Thread: HHT = Shave ready? (and shave ready definition)

Originally Posted by ace

"That's the annoying thing about all this, until you get a professionally honed one you don't know what a professionally honed one feels like in all your tests."

No reason to be annoyed by that. If a professionaly honed blade is going to be your standard for sharpness, it's easy enough to send off a razor and have it honed for twenty bucks. Then you have a standard that will bring all the sharpness tests into focus for you. Having a standard is important. Without a standard it's like walking around eating Cheeseburgers all your life and wondering if they're really good just because you've never had a Filet Mignon.

Yes, that is probably the best and most easy thing to do (and I will maybe/probably do that at one time or another). But as I said before I'm actually pretty happy with my edges now, maybe they could be a little smother... how do i achieve that? A lot of stropping? (I go from naniwa ss 10k to the strop)

Originally Posted by zippoo

Yes, that is probably the best and most easy thing to do (and I will maybe/probably do that at one time or another). But as I said before I'm actually pretty happy with my edges now, maybe they could be a little smother... how do i achieve that? A lot of stropping? (I go from naniwa ss 10k to the strop)

If you have an old canvas strop you can take a wipe of slurry from
your 10K and paste it. It will polish the edge a lot smoother
than it does on the hone it came from. In my case 10k acts a lot
like a 15K and will polish the edge a lot.

On some strops it is possible to disassemble and flip the canvas.
If that is what you have flip it so the inside is out and paste what is
normally the hidden side of the canvas strop. Use it this way [I]after honing[/I only].
For normal day to day stropping flip it back and strop on clean canvas.

Given the speed that it turns the canvas grey it is too aggressive
for day in day out use.

A classic solution is a wood backed leather or balsa strop pasted
with submicron paste. Chrome Oxide is the classic.

Another home solution is to strop on news print. Try denim
glued to a thin wood backing. Denim on wood pasted with
used slurry from the finest hone in the rock pile could take
a razor one more notch on the sharp scale.

And if the budget permits you can add a 12k superstone to
follow your 10k.

i.e. do not wash great slurry from a very fine hone down the drain without thinking.

Originally Posted by zippoo

Anyway... I guess I just should be happy if I can get (what I think is) a pretty good and comfortable shave. But because of the fact that I have never felt/used a professionally honed razor I'm curious how much better it could be.

I started tis thread to get an answer to a pretty simple question but it kind of turned out to be a long second question about the definition of "shave ready", but I guess I won't get the answer to that one until I get a professionally honed one...

Regards
//Marcus

(I'm sorry if there is any weird spelling or phrasing, I'm from Sweden so English is not my first language)

I think you're doing fine , and if your razors are giving you nice shaves , then they are indeed shave ready . Whatever you're doing , you seem to be doing it right . Keep up the good work , and stop worrying .

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

If you have an old canvas strop you can take a wipe of slurry from
your 10K and paste it. It will polish the edge a lot smoother
than it does on the hone it came from. In my case 10k acts a lot
like a 15K and will polish the edge a lot.

On some strops it is possible to disassemble and flip the canvas.
If that is what you have flip it so the inside is out and paste what is
normally the hidden side of the canvas strop. Use it this way [I]after honing[/I only].
For normal day to day stropping flip it back and strop on clean canvas.

Given the speed that it turns the canvas grey it is too aggressive
for day in day out use.

A classic solution is a wood backed leather or balsa strop pasted
with submicron paste. Chrome Oxide is the classic.

Another home solution is to strop on news print. Try denim
glued to a thin wood backing. Denim on wood pasted with
used slurry from the finest hone in the rock pile could take
a razor one more notch on the sharp scale.

And if the budget permits you can add a 12k superstone to
follow your 10k.

i.e. do not wash great slurry from a very fine hone down the drain without thinking.

Thanks for the tip! I just made a denim strop today and was/am going to buy chrome oxide, but I will test it with 10k slurry first and see if that's "enough"

You might try your denim strop without any alteration first. Try sets of 30 laps or so and keep doing sets until you see a difference. It can take a lot of laps, 100 to 200, but that way lies smoothness and sharpness combined.

A lack of smoothness can also be caused by blade angle and/or too much pressure. Examine your shaving technique if all of your razors are giving you the same type of shaves. If one is smooth than maybe it is the edge and not the technique.

Originally Posted by zippoo

Thanks for the tip! I just made a denim strop today and was/am going to buy chrome oxide, but I will test it with 10k slurry first and see if that's "enough"

Remember that you can move to coarser paste but not to finer.
If you want to try CrOx you will need to build a second demim strop.

So start with a clean strop as "ace" suggests.

In general CrOx is half a micron and a 10K grit slurry is coarser
than one micron. CrOx is also going to polish more than
cut.

I mention slurry on a strop because it will 'cut' gentler
than it does on a hone and a denim home made strop with slurry
from the finest hone is an inexpensive next step improvement
worth trying. It may or not work for you.

I know the shave test is the ultimate test for whether a razor is shave ready, but I've never gotten a poor shave from an easy HHT pass and visa versa. Based on that, I don't move on to a shave test unless I am satisfied with the HHT and tree topping results. I know there are many variables in this equation, so YMMV.

I think that is a great way of putting it...

Originally Posted by Berthold

I know the shave test is the ultimate test for whether a razor is shave ready, but I've never gotten a poor shave from an easy HHT pass and visa versa. Based on that, I don't move on to a shave test unless I am satisfied with the HHT and tree topping results. I know there are many variables in this equation, so YMMV.

I don't really use the HHT any longer but using it as a personal "Honing Stage" indicator that you have calibrated to mean something to you, is exactly the way it should be used , especially in conjunction with all your other tests..

I have always believed that the controversy of the HHT comes from Non-Honers using it incorrectly as a test for shave readiness when they have never calibrated the test in the first place ... Or when people try and qualify their HHT to mean something to somebody else's HHT then it becomes problematic...

I kept reading and reading about honing and how to check if the bevel had been set. Tried the thumb pad test but my thumb pads are too calloused to get proper feedback. Tried the hair cutting test sometimes it worked sometimes not so well. also tried the HHT but this seemed to just add to the confusion!!
I didn't understand the thumb nail test until it suddenly clicked and I tried to hone a razor where the bevel started at the heel and moved along to the toe. This was one of Larry's honing testers that you can get to hone and send back for feedback.
I could feel the razor starting to grab the back of my thumb nail as the bevel started to form and because the razor was one especially to get the honing moving in the right direction it meant I wasn't too fussed about ruining the edge. I've found out that I'm was sometimes too tentative with the honing on anything half decent.
So I agree with Glen once you have a benchmark that tells you that your honing is there or there abouts stick to the test that works for you and this will guide you to that perfect edge.