Weak Science

[WW243]

I rarely test my razors beyond a TPT for sharpness, no loupe beyond the first run up the hones from bevel set, no microscope, although they look like a lot of fun. Today I did a TPT on the razor I am going to shave with and it felt a little off near the toe, say the last 1/4 of the edge. I thought about a HHT to check the TPT. And, it confirmed the first test...I know, parlor trick, still...
And what I did next is the reason for my post. I stropped the razor, actually less than normal, 30 and 60. Then I went back to the HHT. You guessed it. The razor popped hair the entire length...
The magic of stropping is well documented. It was pretty cool to face it head on and see the remarkable results. It still kind of mystifies me, but a little less so now.

[Quixoticshaver]

I like finding those data points as well. To improve this weak science consider checking out www.scienceofsharp.wordpress.com . This guy uses a scanning electron microscope to study the effects putt various sharpening methods. Pretty neat, though tedious reading. ..

[mainaman]

Shave test it and pay attention if that part of the edge will degrade as you go. If it does then you are dealing with either a wire edge or the bevel is not quite set there.

[Ernie1980]

I recently bought a loupe after my buddy said that it would help a lot with my edges. The look of the edge is visibly different before and after stropping, hence the results that you get! However, I still like popping hairs just for fun

[WW243]

Today is a shave day with little insights. A second one, and not the first time I notice this. I was stropping my SOTD razor prior to shaving. It has a wonderful thumb notch. Truthfully, the thumb notch is awesome to have when shaving but a PITA when stropping. What was confirmed today is that before the shave, stropping was way more difficult than the post shave stropping. Weird? Well, I believe that firing up the motor skills needed to shave (both hands) actually tunes the hands to strop post shave. The razor flips easily post shave on the strop and I fight it the whole time pre shave. Make any sense? To make sense, you have to first have a razor with a thumb notch and second, you have to be a pretty old dude.

[Ernie1980]

I have not noticed that specifically, but I have observed certain times that stropping is MUCH easier than others. There have been times when I have walked away from stropping because I didn't have it at that time

[jfk742]

In with you on the difficult to strop but awesome to shave with thumb notch thing. I test my edge through out the honing process. I'm finally getting to a point where I can see what the edge needs under the loupe and it is confirmed by hht. Obviously my hht and your hht mean nothing when compared to each other. There are also spots on my arm that are only a few inches apart that behave completely different. What I do know is after stropping a 12k edge I should be popping all hairs. Doesn't mean that shave will be smooth just means I hit my preferred keenness level, then onto shave test.

[Fruiteater]

I like finding those data points as well. To improve this weak science consider checking out www.scienceofsharp.wordpress.com . This guy uses a scanning electron microscope to study the effects putt various sharpening methods. Pretty neat, though tedious reading. ..

A few days ago I started on this and just now finished, including reading all the comments. Thank you.

Everybody should go through the whole thing if you want to have the tools to develop your own process!

For those who missed it in the comments, here's what his process is:



EDIT: sorry about size lol. Here's the link, scroll down to the comments. https://scienceofsharp.wordpress.com...emoval-part-1/