Hanging hair test.. How sharp is sharp?

Not sure where to drop this one so here it goes...

So I usually test a piece of my wifes hair from her brush after stropping preshave - as a verification that my 40 laps has been done well and good. Thing is, I notice that the hair only cuts with the follicle on the side being cut off. Additionally - some hairs drop while others are being split. I ran the blade all the way down one hair splitting it in two.. Is this typical expected sharpness or am I not up to par on the sharpness scale?

Yes overall I'm happy with my shaving experience minus a few other items and the blade cuts well when held correctly.

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Originally Posted by klingenmeister

Not sure where to drop this one so here it goes...

So I usually test a piece of my wifes hair from her brush after stropping preshave - as a verification that my 40 laps has been done well and good. Thing is, I notice that the hair only cuts with the follicle on the side being cut off. Additionally - some hairs drop while others are being split. I ran the blade all the way down one hair splitting it in two.. Is this typical expected sharpness or am I not up to par on the sharpness scale?

Yes overall I'm happy with my shaving experience minus a few other items and the blade cuts well when held correctly.

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Yeah, you're fine. How the hanging hair test actually works is this: a hair, if you magnify it, looks like a bunch of microscopic scales. Think about a fish, if you run a knife down the side of a fish, from head to tail, the scales will most likely deflect the knife all the way down the side of the fish; but if you run the knife from tail to head, you'll start taking scales off, because the blade gets caught on the edge of the scale and digs in.... same thing happens with a razor and a hair. Always do the test towards the follicle, and it'll work every time; go against it and it's complete luck of the draw.

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Originally Posted by klingenmeister

Not sure where to drop this one so here it goes...

So I usually test a piece of my wifes hair from her brush after stropping preshave - as a verification that my 40 laps has been done well and good. Thing is, I notice that the hair only cuts with the follicle on the side being cut off. Additionally - some hairs drop while others are being split. I ran the blade all the way down one hair splitting it in two.. Is this typical expected sharpness or am I not up to par on the sharpness scale?

Yes overall I'm happy with my shaving experience minus a few other items and the blade cuts well when held correctly.

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The HHT always depends on the hair used & the user holding the hair. In my case a splitting hair would indicate a razor not quite there or extreme dexterity on my part. :)

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Originally Posted by kamikazeproject

Always do the test towards the follicle, and it'll work every time; go against it and it's complete luck of the draw.

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Except when doing the shave test & arm hair test. :)

Your face will tell you if your 40 laps on leather has been done well and good, and likewise, it will tell you if they haven't.

The HHT is really a "honer only" sort of game. It doesn't mean a thing for OZ to hone a razor for me, and then I use my hair to test it. All that says is "this razor will cut hair". Now....if I hone my own, and grab my wife's thin hair...and it doesn't cut, time to go back to the hones. I've calibrated her hair and my honing to know that if a razor cuts her hair, its in the ballpark for a shave test. If it doesn't cut, the blade doesn't go anywhere near my face.

If you hone your own....calibrate that test and rock on. :)

Personally I really only use the HHT on rare occasions nowadays. Particularly after stropping, it is way easier and simpler to waft the edge through my arm hairs about 3-5mm above the skin, depending on how long your arm hairs are I guess. But if you like the HHT that is great, just do as the others have said and work on learning what it is telling you about the expected shave.

James.

Check our Library for a nice explanation of putting the HHT into practice.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

Personally I really only use the HHT on rare occasions nowadays. Particularly after stropping, it is way easier and simpler to waft the edge through my arm hairs about 3-5mm above the skin, depending on how long your arm hairs are I guess. But if you like the HHT that is great, just do as the others have said and work on learning what it is telling you about the expected shave.

James.

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I have a routine where I use arm/leg hair for that purpose: for me, the test is not so much whether the razor will grab hair, but how much resistance there is before a hair is cut. I look for none at all. The hair just falls away. It has given me a good dose of razor mange, though. Good thing it's cold out & no one can see the bald patches! :)

As far as a more traditional HHT, I have yet to find a useful way (for me) of doing that test. As always, YMMV.

Well I guess mostly I am wondering If I can get the balde a little sharper to make my shaves go a little "smoother". I have basically a new dovo honed by Lynn and used about a dozen times with stropping before and after (usually just enough to dry the edge). it doesn't quite drop hair like be seen and feel there is some room left for improvement. I've been careful to keep the edge flat when stropping so I'm not sure where to go from here (and no I don't have a hone or paste). Any thoughts On where to take it from here? Thanks everyone btw!

This is completely uneducated, but I'd guess if Lynn honed it, and you're new to the honing game, you're not gonna get it any sharper than he did. If it's not running smoothly, there's a lot of different reasons that could be at the cause, besides the razors sharpness. I had trouble with my member honed blade at first. But time and experience told me that it wasn't the blades fault, it was mine. I'd leave well enough alone for another month, and just practice shaving. If it's still not up to snuff, I'd contact Lynn before I did any self maintenance. If it's splitting hairs, it's plenty sharp enough. MHO

In addition, as a 5 month SR user, I can tell you I'm just now starting to get an idea for what it should feel like. So there's that to think about as well. HTH

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Originally Posted by regularjoe

This is completely uneducated, but I'd guess if Lynn honed it, and you're new to the honing game, you're not gonna get it any sharper than he did. If it's not running smoothly, there's a lot of different reasons that could be at the cause, besides the razors sharpness. I had trouble with my member honed blade at first. But time and experience told me that it wasn't the blades fault, it was mine. I'd leave well enough alone for another month, and just practice shaving. If it's still not up to snuff, I'd contact Lynn before I did any self maintenance. If it's splitting hairs, it's plenty sharp enough. MHO

In addition, as a 5 month SR user, I can tell you I'm just now starting to get an idea for what it should feel like. So there's that to think about as well. HTH

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Could it be my homemade strop? I thought I did a pretty good job on the second one - I left it unoiled and sanded It lighty to remove teh shine after glass bottling it. Is there that much difference in Homemade vs 'pro'made?

