Thread: True Sharpness test

this might be a dumb question. but has anyone come up with a real test for razor sharpness. aside from shaving with it ?? i realize thats a true test but for someone like myself who doesnt shave every day. the testing could take some time. im not crazy about the hanging hair test. and shaving the hair on my arm is not the same as wiskers. well i guess i answered my own question. but there must be another way to check sharpness. i thaught i had it when the blade seemed to be what i call sticky sharp (to the lightest touch) but that proved wrong..i think ive got the honing down pretty good using the pyramid and i found that holding the 4k/8k in hand on an angle and running the blade corner to corner but running it right off the stone, with a very light touch. and then stropping, the shaves are real good no red face anymore. but im looking for more consistancy in honing. thanks to all. oh when does the junior member turn into senior member ive been around about a year..

I can understand the desire for an objective rating of sharpness. But since we hone to shave, all that really matters is the quality of the shave- hanging hairs and thumbnails be damned.

Here’s an example: I had a razor honed by Lynn Abrams. Came back real sharp. But after a few weeks it was shaving better than when I first got it back. Did I make it sharper by my unique and expert stropping? I doubt it. All I did was make the edge better for my face. Someone else’s face might disagree.

I can tell the same story about the shave ready razor I bought from Tony Miller. It arrived shave ready. But today it shaves even better.

Straight razor shaving is an arcane art. Trying to make it a science seems like folly.

Regards &c
LG Roy

yes that is true after honing the razor will just get better. then begin to loose its edge after a number of shaves. then a re hone is needed.

Razors do generally feel better after a few shaves, but it is the shave which is the only test that matters. The Thumb Test and The Hanging Hair Test can give you lots of great information about how the honing is comming along, but you will never know until you shave. i have recently honed all my blades up and ones that I thought were gonna be great shaves (including Ilja's Taylor) weren't quite there when the Shave Test was used.

X

It depends on the number of posts. By 100 you become a honemeister. The rest of us blabbermouths just stay there.

The honing creates the primary bevel. The strop creates a secondary polished bevel. If the primary bevel leads to a fine, clean edge, the stropping will continue to polish a secondary bevel until it is too obtuse or rounded to be effective at cutting - or has too many chips. The best shaves will occur after fairly prolific stropping of a well-honed blade. At that point, the secondary polished bevel left by the strop is thick enough to make the edge durable so it changes little during a shave.

Quite often, fresh off a hone, a razor will shave like the dickens and start going dull half way through. Strop it again and it's a great shaver again, but again goes dull fairly quickly. Each iteration restores the keen quality of the edge but it takes longer to dull each time.

True sharpness test?

Boy, don't we all wish!

Man...I thought I was the only one. All my blades shave better after a couple shaves. Right off the hone, they wanna pull some, but I can take the same blade, do nothing to it, and it shaves better after setting a while.

If there was a definitive answer to your question that would be the path to shaving nirvana. To my knowledge though there is no answer to it. Each must find his own system that works for him. Personally, I use arm hair shaving and the amount of draw on the strop. They work for me.

Originally Posted by PapaBull

Quite often, fresh off a hone, a razor will shave like the dickens and start going dull half way through. Strop it again and it's a great shaver again, but again goes dull fairly quickly. Each iteration restores the keen quality of the edge but it takes longer to dull each time.

This describes my experience also. Well put.

E