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The elusive Hanging Hair Test

ibrahim makkouk

ibrahim makkouk

Shave Newbie
Dear TSC peeps,

My first post as I recently joined and looking forward to engage. I recently got into straight razor shave and even more recently into honing. I am limited to Gold Dollars as I feel I still lack the honing skills to go with vintage or premium. I use Shapton stones mainly ceramic from 1K to 12K. I am getting fairly acceptable edges, and I lnow this is the ultimate test. But since I have a very narrow frame of reference, I was never able to get an edge on any of my GD's to pass the hanging hair test, but I get good arm hair tree topping. It might sound silly, but I feel maybe I am not getting the best edges just because HHT is not successful. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Ibrahim
 
ibrahim makkouk said:
Thank you @Longhaultanker 😊. I just subscribed to your channel BTW. Love the content and impressed by how you pull-off those shaves on the road, Respect 😊. Thanks for the reassurance as well, will keep at it 😊
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Thank you for signing up at YT. I’ll see you there too! Shaving in the truck stop shower room is not an especially hard thing, nor is the pre and post stropping and clean up in the truck. SR shaving in a public restroom does create some trepidation, but I don’t record there. Might get arrested.

As a beginner to honing, many want to know the secret trick. There isn’t one. Watch as many videos as possible, from the best people. Learn to read the feedback and follow the wave. And keep learning.
 
Hi @ibrahim makkouk , I'll agree with @Longhaultanker. I have pretty thick hair and my wife has very thin hair fibers. Neither like to pop when doing the HHT. The sharpest edges I've ever produced provided an inconsistent HHT, but they shaved REALLY well. I'd suggest as Leon mentioned, a shave test. You may also consider a final finisher like a Black or translucent Arkansas, Jasper, Jnat, or finishing pastes on a bench or hanging strop past the 12K mark.

Keep at it, hone as often as you can and you'll get better and better.
 
First, let me welcome you to the Cadre.
In my experience the HHT is or can be a good way to test different spots along the blade to ensure you have achieved a shave ready edge from heel to toe. For me its more of a pass-fail than a scale grade.

For the HHT to work you HAVE to be cutting in the right direction or the hair will just slide over the blade with little chance of popping or cutting. I use my wife's hair and look for strands that are of good size and that I can easily identify the root end. I hold the hair so the root end is facing outward at a slight upward angle with no more than 2-3 inches of hair extending past my fingers. then I swiftly drop the hair down on the blade so the very last 1/2 inch or so of the strand makes contact with the blade. If the edge is well honed it should cut the hair, if it is poorly honed but close it might snag the hair before cutting, if it is just not ready to go it may not cut the hair at all. I agree with those who say the best (or only) test is the shave, but the HHT is a good way to get some feed back while you still have the hones out and can do the touch up you might need or want to do.

As much as I like the good old Gold Dollar as a low cost way to learn I recommend finding a couple cheap vintage razors that look like they are in halfway decent shape and honing those up. The vintage razors have good steel and a tried and true geometry, and unless they have obvious flaws or major damage you should be able to get good results with no more work than what you are putting into the GD. You should be able to find a nice vintage razor at a local antique store or maybe on ebay for around $10. If you can't find any near you at a good price let us know, several of us (myself included) have a ton of vintage stock we can figure something out.

And as far as a finisher. If you can't get your hands on one of the finishing stones @Luecke3262 mentioned I really like the idea of pasted balsa strops. I still have and use the pasted balsa strops I made when I first got into honing and wouldn't be without them. They are basically 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick planks of balsa wood glued to tile (I used 12 inch x 3 inch glass tiles) that have been sanded FLAT then had a super fine abrasive paste or spray applied. You can use something as simple as 0.5 micron chrome or iron oxide and get good results. I ended up using a 1 micron diamond grit spray as my "finisher" then a 0.5 micron diamond spray and 0.1 micron diamond spray as my daily maintenance (10 lapse on each after each shave) and have been happy. I WILL say that diamond sprayed balsa strops yield a sharper feel than a 0.5 micron iron oxide or chrome oxide pasted balsa strop. The iron oxide or chrome oxide seem to leave a smoother more friendly feel on the edge.
 
Just gonna drop this here. These Union Razors, a GD knock off, are an excellent learning tool, cheap as dirt, and widely available. Destroy one, or a dozen, they don’t matter. The learning does matter. Save the vintage razors till the bulk of the learning curve is achieved.

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@ibrahim makkouk
Welcome to The Cadre

I never had much luck with HHT, I couldn’t even get different shavettes to do them even Artist Club types.

I liked using tomatoes or grapes to judge how much push cutting pressure and how much slicing action was needed to cut through the skins.
Push cutting is greatly preferred over any slicing action IMO.

I accidentally stumbled upon styrofoam packing peanuts one day when there were no grapes or tomatoes around. I use it as my main indicator of edge performance these days. After some research, I found knife guys doing the same thing long before I was. There are biodegradable packing peanuts made from starch that I do not like, identify them by seeing that they dissolve in water. The material you want is polystyrene, also found in styrofoam coolers. Some of the knife guys also used the coolers.

You will get progressive feedback that has good repeatability and it is far easier to check different parts of the edge.
 
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