Thread: Hanging Hair Test

niclane,

Good question. I am also pretty new myself and I had a razor that would slice a hair with the "ting" sound. I thought that this was because it is labled a "singing" razor. When I shaved it wasn't uncomfortable but there was some pulling. I just got this really old razor from an antique shop and got it shave-ready. At first I thought that it may not be sharp enough but once I shaved with it I was amazed. One of the areas that I have a hard time shaving is my moustache on the sides of my upper lip. The hair grows weird or something because it is just hard to get with my other razor. The new one took it right off and overall had much less drag.

I guess you should just hone your razor a bit if you have a chance. I know that my other razor would have been really good if it had a little more honing. This new one took me a while to get ready to shave, and now it works really well. I don't have a microscope or anything fancy, I just honed and honed until it shaved my arm "really" well. I now have many patches of arm hair missing from trying it every few laps.
If you have a hone, try using the Honing Pyramid found on this site. I believe Randy put it together with some of Lynn's advice. It worked for me.

Good Luck...

Originally Posted by Kelly

A sharp razor will have a little resistance and you’ll hear a slight, very faint “ting” when the hair severs. A shaving sharp razor will have no pull or resistance and no sound at all.. the hair seems to sever almost willingly (suicide? haha).

THe quiet way is the way my arm hairs come off, but I've always heard about a shaving sharp razor popping the hairs.

Originally Posted by niclane

By his definition both pf my blades are “sharp.” They'll cut a hair, but I can feel the blade "hitch up" and there's a tiny *ting* when it cuts.
<...>
hitch/ting vs. silently parting hair? Is it initial honing? Stropping? Stropping with paste? What gets a person from sharp to shaving sharp?

Hi,

when my Str8 is in the condition you describe, I usually know that I am quite near to shaving sharpness. This usually means to go on using the pasted strops (green paste and extra fine polishing paste). This stadium is reached either after the 8k stone or after some shaves.

I use green paste (around 0.5 micron) and afterwards fine polishing paste for which I don't know the grit, but its considerably finer than the green one.

After a maximum of 30-50 strokes on each the razor will usually have that shaving sharpness, where the hair is cut without sound and resistance.


Greetings,
-Axel-

Well, when I hover the razor high in my arm hair, I can tell it's condition by the "pull" of the razor...

Another great intro to a paste touch up like the one Axel describes is a few ultra gentle 1/3 passes on the Norton 4k/8k. Even after a perfect pyramid honing, I find it is a fantastic finish on that stone.

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