It'll shave my arm hair - but only against the skin - not above them and I have thin arm hair.

Every now and then I do a slightly different test, I wear my hair short, #1 on the clippers, sometimes I am a bit lazy and I let it grow some, just before I get the Wahl's out for a trim I take a newly honed razor and run it over the hair about 3/8" off the scalp, if the hair fly's off like grass from the back of one of those old hand push lawn mowers, I reckon it's good to go.

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Originally Posted by klingenmeister

Yes overall I'm happy with my shaving experience minus a few other items and the blade cuts well when held correctly.

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There is the answer, keep working on the blade angle and the actual shaving stroke, as you improve that, and as you gain expierience with stropping, the edge gains sharpness all by itself.. :p

Quite a few variables have to all come together to get the shaves we all brag about on here, actual edge sharpness is only one of them...

Pre-shave Prep
Stropping
Angle
Pressure
Stroke
After-shave conditioning

Are just some more of them :)


ps: Since you are a Non-Honer you at least need to go buy a pack of DE blades and try the HHT on those to give you some idea of how it even works...
Personallly I don't even use the HHT, and if I do because I am showing a non-shaver just how sharp a SR can be I only use it after stropping.... Keep in mind that is me stropping my edge and using my test hair so it I know what to expect...

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

There is the answer, keep working on the blade angle and the actual shaving stroke, as you improve that, and as you gain expierience with stropping, the edge gains sharpness all by itself.. :p

Quite a few variables have to all come together to get the shaves we all brag about on here, actual edge sharpness is only one of them...
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Agreed - since I have no other blade of equal or greater sharpness - judging my razors edge is proving difficult. I'll ask my brother in law if I can "see" one of his DE since that's what he shaves with...no sense wasting a buck ;)

I just tested out using denim from a pair of jeans as a pre leather strop and that provided some improvement.

CASE CLOSED... Thanks everyone!
FYI - i'm kind of a knife nut/sharpening fan so I obsess over making sure my knives are sharp. Kitchen, pocket or facial - a knife is made for only one purpose and it should excel at it.

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Originally Posted by PA23-250

I have a routine where I use arm/leg hair for that purpose: for me, the test is not so much whether the razor will grab hair, but how much resistance there is before a hair is cut. I look for none at all. The hair just falls away. It has given me a good dose of razor mange, though. Good thing it's cold out & no one can see the bald patches! :)

As far as a more traditional HHT, I have yet to find a useful way (for me) of doing that test. As always, YMMV.

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Love it! I got a case of the same mange

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Originally Posted by kamikazeproject

Yeah, you're fine. How the hanging hair test actually works is this: a hair, if you magnify it, looks like a bunch of microscopic scales. Think about a fish, if you run a knife down the side of a fish, from head to tail, the scales will most likely deflect the knife all the way down the side of the fish; but if you run the knife from tail to head, you'll start taking scales off, because the blade gets caught on the edge of the scale and digs in.... same thing happens with a razor and a hair. Always do the test towards the follicle, and it'll work every time; go against it and it's complete luck of the draw.

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i never thought of this, but your right. how accurate is the test then? if you can manage to get muscle memory, and know the angle to catch the "scales" then? I have one razor, that for some reason (i think i narrowed it down to the hardness of the steel) cant do atg. the thing passes the HHT with flying colors, but it is def. not my go to razor because it just doesnt seem to get as sharp as others.

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Originally Posted by Jp1munoz

. . . I have one razor, that for some reason (i think i narrowed it down to the hardness of the steel) cant do atg. the thing passes the HHT with flying colors, but it is def. not my go to razor because it just doesnt seem to get as sharp as others.

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I have a few :w razors and have been at it for almost 3 years now. Against the advice of most here, I started honing with my first razor. Over time, I have gotten better and found that some of the earlier attempts don't shave quite as well as the more recent ones. I have found that if they are close, but not quite there, a few laps on a barber's hone (I use an 8" Swaty) will bring them up to my current standard.

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Originally Posted by coloshaver

I have a few :w razors and have been at it for almost 3 years now. Against the advice of most here, I started honing with my first razor. Over time, I have gotten better and found that some of the earlier attempts don't shave quite as well as the more recent ones. I have found that if they are close, but not quite there, a few laps on a barber's hone (I use an 8" Swaty) will bring them up to my current standard.

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I have a handful of razors, what i meant was one of them seems to not be able to go ATG. i have a john prince that is really amazing, the thing is like a tank, and gets super sharp. Also one of my TI (celebration crown) its by far my favorite. It just plows through anything effortlessly.