Thread: Why HHT is important or is not?

Originally Posted by Doc226

Perfect, love it


Not having seen it or felt it, sounds like a 3. Really should not be much bend in the hair. Also the HHT should be the same all parts of the blade.

The bolded part is really what counts, but if you are having skin pain then you are likely not there with the edge yet.

I agree with you. Also I think my little skin pain might be related to my beard hairs. I have really, really hard beard hairs. My whole male family does. This was even confirmed by few professional barbers doing straight razor shaving on my grandfather, father and me. Few barbers, not one. Without long, long hot towel preparation I even do not start shaving.
HHT was in 4 spots on the blade. Not much bend. However I can tell was more like hair was moving over blade and suddenly snap. Not like snap and when moving hair. So I think it is at most HHT3 and NOTHING CLOSE YOU HAVE SHOW ON YOURS VIDEO. I am envy yours test and techniques after watching your video. Well... maybe one day I will get to this point.

Here's my main issue with the HHT: nothing. It is a fine test if you know what you are doing with it; if you have the experience to assess what it means for you; if you have calibrated the hairs you use to the shaves you give yourself and to the edges you hone.

Here's my main issue with the cross-comparison HHT X (X=1, 2, etc) idea: it is unsound for purposes related to person to person comparisons. Sure, use it yourself. There's nothing wrong with grading your own HHTs. But it is unfair and misleading to quote numbers at other people when those numbers are completely dependent upon you and you alone. Your scale is ordinal at best, and the cutoffs between the levels are subjective and open to individual interpretation. For example, those members who are a bit hard of hearing are probably getting HHT 5 (or whichever of the pseudo-scientific numbers relates to "silent" cleaving) all the time!

So while I applaud the idea and would heartily recommend people develop a scale of HHT-iness for themselves, I would also suggest they bear in mind that attaching numbers to something doesn't make it mean anything, nor does it make it a more objective measure. If you want to help someone assess an edge using HHT, my suggestion would be to get them to simply describe what happens.

As always, this is just my opinion.

James.

An amazing HHT 6 edge!

That's right, I just finished 10 million strokes on the Naniwa 12k, 100 million strokes on the CrO balsa, 1 billion strokes on the balsa with .000000000001 micron diamond paste, 10 billion strokes on linen and finally 1 trillion strokes on the leather. At several inches away from the blade my HHT test fell silently to the floor without touching the blade. While examining this remarkable edge the mirror finish flashed my face and all my whiskers just fell off my face into the sink.

Now that is sharp. I call it the HHT 6.

Originally Posted by Gammaray

An amazing HHT 6 edge!

That's right, I just finished 10 million strokes on the Naniwa 12k, 100 million strokes on the CrO balsa, 1 billion strokes on the balsa with .000000000001 micron diamond paste, 10 billion strokes on linen and finally 1 trillion strokes on the leather. At several inches away from the blade my HHT test fell silently to the floor without touching the blade. While examining this remarkable edge the mirror finish flashed my face and all my whiskers just fell off my face into the sink.

Now that is sharp. I call it the HHT 6.

You have forgot to take pictures when you were shaving:-)

Originally Posted by Gammaray

An amazing HHT 6 edge!

... At several inches away from the blade my HHT test fell silently to the floor without touching the blade. While examining this remarkable edge the mirror finish flashed my face and all my whiskers just fell off my face into the sink.

Now that is sharp. I call it the HHT 6.

6? Really? Don't you mean HHT 5.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 ?

James.

Originally Posted by proximus26

You have forgot to take pictures when you were shaving:-)

Alas, what was left of the blade, after all that work, shattered like glass when I folded the scales.

I have only tried the HHT test one time and I ended up taking a chunk of my thumb off. So I do not really do it. Besides the coarseness of my facial hair is very different from the rest of my body. I have given up on popping arm hairs as an indication of a satifactory edge. I can pop arm, leg or chest hair and it really does not compare. I have had one straight razor at a barber's shop. The barber had to replace the disposable merkur razor blade after completing 3/4 of my beard. She also started with a fresh razor. Now, the result could have been due to poor technique but I am thinking my hair is just that coarse.

Originally Posted by Mephisto

I have only tried the HHT test one time and I ended up taking a chunk of my thumb off.

You are doing it wrong

Originally Posted by Doc226

You are doing it wrong

Right! It's the Hanging Hair Test, not the Hanging Thumb Test.

Actually, from a certain point of view thumbs are more comparable than hairs, though not as plentiful I guess.

James.