance to experiment with hair types from one's personal anatomy, I could certainly add some spice to dates or bar hopping when you explain to that new and special aquantance that you are a straight razor shaver, and to test a razor for sharpness, the only real body hair that approximates actual men's facial hair comes from......well, this is where the creative part comes in. :wink:
Bob
Ouch ! :o Another market for Rogaine :D
Here's a twist on the hanging hair test. Whle talking to my barber about it a while back, he said he would use this method to proove his razor's sharpness. He would hold the hair in front of his mouth and just slightly in front of the blade edge and blow on the hair, thereby cutting the hair.
Bob Keyes, who does'nt use any hair test methods, except by shaving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichZ
Well, first you get a rope, then put 13 coils in it and, no wait a minute, I thought you were talking about hanging a rabbit. Seriously, the hanging hair test goes like this. With one hand you hold the razor with the cutting edge straight up towards the ceiling, or sky if'n your outside and it ain't rainin, then with the other hand you grasp a hair between the thumb and forefinger, if you still have one, and let about an inch protrude, (stick out) from your fingers and you bring the hair down over the blade edge, (try varrying speeds, ha ha) and hope it cuts the hair. Usually about the 1/4 to 1/2 inch from your thumb and finger, as mentioned in another post. Remember also, that hair from different sourses are of different thickness and coarsness. Very fine hair is very difficult to cut even with a very sharp edge, but if you can cut the hair, you probably are approaching honemeister status. Some honers just test the sharpness by shaving a small area on the hair of their arm, but the best method is generally consider to be, by actually shaving the face. That is also generally considered to be the old, "if it feels good" Clinton method, LOL.
Bob Keyes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe lerch
OK, my razor passes the hair test, as well as body hair test. On the forearms, that is...:)
BUT, when doing the real test, shaving, something's not right... The blade is not "gliding" with ease, as someone described the shaving with true sharp razor. Actually, i have to press a lot harder than my shavette with DE blade. Is this the real stuff or???
I wonder if it might be my stropping technique? As i read in the barber book, no mather how well honed your razor is, it is not good without the propper stroping.
Grrr...
Thoes somebody here uses the stainlesssteel blade? Maybe you can reccomend me the right stroping ratio? 6 laps, 15, 35, it is all mixed up.
I think the ratio and number of repetitions in stropping is less important than stropping with a correct stroke. Lite pressure on the blade, spine ALWAYS touching the strop, especially when switching directions, and NEVER lift the spine off the leather at the end of the stroke - not even one centimeter. If my razor will not cut a hanging hair after I strop on leather, I strop on one of my fine linen strops for 8 to 12 strokes on each side of the blade. I then restrop on leather, and my razor will then cut a hanging hair with ease, unless the blade is really messed up for some reason. In that case, it would be back to honing on a stone, then repeating the stropping process.
I just bought a new razor (revisor) from David. He honed it before shipping it to me. I just tested it with a bristle from a boars head brush and one of my wifes hairs from her brush. It passed with both. I need to buy an E-bay special to learn to hone so I dont mess up a nice sharp razor.
Just to repeat some prior posts. The only real test is the shave test. I use the hanging hair test only as an indicator. My razors have to pass the hanging hair test before they touch a pasted strop or the plain leather strop, otherwise I am just wasting my time. If your shave is not good and restropping on plain leather does not take care of the problem then try back honing first, its simple and quick and eliminates the possibility of the most common error of over-honing. Then strop on plain leather and test shave again.
If that does not work then its back to the hones, sorry!
Since I have no experience with stainless steel razors I cannot help you there other than to say that people have said that they take quite a bit more honing than the normal carbon steel razors.