It's pretty obvious what the literal term means but when someone says they are getting a shaving sharp edge with a coarse stone(or any stone for that matter), is it a clean shave or are they just cutting a couple of hairs. When someone says "shaving sharp" does it mean they a just cutting a couple or clean as a babies bottom.
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Another new guy question :) What does shaving sharp mean?
- Thread starter jimmybjj
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yablanowitz
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That depends on who is posting. 
When I say "tree topping" I mean the blade will catch and cut through a free-standing hair without touching the skin, which is a level of sharpness I seldom bother with. When I say shaving sharp, I mean the blade will catch and cleanly cut through any hairs it encounters at skin level. When I say hair popping, I mean the blade will shave cleanly, but the hairs will offer enough resistence to part suddenly, jumping away with an audible noise. To me, that is generally acceptable on my utility use knives, but it means I need to touch up the edge on my whittling knives. If all it will do is scrape off a few hairs here and there, that is a condition I refer to as "dull".
When I say "tree topping" I mean the blade will catch and cut through a free-standing hair without touching the skin, which is a level of sharpness I seldom bother with. When I say shaving sharp, I mean the blade will catch and cleanly cut through any hairs it encounters at skin level. When I say hair popping, I mean the blade will shave cleanly, but the hairs will offer enough resistence to part suddenly, jumping away with an audible noise. To me, that is generally acceptable on my utility use knives, but it means I need to touch up the edge on my whittling knives. If all it will do is scrape off a few hairs here and there, that is a condition I refer to as "dull".
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Shaving sharp for me is making a bald patch with one pass. There may be a tiny part of the hair(fraction of an mm) left above the skin but that's all. When you say remove a few hairs, I call that hair scraping sharp and as Yab says, that's dull.
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everyone's idea of shaving sharp is different. IMO, people who say they got a "shaving sharp edge" on a coarse stone are skewing the term. having some hairs fall out isn't shaving sharp to me. shaving sharp to me is being able to actually shave my arm cleanly (if i wanted i could lather it up and effectively remove all the hair). i would never try that if i only used a coarse stone.
i have 4 general terms i use for knives:
1. cream cheese spreader
2. work sharp (sharp enough to get a job done)
3. shaving sharp (being able to shave with it, but there will probably be some irritation)
4. straight razor (a level that you would actually shave with).
i have 4 general terms i use for knives:
1. cream cheese spreader
2. work sharp (sharp enough to get a job done)
3. shaving sharp (being able to shave with it, but there will probably be some irritation)
4. straight razor (a level that you would actually shave with).
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