Thread: The Dilucot and the Hanging Hair Test

I´d advise you too, to try Unicot on your razor. If Dilucot fails, you can still make a Unicot on it without starting from the very beginning. Simply follow the Unicot tutorial word by word.
Do you have a linen strop, by the way?

And, different to others, I don´t think it is so damn hard to learn honing on a coticule (although I have to admit that I had honing practice when I started to use only a coticule, so I wouldn´t dare to state "this is the easiest way!". But since you have a coticule already, I think you can play around with it as well, before you spend another fortune for a whole bunch of synthetics.).
I don´t advise beginners to start with a DE Razor instead of a straight as well, just because it´s easier to use.

Regards,
tok

Originally Posted by Absinthe

I forgot to say, I went through the dilucot because I had previously nicked the blade (don't know how it happened) so a chip was missing. I breadknifed it to start with and then honed on thick slurry.

Whole new ballgame once you breadknife a chip out. You can get it back but instead of honing a shave ready razor that is beginning to get dull, you are now honing a butter knife to attain shave ready razor status. It will take a while but it can be done.

Use that thumb nail test to see if the edge grabs or slides across the moistened TN. Once it does grab from heel to point discontinue that test and just use the thumb pad test until it feels keen and then try shaving arm or leg hair.

First touching the skin and when it is coming along well with that a few millimeters above the skin. It takes some time to get an edge back once it has been breadknifed. Doing circles and back and forth strokes can accelerate the process.

Do you have any other hones??? like maybe a DMT that you use to lap your coticule???
How big was this chip- you took out??? that you used the most EXTREME method of restoration to remove it???

@gssixgun, no I don't have any other hones, except a slurry stone that came with it. Well the chip was large enough to see it without glasses, so I thought, since the blade is too dull anyway, I might as well get rid of that chip.

I noticed the dullness through shaving, since before, I could get a clean shave with it, and with the time, the third pass (against the hair growth) didn't catch the hair at the very root anymore, so my face wasn't as clean as it could be.

@tok, I have a leather strop with linen on the backside, during my first stropping session ( I never held a straightrazor before), I mistakenly cut into the leather (could this have caused the chip to break?)

@JimmyHAD, back and forth strokes on the thick slurry is what I did, before diluting slowly (also back and forth) and finally finishing with 60 X strokes. The problem is, after all that, (took me nearly an hour, because I go very slow to try to keep the blade flat, and still I have a very unsecure feeling when honing), the chip was gone, but the HHT just won't work, not even catch, so I suppose it's not sharp enough yet, or I did something, or more things, wrong.

That said, I haven't tried to shave with it yet, I'll do that tomorrow and see what the results are.

Thanks all for your precious (and fast) help. This place rocks!

So, does it shave arm hair well? After breadknifing, once you get it to shave arm hair well, then you are ready to advance.

I suspect part of your issue is coming from slurry management. You mentioned going slow, which is fine, but you also have to account for the fact that moisture will evaporate, requiring you to add more water because you don't want dry coticule slurry on your hone. So, then you have the potential of adding too much water, diluting out more slurry than you want.

Asking us if your razor isn't sharp enough because it's not passing HHT is an exercise in futility. We have no way of knowing. You really have to take a razor that you know works well, calibrate the test with your hair source, and make it meaningful to you. If I had your razor in my hands, with my hair source, then I could answer.

You have to take into consideration that the HHT is variable depending on the individual. A razor that may pass HHT with my hair may not pass with yours. I've read that freshly washed hair is preferable. One honer I know of, from Belgium, has posted that he keeps a box of his wife's freshly washed hair cut to an ideal length to use for HHT. Whether his own hair will pass is unknown to me.

I personally, not having a wife, pull a hair out of my greasy hair brush and go for it. I've read that it is easier if the hair is hydrated, IOW, wet. I haven't found that to be advantageous but maybe for some it is ?

The direction of the root is said to matter. I've read that ideally the root is held extending away from the hand because of the structure of the hair follicles. I've succeeded and failed both ways so I don't know if that is a valid rule of thumb. HHT is not as cut and dried or simple as it seems. No pun intended.

A toothy edge may pass HHT but be uncomfortable to shave with. Striations, teeth, in the bevel may make for more easily passing HHT but give an uncomfortable shave while smoothing the teeth out on a finisher may make HHT more difficult. Honing an edge until it is ultra fine and will pass HHT may create a fragile edge that will shave well but won't last long. Trade offs,

Early on when I struggled to get HHT I found that if the razor wouldn't pass HHT but would easily pop my arm hair without touching the skin I would get a good shave and the sharpness tended to last. That is just with my particular hair. A friend was at an SRP meet watching another member pop hair off his arm. The hair was falling like rain at the slightest touch of the razor.

My friend had never been able to get a razor to do this with his arm hair and asked if he could try the razor on his arm. The edge just brushed his arm hair aside as if it was a butter knife. So take all of the above into consideration and work on getting a good shave for now. The HHT may not be the be all and end all that it seems.

Hello again,

I have found this video on youtube: YouTube - halfstrokes.AVI