Thread: Is my razor sharp enough? HHT says NO! Your thoughts?

Originally Posted by MykelDR

I like the idea... I'm thinking more heading toward a standard type monofilament of yet to be identified gauge or spec to replace each of our individual arm/head/leg/pubic hairs being used in each of our own hard-worn processes. This would effectively kill all argument surely.
Not sure if I want that really

It's already been done.

That's where I got the idea of using thread. Like he says on the page, actually doing measurements is tricky because you have to account for how much slack is in the thread.

Small differences in thread tension can result in large differences in cutting force. This problem can be greatly reduced by putting a known amount of slack in the thread.

His rig is nice, but I built a makeshift little rig out of a Tums container that also accounts for slack and got repeatable results. What I mean by that is that I could test a blade and see that it consistently required 70 grams of force to cut the thread, then do 100 strokes on a C12k and see that it now required 60 grams of force. That sort of thing. Ultimately, the testing took a little more time than I cared to do on a regular basis, and I found that after a while I could get a pretty good idea of how much force it took to cut the thread just by holding it.

Still, if anyone's interested in the kind of testing that yields actual data, I don't mind explaining how I did it. Like you said, though, the numbers one person gets would only be meaningful if everyone used the same thread (and under the same tension). I believe this could be doable. I'll post more details about my testing here if people think it's relevant to this thread. Otherwise, I'll start another one sometime.