Analysis of Recent M390 CATRA Testing

[Larrin]

The minor controversy with hardness and edge retention of different M390 knives led to two different small CATRA studies on M390 knives, and one knife in S30V. I went through both of them including what was measured and a couple small surprises. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/10/07/catra-tests-of-m390-knives/

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Larrin, thank you for all of your informative posts!

 

[Jason Volkert]

Larrin good stuff!

 

[Larrin]

Thanks guys this one was fun to look at.

 

[Willie71]

Haven’t had a chance to read this one yet. Hopefully soon!

 

[Carterwhopkins]

Deleted a post in the wrong thread. Mod, pls delete.

 

[John mc c]

Thank you larrin
A good read as always

 

[Subwoofer_CPF]

Larrin thanks for sharing this.

There seems to be some criticism of the CATRA testing process for the set of results I have seen from Alchemy. Do you have any thoughts on these?

It seems to me there might be a weak link in the sharpening method. I agree with mechanical sharpening to remove the human element, but the photos indicate the CATRASHARP sharpening machine was leaving a burr (though supposedly designed not to).

 

[Larrin]

Larrin thanks for sharing this.

There seems to be some criticism of the CATRA testing process for the set of results I have seen from Alchemy. Do you have any thoughts on these?

It seems to me there might be a weak link in the sharpening method. I agree with mechanical sharpening to remove the human element, but the photos indicate the CATRASHARP sharpening machine was leaving a burr (though supposedly designed not to).

Based on the report from Alchemy it seems the CATRA sharpener is not very good. That may be a source of some of the variation, I couldn't say for sure.