Thread: How sharp is sharp???

IMO, sharp is not subjective. Shave sharp means that a razor takes out all the stuble on its path. The degree of shave sharp, shave-readiness, is subjective since 'ready for a comfortable shave' is open too many interpretations. Sharp is not. If your razor does not take out all the stuble, it's not sharp enough. I don't necessarily mean that it delivers a one pass baby-butt smooth shave, but every hair must be cut.

What I've found is that the hanging hair test is an indicator when the razor can cut hair, after having set a bevel indicated by the TPT/TNT. I hone on for quite a bit after the first good HHT results, at some point I decide that the edge is done. Strop, shave test a small patch, and if it's not good enough back to honing. Repeat until you get a satisfactory result or start to get really pissed off

As said, using TPT/TNT beyond the bevel setting stage will only dull your edge, effectively throwing you back to where you started a bit before the bevel was set. It's like taking 2 steps forward, 3 back.


@Dundee: I'd suggest you do two things:

(1) Go through some of the wiki articles here.
(2) Get higher grit equipment.

At least up to 8000 Norton or comparable synthetic Japanese waterstone, if you decide to go for a stone. Or a coticule, very versatile, relatively cheap, takes a bit of time to master but then again, you decided to learn straight shaving. Honing is a part of that, IMO.

When honing starting at bevel setting to shave-ready, you can't cut any corners. You don't need 27 natural progression and finishing stones to get a razor shave sharp (I have had one combination coticule now for about two months and getting (really) good shave-ready results), but your progression must be complete.

Or in other words: you can't brush your teeth with a stick and you can't eat soup with a fork.

Originally Posted by Pithor

Or in other words: you can't brush your teeth with a stick and you can't eat soup with a fork.

Teeth cleaning twig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by HarleyFXST

Teeth cleaning twig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LOL

Aaaw, damn! Should've known... Okay then, new and improved:

'You can't brush your teeth with a fork and you can't eat soup with a stick".