Am I actually getting my blades sharp

[Ohioan614]

I can shave my arns with my blades. That being said, I have shaved with a dull razor before. Is there a way of demonstrating the relative sharpness that is a bit more quantitative?

 

[Squashfan]

Cut a piece of newspaper. If the knife is sharp, it will cut cleanly without tearing. The question is, will the knife cut on with a draw or a push cut.

 

[Jason B.]

I can shave my arns with my blades. That being said, I have shaved with a dull razor before. Is there a way of demonstrating the relative sharpness that is a bit more quantitative?

This question comes up often, I will save you the headache, No, there is not.

Sharpness is a perception based on experience, if your experience has been factory edges and nothing more than a pocket stone from the hardware then your perception of sharpness might be on the lower end of the spectrum. If you sharpen daily and have 3-5 stones of various grits from coarse to fine then your perception of sharpness might be on the higher end of the spectrum.

 

[Ohioan614]

Using lanksy 4 diamond hone. Just started using a strop.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I can shave my arns with my blades. That being said, I have shaved with a dull razor before. Is there a way of demonstrating the relative sharpness that is a bit more quantitative?

My own favorite example of 'quantitative' is an edge that'll shave, and cleanly and effortlessly bite into and slice light/thin paper like newsprint, phonebook pages, etc., and still do both after doing something a little more aggressive, like cutting cardboard or drawing the edge through some hardwood. That's a good test, as I see it, in deeming the edge about as good as it can be. Shaving and similar hair-cutting 'tests' aren't very meaningful, if the edge isn't also durable enough to withstand some harder use, or at least uses expected of an EDC blade. A thin & sharp burr on an edge is capable of shaving, but will almost always fail to do so after anything tougher, like paper-cutting.

Many steels won't be able to sustain all the above consistently, if at all; shaving edges are almost always fleeting. But, if an edge can at least cut/slice paper as described, after seeing some other normal EDC-type uses like cutting cardboard, opening packages, whittling, etc., then I'd call that pretty good.


David

 

[Bludgeon]

Arm hair shaving seems to be the minimum standard. Try a little tree topping/hair whittling exercise.