Broke down and bought an edge tester

T

thombrogan

Joined
Nov 16, 2002
Messages
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Last night, I was admiring the sharpness of my S30V Native by shaving hair off of my belly (I used to have hair on my arms, I think). Slip, nick, driblets of blood. Man is that thing sharp. So I just bought a Razor Edge Systems test stick so that my wife doesn't find a limbless husband passed out from shock with a look of admiration aimed at a knife on the ground.

Anyone else use those test sticks?
 
Don't have an edge tester but I'm in total agreement with the S30V Native. What a cutting machine! :D
 
I've had one for about a year and a half. It's interesting to go through your knives and see which ones pass the tests. It really does give you a good idea about the sharpness of your blades.

At the very least, it gives you a consistant standard of comparison from edge to edge. I bought mine at the same time as I got the Razor Edge Book of Sharpening. Alot of good, sensible knowledge available there as well.

Happy Sharpening!:)
 
Here's a picture:

large_ET10.jpg


You start off holding the edge tester at 45° and your knife vertically. Your knife should "bite" into the tester and not slide down. I'm not sure what material the edge tester is made out of.

Next you lay the edge tester down, and using only the weight of the blade you pull your knife across the edge tester. You're feeling for chips, nicks, or other edge discontinuities.

Then you use one of the rounded ends and pull that along the edge at a 45° angle feeling for nicks.

Then you do the same thing again, except you push the edge tester.

It's a purely qualitative test, but it's still interesting to do. It correlates well with what I see under a microscope.
 
Not to be a shill or anything, but you can order it off of their website:

Razor Edge Edge Tester (ET10) - $7.95

If I were to shill for something, it would be the EdgePro sharpening system.

EdgePro Sharpening System (Ben Dale)

I have a wide variety of sharpening tools (Japanese water stones, blade guides, steels, 10" diamond stones) and nothing has made my knives sharper than using this. My best knife freehand sharpened up to a 5000 grit water stone isn't as sharp as my worst knife sharpened on the EdgePro. It's the best upgrade I can imagine for a knife.

(As an aside, I thought I was OK at freehand sharpening, but once I looked at the edge under a microscope, I realized how much I was screwing up the edge.)
 
Musky,

I bought the test stick at the site that Gaben listed. That'll save my belly and maybe let some arm hairs grow back.

I'd like to get an EdgePro Apex, but my intent is to sharpen everything down to 30 combined degrees anyways, so my Sharpmaker should work just fine.
 
Oops - that's right, I forgot that Step 0 before the 45 degree test with the Edge Sharpener is to cut your thumb and bleed all over the floor. Unfortunately all of my knives seem to be passing this test with flying colors.

It's pretty interesting how much more information you can "feel" from the edge tester moving along the blade than you get by testing it with your finger.
 
You guys use thumbs? I use my middle finger, because it's more sensitive than the thumb. I would use my index, but that one's always callused and cracked for some reason. I like to poke things.
 
I´ve never used a tester but often use the barrel of a disposable pen, it does give a better idea of the edge than a fingernail (to me at least).
 
If you don't want to buy an edge tester, run your blade down the hair on your head and if it catches, it's usually pretty sharp. Just an easy, at home method for fun, but it does work.
 
Hell, I just shave, and then look under my 10x lamp.

I've shaved both arms bare just to let them grow back even, and moved to my legs. wear pants for 8-9 months of the year, and I can shave them bare for summer. easier to get a tan when you aren't fighting though an inch of hair.

thumbnails work to an extent, but they get thin too fast. My fingers have had far too many cuts to have a lot of feeling left, and I can only use so many knives on my face.
 
I would think they would last a long time. There's not really any evidence of wear after I've used it a number of times.
 
I bought a razor edge sharpening kit, which included the edge tester. I have found it useful for checking my sharpening work from time to time... to see if I've gotten sloppy, but for the most part I do rely on my arm hair.
 
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