hanging hair and arm tests...

A couple of questions about all the sharpness tests I keep reading about.

I've only recently started this whole straight razor venture and have been honing a few razors to get them up to snuff. I have 3 main razors and all three seem to shave fine/well. I get a nice clean, close shave with no pulling and no razor burn. However, only one of them consistently passes the "hanging hair test". 2 of them do only after significant stropping on a pasted strop. None of them pass the arm hair test (which I confess, I may not be doing right at all - i'm just taking a wild guess as to how i'm supposed to do it).

So I guess I'm asking, should I be satisfied with the way the razors are actually shaving now, or should I be looking to attain a higher, more elusive level of razor sharpness?

Any and all input is appreciated.

thanks much.

The best of all tests is the "Shaving Face" test! If you are getting consistently good shaves from your sharpening efforts, then that should be fine. Trying for Supreme Sharpness is sometimes counter-productive!

Case in point:

I went nuts honing and stropping a razor a while back, and used several new (for me) techniques, and some TI paste for the first time. I overdid it a bit, and the razor got ridiculously sharp. But when I shaved with it, it began to catch on every little skin bump and imperfection on my face!

I had to 'tone it down' a bit on the 4K/8k before I could shave with it comfortably. It *IS* possible to make a blade TOO sharp, where it will gain skin purchase and dig down on every stroke!

If you are shaving smooth, without catching, then all the contrived tests in the world are meaningless.

You're doing great!

Best -

I am with Chaaz on this one. If it give you a smooth comfortable shave then it is sharp enough. I don't need to slice pieces of my skin off from a too sharp razor. :twisted: