Thread: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.