Another Flex Test Question

[Burchtree]

Once again, I'm confused. I thought the flex test, or bend test was to see if the blade would "spring" back to 15-degrees after being bent to 90 degrees. I did some searching on the forums and I just found information about makers bending their blades, but nothing about it springing back. Does this just apply to larger blades? what should I expect smaller blades to do? I achieve a great hardening line, but I want to make sure the knives perform. What's the rule of thumb on small and big blades and how the flex test should be performed. BTW, I do stock removal and am working with 0-1. Thanks.

 

[Joe Renner]

Well, depends on what you want. The truth is the flex test for the most part just shows the steels quality, If theres a flaw itll snap pretty easily.
I have come to distinguish things in my head:
You want the blade to be flex-ABLE but not necessarily flexible*. IMO a blade thats twice as hard to flex, yet flexes only half as much as another is superior. Kinda have to meet in the middle.

Making a blade that'll flex 90 degrees and go true isnt too hard(its a basic manipulation actually) but you sacrifice other things(always). Some people want there blades like that.
Some would rather not sacrifice certain things, but dont want a blade thats gonna be dangerous to use, so having a blade that sets instead of snapping is a good thing here.

Performance is kind of a perception thing. People go for different things.