Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Newbies often struggle with the question of whether the razor they are trying to shave with is sharp enough, or not. Well, it shaves arm hair! Who cares? Razors are not for shaving arms. They are for shaving faces. Arm hair and whiskers are whole different critters.
Many shavers use what is called HHT, or Hanging Hair Test. I won't go into it since I don't use it and find the results to be VERY variable and subjective. So I will let someone else post on that, or link to relevant threads. What I will present in this post is my favorite sharpness test, the Treetopping Test.
This test is still somewhat subjective, and varies somewhat with hair texture and sweep technique. However IMHO (YMMV) it is the more authoritative and relevant way to quantify a razor's sharpness, plus bald guys with no cooperative hair donor can do it, too. Anybody with hair on their forearms, actually.
To perform this test, simply sweep the razor above the skin of the forearm, about 1/4" above the skin. Observe the tiny tink or ping sound. Observe the way that the razor disturbs the hair root. Look at how many hair tips fall onto the razor. These things tell the story.
At 1/4", if a razor mows down every hair tip it encounters, and does so silently with zero felt disturbance to the hair base, it is crazy insane sharp. Sharpest of sharp. Doesn't get any better than that. This is a rare edge. It is not common to encounter such an edge. If you manage to make a razor so sharp, congratulate yourself and celebrate.
If you can hear a tink sound and feel the hair base shift around, but still get a couple of hair tips to fall onto the razor, it is pretty darn sharp, absolutely shave ready in anyone's book. A good edge, one to be proud of and one that you should enjoy shaving with. This quality of edge is a very realistic goal for any honer. Unfortunately, many professional honers do not create this level of edge. However, nothing is stopping the individual from taking his own razors to this level.
If it does not treetop at all at 1/4", try it at 1/8" above the skin. If it treetops at 1/8", the razor should shave. Not as well as it could, but it is usable. A good standard for a newbie trying his first razor. Beware. This is still plenty sharp enough to cut skin! I consider this the minimum standard for shave readiness.
If it does not treetop at 1/8", then IMHO it should not be considered a shave ready edge. Have it honed. Or try to hone it yourself.
So there is the treetop test, the three basic levels of shave readiness determined by that test, and what constitutes NOT shave ready. It works rather well, until you have a 1/4" crew cut on your forearms!
So what if it doesn't treetop at all, but shaves arm hair? Well, this is no test for shave readiness. However, a well set bevel should shave arm hair effortlessly. So should your pocketknife, but that is beside the point. If there is a question of whether the bevel is set or not, try shaving a bit of arm hair, with no force or pressure, shaving, not scraping. The difference between shaving and scraping is mostly the angle between blade and skin. A normal shave angle is where the gap between the razor's spine and the face equals the thickness of the spine. At two spine thicknesses, you are scraping. Do that on your face, and your aftershave will let you know. So is the bevel set? If it shaves arm hair effortlessly without scraping, along the entire length of the blade, it can be said with reasonable certainty that the bevel is set. More importantly, if the razor does this, then it might be possible to make it shave ready again with just a session on a finishing stone or film. A retouching of the edge. Otherwise you are looking at resetting the bevel and running the whole progression.
So there it is. Don't know if the razor is sharp enough? You can figure it out yourself with this method, or with the HHT. The actual shave test is the best test, but if you are still just learning to shave in the manly way, there might be some doubt with the shave test. What if it is simply a lack of skill or experience causing a bad shave, and no fault of the edge? Now you can make that determination with a fair degree of certainty. Shave ready razor? Work on your technique. Not shave ready? Get it honed, or hone it yourself, and verify by testing as above.
Many shavers use what is called HHT, or Hanging Hair Test. I won't go into it since I don't use it and find the results to be VERY variable and subjective. So I will let someone else post on that, or link to relevant threads. What I will present in this post is my favorite sharpness test, the Treetopping Test.
This test is still somewhat subjective, and varies somewhat with hair texture and sweep technique. However IMHO (YMMV) it is the more authoritative and relevant way to quantify a razor's sharpness, plus bald guys with no cooperative hair donor can do it, too. Anybody with hair on their forearms, actually.
To perform this test, simply sweep the razor above the skin of the forearm, about 1/4" above the skin. Observe the tiny tink or ping sound. Observe the way that the razor disturbs the hair root. Look at how many hair tips fall onto the razor. These things tell the story.
At 1/4", if a razor mows down every hair tip it encounters, and does so silently with zero felt disturbance to the hair base, it is crazy insane sharp. Sharpest of sharp. Doesn't get any better than that. This is a rare edge. It is not common to encounter such an edge. If you manage to make a razor so sharp, congratulate yourself and celebrate.
If you can hear a tink sound and feel the hair base shift around, but still get a couple of hair tips to fall onto the razor, it is pretty darn sharp, absolutely shave ready in anyone's book. A good edge, one to be proud of and one that you should enjoy shaving with. This quality of edge is a very realistic goal for any honer. Unfortunately, many professional honers do not create this level of edge. However, nothing is stopping the individual from taking his own razors to this level.
If it does not treetop at all at 1/4", try it at 1/8" above the skin. If it treetops at 1/8", the razor should shave. Not as well as it could, but it is usable. A good standard for a newbie trying his first razor. Beware. This is still plenty sharp enough to cut skin! I consider this the minimum standard for shave readiness.
If it does not treetop at 1/8", then IMHO it should not be considered a shave ready edge. Have it honed. Or try to hone it yourself.
So there is the treetop test, the three basic levels of shave readiness determined by that test, and what constitutes NOT shave ready. It works rather well, until you have a 1/4" crew cut on your forearms!
So what if it doesn't treetop at all, but shaves arm hair? Well, this is no test for shave readiness. However, a well set bevel should shave arm hair effortlessly. So should your pocketknife, but that is beside the point. If there is a question of whether the bevel is set or not, try shaving a bit of arm hair, with no force or pressure, shaving, not scraping. The difference between shaving and scraping is mostly the angle between blade and skin. A normal shave angle is where the gap between the razor's spine and the face equals the thickness of the spine. At two spine thicknesses, you are scraping. Do that on your face, and your aftershave will let you know. So is the bevel set? If it shaves arm hair effortlessly without scraping, along the entire length of the blade, it can be said with reasonable certainty that the bevel is set. More importantly, if the razor does this, then it might be possible to make it shave ready again with just a session on a finishing stone or film. A retouching of the edge. Otherwise you are looking at resetting the bevel and running the whole progression.
So there it is. Don't know if the razor is sharp enough? You can figure it out yourself with this method, or with the HHT. The actual shave test is the best test, but if you are still just learning to shave in the manly way, there might be some doubt with the shave test. What if it is simply a lack of skill or experience causing a bad shave, and no fault of the edge? Now you can make that determination with a fair degree of certainty. Shave ready razor? Work on your technique. Not shave ready? Get it honed, or hone it yourself, and verify by testing as above.