DE Blade vs Straight Edge

[drewmac]

1. So I just finished honing/stropping a straight and, as I've already shaved today, tried out the edge vs. one of my wife's hairs...popped right off. Just for kicks, I tried the same hair on a new Gillette Bleue Extra DE blade, and nothing would make the hair split. My question then is why can both these blades provide a superb, sharp shave when the DE blade just seems super dull?

2. As I am fairly new at straights (honing, stropping, and shaving), can I be assured that if a HHT tells me that the edge is sharper than a DE blade then the straight is well on its way to shave ready? I understand that only a shave test will tell, but you can only shave so many times a day .

 

[ambrose]

it might be the teflon coating on the DE blade, I believe straights can be sharper.

 

[mparker762]

1. So I just finished honing/stropping a straight and, as I've already shaved today, tried out the edge vs. one of my wife's hairs...popped right off. Just for kicks, I tried the same hair on a new Gillette Bleue Extra DE blade, and nothing would make the hair split. My question then is why can both these blades provide a superb, sharp shave when the DE blade just seems super dull?

The HHT is just a tool, useful less because of its accuracy than because it is quick and can be done much more often than the shave test than. When the HHT and shave test conflict, believe the shave test.

2. As I am fairly new at straights (honing, stropping, and shaving), can I be assured that if a HHT tells me that the edge is sharper than a DE blade then the straight is well on its way to shave ready? I understand that only a shave test will tell, but you can only shave so many times a day .

No, you can't, for a variety of reasons. The teflon coatings on the DE blade cause it to perform poorly on the HHT but perform well in an actual shave. The naive HHT is a very poor indicator of sharpness; blades that perform poorly on it can nonetheless be outstandingly shave ready, while blades that perform very well on it can fail to cut any hair whatsoever. The HHT can tell you a lot about your blade, the trick comes in interpreting it. It's also more useful as a running check on your edge during honing than as a final check on sharpness - it is useful for telling you that the edge is improving, and finding places where the edge is improving too slowly. It's not unusual for a blade to do very well on the HHT straight off the 1000 grit hone, then start failing as you move into the 8k grit range, though sometimes it starts passing again as you get back up above 20k grit - all the while getting sharper and sharper. But it may never pop hairs as well as it did at 1k. It can also tell you if your blade is overhoned, and with experience may be able to tell you if your razor is shave-sharp. But it takes experience, and even then it's nowhere as accurate as the shave test.

 

[drewmac]

No, you can't, for a variety of reasons. The teflon coatings on the DE blade cause it to perform poorly on the HHT but perform well in an actual shave. The naive HHT is a very poor indicator of sharpness; blades that perform poorly on it can nonetheless be outstandingly shave ready, while blades that perform very well on it can fail to cut any hair whatsoever. The HHT can tell you a lot about your blade, the trick comes in interpreting it. It's also more useful as a running check on your edge during honing than as a final check on sharpness - it is useful for telling you that the edge is improving, and finding places where the edge is improving too slowly. It's not unusual for a blade to do very well on the HHT straight off the 1000 grit hone, then start failing as you move into the 8k grit range, though sometimes it starts passing again as you get back up above 20k grit - all the while getting sharper and sharper. But it may never pop hairs as well as it did at 1k. It can also tell you if your blade is overhoned, and with experience may be able to tell you if your razor is shave-sharp. But it takes experience, and even then it's nowhere as accurate as the shave test.

Thanks! That's actually quite helpful. I've noticed during honing that exact HHT/Arm-Hair fail scenario. It worried me at first, and I thought I had to go back down to the 1000 or 4000 and start over, but after I started to just ignore it and finish all the way to stropping and shaving, my edges started getting better.

 

[netsurfr]

The HHT is just a tool, useful less because of its accuracy than because it is quick and can be done much more often than the shave test than. When the HHT and shave test conflict, believe the shave test.

No, you can't, for a variety of reasons. The teflon coatings on the DE blade cause it to perform poorly on the HHT but perform well in an actual shave. The naive HHT is a very poor indicator of sharpness; blades that perform poorly on it can nonetheless be outstandingly shave ready, while blades that perform very well on it can fail to cut any hair whatsoever. The HHT can tell you a lot about your blade, the trick comes in interpreting it. It's also more useful as a running check on your edge during honing than as a final check on sharpness - it is useful for telling you that the edge is improving, and finding places where the edge is improving too slowly. It's not unusual for a blade to do very well on the HHT straight off the 1000 grit hone, then start failing as you move into the 8k grit range, though sometimes it starts passing again as you get back up above 20k grit - all the while getting sharper and sharper. But it may never pop hairs as well as it did at 1k. It can also tell you if your blade is overhoned, and with experience may be able to tell you if your razor is shave-sharp. But it takes experience, and even then it's nowhere as accurate as the shave test.

Well said!