Boy there are some smart people around here..lol. Well I can't hone a knife but I'll throw in a little information of testing blades for you. No doubt there are different methods and debate. Its like a bunch of women in here sometimes....lol. But the funny thing about sharpness tests are that once you have a sharp razor to play with you don't need to worry so much about it because you've got some experience with it. First, shaving is a good idea to truely test the edge. It should be the last test you try though. The final..."Yea, that'll work" test. With a sharp blade you can feel how it runs on a strop. Its very different than when you use an almost sharp blade. Next there is the HHT, or hanging hair test. You can look that one up. I run the blade over my arm hair as suggested by someone else here, Nenad I think. Boy do I love that test. I can really read the blade with that test. If it cuts every hair instantly I've got a good blade. But how did I figure out how a really sharp blade feels on MY arm hair. Well, you guessed it. I used a really sharp blade and tested it. You got one of those around? No, maybe not. So when you do get one really, really, honking sharp run it over your arm hair and do a HHT to see what it feels like. Strop with it and feel the difference. Check it out under a microscope too if you have one. Then later you can use your own hair and compare your new blade to what you know you've been able to do in the past. I know a guy who tested his razors on his wifes hair. The HWHT. That Hanging Wife Hair Test I guess. And there are some guys who don't have any hair to cut. I used to grab chest hairs but them my girlfriend said "Well you can cut old gray hair with any knife silly" LOL...what gray?

Generally though I won't try shaving with a razor unless it mows down all my arm hair instantly and "draws" nicely on a strop. Then I test shave using water only. After all if its really sharp and truely smooth what would you need lather for? That way I can actually see what hair its removing by stropping on my hand after the pass and looking at the effected whiskers. And if it shaves nicely without lather, gotta be sharp enough for me with lather.

Good luck and have fun...