Thread: Different Sharpness Test?

Hi folks, I am wondering if there is a different way to tell if my razors are shave ready other than trying it on myself. I have real fine arm hair that doesn't work, and I am running out of leg hair. Neither one is tough enough to pass a HHT. Any ideas? Btw, I am doing O.K. still in a lot of pain and discomfort, if I knew my surgeon couldn't prescribe pain killers I would have went to one that could. Belly feels like someone is constantly punching me.

I've heard of people dedicating a cheap badger brush for HHT. You would need to recalibrate, but that would be the same with any hair change. I've also heard of people using a hair extension from a beauty parlor.

I have used the hair fall. They often have different thickness of hair. So, find all of one type to use. A fall with different colors will make it easier.
~Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

I have used the hair fall. They often have different thickness of hair. So, find all of one type to use. A fall with different colors will make it easier.
~Richard

Is the 'hair fall' what is swept up off of the floor? Serious question, I've not heard the term before.

What I do is wash my hair with a stripping type of shampoo (cheap) with no conditioner and take a lock right out of the shower. I also mark the root side on the paper packaging. A small lock lasts years. Conditioners and oils have a large effect on how the hair HHTs IME.

I depend more and more on my loupe and the sight and feel on the hones. For a while I could not get my hair to work in a hanging hair test either. I could get my wife's hair to work. Over time I first worked really hard to get it to work and then worked really hard at trying to figure out to not do it. Essentially what I have gotten to is, if the bevel apex looks perfect and then the bevel gets very well polished, it will pass a shave test. I put a lot of time and effort into the whole hanging hair thing, only to have it not really be a needed bench mark. There are some very good threads with very good pictures all about using a loupe to see what is going on at the apex and the bevel. I think it is probably worth exploring that route and abandoning the HHT.

I use a cherry tomato. Cut into the tomato at a 45 degree angle. It should take almost no pressure to slice the tomato. This is not an end honing test, but one to see if the bevel is set.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I depend more and more on my loupe and the sight and feel on the hones. For a while I could not get my hair to work in a hanging hair test either. I could get my wife's hair to work. Over time I first worked really hard to get it to work and then worked really hard at trying to figure out to not do it. Essentially what I have gotten to is, if the bevel apex looks perfect and then the bevel gets very well polished, it will pass a shave test. I put a lot of time and effort into the whole hanging hair thing, only to have it not really be a needed bench mark. There are some very good threads with very good pictures all about using a loupe to see what is going on at the apex and the bevel. I think it is probably worth exploring that route and abandoning the HHT.

I agree with this - the loupe, even some magic marker to make sure you've covered the entire area if you want, but I find the loupe, get it trimming arm hair at the 1k level, and looking through the loupe, you can tell if the bevel has made is evenly across the length of the razor and the sides have met in a perfect apex, if they don't meet, it isn't set. Using the loupe, look at the striations on each side of the razor, the striations should extend all the way to the edge on both sides, when they do, and you can see it - the bevel should be set.

Another trick, looking along the length of the blade, you should see no visible line. If you do, that means there is probably a flat surface, which means the bevels haven't met.

There is no easy answer other than practice, practice, practice, till you understand why you're doing the things you're doing. As Rez states, the objective at the initial level is to get the bevels to meet, easily trimming arm hair at the 1k level, with an even bevel, after that, it's just continuing to polish the bevel.

Stropping in between stones helps the polishing, but if you're bevel isn't set, you're just wasting time....the loupe IMO is indispensable for new and intermediate honers, the pro's can probably tell by the amount of time on the stone, even the feel of the blade on the stone, and flick it with their thumb and know....I'm a long way from that and when I take a razor to the stones for the works, it's a given for me that I'm prepared to spend 3,4,5 hours setting the bevel, anything quicker for me is a bonus, as the geometry of every blade is different.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Is the 'hair fall' what is swept up off of the floor? Serious question, I've not heard the term before.

Women with short hair go to the beauty supply and instead of buying a full wig, they buy what is known as 'a fall'. This is hair that attaches to the crown of the head and flows down to the shoulders, or more, and it appears they have long hair. i went to a beauty supply to buy a human hair 'fall' for doing HHT. Twas a lot of $ and I decided to just stick with whatever I pull out of my hair brush.

The HHT is my test to know whether my razor is shave ready. If a person uses the same hair consistently, your wife's, your own, you will gradually get a sense for when your own personal HHT is 'there.' Mine may not work for you, yours may not work for me. Some people may think I'm (shudder) wrong, but I'm going by 8 years of doing this, and that is what works consistently for me. YMMV.

My hair is very fine. My arm hair is even more fine. On the rare occasion when I feel the need to do or demonstrate the HHT, I grab a chest hair!

Weird, I know, but it could be worse if I went farther south!

By the way, calibration absolutely is critical. A perfect example of this is that my gray chest hairs cut much more easily than the normal dark ones so I don't use the gray ones.

My wife has very fine blond hair (not natural color). If razor passes HHT on it I move on to test shave of full face for final test.