Thread: Explaining the thumb test

Joe,

To do the thumb test correctly, you do run the thumb pad along the cutting edge, not the side of the edge, or bevel.

Any defects in the edge will be detected and corrected by doing the thumb nail test while honing, so nicks, wire edge, etc, shouldn't be a factor in doing the thumb test after stropping.

I'm not advocating that anyone do this if they feel uncomfortable with it, but this is the way it's done.

My source was and is, "Standard Textbook of Barbering", Associated Master Barbers and Beauticians of America, 1950, p. 25 (the thumb test was also demonstrated to me by a barber once, along with honing and stropping).

Scott