Hair shaving vs. Hair whittling

If you can whittle you can shave.
Some have different def of shave but if you scrape the blade over your arm and the hair is cut off and piles up on the blade it is shaving isn't it ?

Whittling is a whole different animal. It requires decent edge geometry that isn't too rounded from stropping or free hand sharpening . . . IN MY OPINION.

Whttling, the way some of us do it, which is shaving curls off a single hair demonstrates a high degree of control . . . or maybe a better way to say it is : when one can whittle hair the edge is well formed enough to be easily guided . . . to such a degree one can control the depth of cut on a single hair . . . shave a curl but not slice the hair in two.

Some hold a hair dangling and whittle it. I prefer an arm hair while it is still in my arm and just shave curls off it.

My barber, a woman, said this was BS. She is used to using straight razors so I was surprised to hear her say that. I proceeded to produce a blade that sharp and demonstrate the cut.

She said : I was thinking of one of my hairs. Turns out the hairs on her arm are like three times finer than mine and it was nearly impossible to whittle them.

A guy can't win. The gals got the game rigged.

True the edge does not stay that sharp so an edge that sharp is rather pointless.
Still . . . it is fun to do and as I say I feel an apex that starts out whittling is a superior SHAPE even though the sharpness doesn't last the shape does and cuts stuff better even when partly dulled. IMO.
 
I mean hair whittling edges are fun but don't last, you make a few cuts and all of a sudden they don't whittle hair anymore. I disagree that whittling sharp has to do with edge geometry, personally I think it has more to do with pure sharpness and technique. I've gotten a mora whittling sharp and a hinderer whittling sharp, it just depends how thourough you are while sharpening. With a system like the wicked edge or edge pro it's not difficult to obtain a hair whittling edge, but it does take a while, and honestly for me it's not worth the time. I'd say the middle ground of "hair popping" sharp is best, where it shaves hair with no pressure, but doesn't really take off curls. If you're good at sharpening it's not hard to achieve and maintain a hair popping edge with a little stropping and touching up, which to me is the biggest factor.
 
Sharpening to hair whittling doesn't really have a practical application but it does show the skill of the sharpener. It means that the sharpener is skilled enough to shape an edge well and take of any burrs.
 
I put hair whittling mirror edges on my knives because I think its fun, and the process is like meditation to me.

By hand, no thingamabob, or guided system.


1234,,,:D
 
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Wowbagger said:
If you can whittle you can shave.
Some have different def of shave but if you scrape the blade over your arm and the hair is cut off and piles up on the blade it is shaving isn't it ?

Whittling is a whole different animal. It requires decent edge geometry that isn't too rounded from stropping or free hand sharpening . . . IN MY OPINION.

Whttling, the way some of us do it, which is shaving curls off a single hair demonstrates a high degree of control . . . or maybe a better way to say it is : when one can whittle hair the edge is well formed enough to be easily guided . . . to such a degree one can control the depth of cut on a single hair . . . shave a curl but not slice the hair in two.

Some hold a hair dangling and whittle it. I prefer an arm hair while it is still in my arm and just shave curls off it.

My barber, a woman, said this was BS. She is used to using straight razors so I was surprised to hear her say that. I proceeded to produce a blade that sharp and demonstrate the cut.

She said : I was thinking of one of my hairs. Turns out the hairs on her arm are like three times finer than mine and it was nearly impossible to whittle them.

A guy can't win. The gals got the game rigged.

True the edge does not stay that sharp so an edge that sharp is rather pointless.
Still . . . it is fun to do and as I say I feel an apex that starts out whittling is a superior SHAPE even though the sharpness doesn't last the shape does and cuts stuff better even when partly dulled. IMO.
Click to expand...
Thank you wowbagger,
what I meant by hair shaving vs hair whittling was "is it worth the time and effort to go all the way to hair whittling sharp if you knife is already shaving?". I should have been more specific. But thank you I am very new to this forum.

I'm an amateur knife maker so I was trying to figure out if it would be worth buying the extra equipment to put a hair whittling edge on my products. I use 01 tool steel and I can easily get my knives to shave hair with a Lansky system (yes I know I'm a cheater lol).

Are there any steels (with optimal edge geometry) like zdp-189 or maybe even a much simpler carbon steel like super blue or white paper steel that would hold a hair whittling edge for any amount of time doing fine cutting in a kitchen or is this kind of edge just purely for entertainment and to show off skill?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
Once I get a knife to hair shaving I'm good to go, although I do admire some of the mirror edges I see on BF. I do prefer a more refined edge and geometry on my wood chisels.
 
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