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Average HHT but great shaving edge

Anyone experience this? I have. I have an average HHT, not banging, that I believe will shave good. Curious what others experience. I have had great HHT that suck at the shave as well.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Every great shave I ever had, if I bothered to test the edge first, always treetopped at 1/4" above the skin. I don't do HHT. Any edge that would not treetop at 1/4" has always disappointed me. Shaved? Well, yeah, usually. But not the way I like.

Different shavers like different edges. I like a very sharp edge and my very sharp edges off the .1u diamond balsa shave me very smoothly and comfortably. OTOH, an edge straight off .3u lapping film feels kind of harsh to me, even if I use picopaper underneath. I find a coticule edge to be laughably dull, and it is a rare Jnat edge that will satisfy me. Synthetic stone? Don't make me laugh. I know better. But some guys like a coti or thuri or charnley or arkie or jnat edge. Crave it, even. Plenty of guys like a 12k synth edge. At the lower end of the spectrum, HHT3 is just a fantasy. But some guys like that sort of edge. It's all about what you know, what you like, and what you can do to get it and how well you know what to do with it.
 
What is average HHT?
you don’t know until you try?
I’m not a huge fan of HHT.
i also prefer tree topping, and the dovo cut test.
I have had some stellar shaves from razor with less than uber sharp edges.....
 
I see tree topping and cutting hair at skin level as more of a pass fail sort of test.

I see a single hanging hair test as having the potential to offer more information than pass fail.

You need to calibrate your HHT to really be able to use the results. This can be a learning experience in and of itself.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I see tree topping and cutting hair at skin level as more of a pass fail sort of test.

I see a single hanging hair test as having the potential to offer more information than pass fail.

You need to calibrate your HHT to really be able to use the results. This can be a learning experience in and of itself.
Not pass/fail at all. How high did treetopping occur? Silently, without disturbing the hair shaft? Ping/tink sound? Perceptible disturbance? Every hair it encountered, or just one or two?
 
Not pass/fail at all. How high did treetopping occur? Silently, without disturbing the hair shaft? Ping/tink sound? Perceptible disturbance? Every hair it encountered, or just one or two?
When I do tree topping it is pass fail in the sense that it either cuts arm hair or it doesn't. It isn't treetopping-3 or tree topping-5 for me.

For me personally, I see the tree topping as more of a pass fail sort of test.

Same idea with shaving at skin level, it either does well or doesn't, it isn't skin level3 or skin level5 for me. Ripping or pulling is a fail.

When I am isolating a single hair I have much more control over the variables of how fine the hair is, distance of holding point, length of hair, and where on the edge I am checking.

For these reasons I focus my efforts on reading the test for those things you've mentioned with a single hanging hair test.
 
Having been a DE shaver for 9 years, I compare everything to a feather blade. If the razor doesn't cut like a hot knife through butter, it's not sharp enough and needs either a rehone or a higher grit
 
I remember once a subpar tree topping gave me a great smooth shave. It was a coti edge. I have then had Uber tree tops that suck. Odd.
 
HHT is very subjective.

Width Of Human Hair: These Statistics Are Real! - Lewigs - https://lewigs.com/width-and-thickness-of-human-hair/
There is no precise value for the thickness of human hair in micrometers. The diameter of human hair is proved to range between 17 μm to 181 μm (Brian, 1999). Flaxen hair (yellowish-gray) is the thinnest with an average width of 17–50 µm, while black hair is believed to be the thickest with an average thickness of 56–181 µm.

I have found that I am still shaving comfortably even after the razor has stopped passing a HHT using my wife's hair for a HHT (blonde and fine). I shave almost every day and when it gets sketchy against the grain on my upper lip it's time for a refresh.
 
The hair on your head health/condition changes as it dries out, get washed and receive treatments. Thus they will behave differently under these conditions. When my hair is in ‘bad’ condition they don't HHT great. Hydrate the hair and HHT 3-4 easily.

Once you’ve hone a few razor to shave ready you will be less dependent on subjective test such as HHT.
 
While like those above I usually test a 1/4 " or so off my skin, this is not the difinitive test in my opinion.
I have had great shaves with razors that were so/ so on the hanging hair test. Most typically, the Jnats seem to not do the HHT as well as a 30,000 shapton stone, but I would still rather shave with a jnat edge. And I am speaking as one that just had a jnat edge done on one of my straights and suddenly understood why: 1. Jnats are so popular for straights and 2. What was meant when someone said buttery smooth.
 
Having been a DE shaver for 9 years, I compare everything to a feather blade. If the razor doesn't cut like a hot knife through butter, it's not sharp enough and needs either a rehone or a higher grit
Same here, exactly my thoughts. Me, I like Feather, be it a DE blade or an AC blade.

FWIW, my AC tree-tops silently every singly hair that stands in its way.
 
Never used the HHT.
Have had edges from others using the HHT and they were a mixed bag of tricks.
I never put much stock into what the 'loudest voices' online had to say about all of this actually.
I learned to hone to the 'correct feel' on the stone and that has always worked for me.
Whatever works for me is all that matters to me; Only test I respect is the FHT.
 
FHT = Facial hair test?


For me HHT is more useful for strops than hones... but if I'm seeing if something might be a decent shave (like when I would test a Tam O shanter or Turkey edge to see if it's worth trying a shave off it), I'll do a HHT to see roughly where I'm at. Basically tell a mid-range "grabby" edge vs a finisher "cutty" edge.
 
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