Thread: How sharp does the razor need to be?

Originally Posted by Chet

I can't get my razor to pass the hanging hair test. I can get it sharp enough to cut hairs when passing over my forearm. I sharpen using a coticule stone and diminish the slurry down to plain water using circle and x stroke method. How can I improve?

Honing with coticules is kind of tricky for a beginner. Are you setting the bevel with the coticule as well ? I set my bevels with a 1k synthetic and sharpen with 4/8 and test shave before moving to a coticule. Some guys do the whole thing with a coticule but I doubt anyone does on a regular basis. Not if they have a lot of razors to hone anyway. Lot more work doing it all coticule IMHO.

As far as how sharp ........ sharp enough to give a smooth close shave with no pulling or irritation.