Can your knife cleanly cut toilet tissue?

ERdept · Oct 25, 2005

I was wondering if your knife can to this. One day I was in the bathroom doing something

and had my very expensive folder with me in S30V steel, hair poppin' sharp with a thin blade to boot, and took a piece of toilet tissue between two fingers and tried to cut it with my knife.

It couldn't do it. The knife cut about a quarter inch into the tissue then the tissue tore. I was surprised and dismayed.

Are you experiencing the same thing? Could this be the most challenging material to test your knife with? Will Cliff Stamp use this in upcoming tests.

Cliff

Beftus · Oct 25, 2005

I buy my toilet paper pre-perforated, no need for a knife here...

tim8557 · Oct 25, 2005

I think that there have been threads in the past regarding this subject. Apparently, this is the ultimate test. I tried it once with what I thought was a very sharp knife and had about the same results as you.

On another point, I would think that someone in your profession would just be a little leery of fooling around with a hair poppin sharp knife while they were in the bathroom "doing something".

kricket · Oct 25, 2005

You should see the ABS cutting competition, they hang the toilet paper loose and cut it in the air without holding it! I have only managed to do it once myself, but it sure was cool!!!

Shann · Oct 25, 2005

I don't know if any of my knives can cut it, but I know that my finger can push through it :barf:

cockroachfarm · Oct 25, 2005

Shann said:
I don't know if any of my knives can cut it, but I know that my finger can push through it :barf:

ROFLMAO!

logo · Oct 25, 2005

kricket said:
You should see the ABS cutting competition, they hang the toilet paper loose and cut it in the air without holding it! I have only managed to do it once myself, but it sure was cool!!!

I saw only photos, it was really impressive.

Myself could I only cut it ERdept's way (almost - not doing something

but I just wanted to test it), I did it with a Monochrome, Ritter Grip, Presidio, regular 550 Griptilian, 710 HS and a Temperance.

All they could do it after I sharpened them on ultra fine Spyderco rods but I think a very fine grit isn't the only condition.
Some other knives I tried were just as sharp as the above mentioned ones (they did the same as ERdept's knives, cut at beginning and then torn) - but have higher edge angles (~40 degree instead of ~30 degree). I'm not sure, if it was a reason, but I just noticed that "correlation".

Maybe also not polished back bevels (left so as they were after Spyderco diamond rods) were the reason.

Another possibility could be existence of some not-so-sharp spots - You have something like that on the edge and it then begins to tear.

Edited: but it was only for fun and test - usually I too lazy to do something and I end sharpening on brown rods, sometimes white (normal fine).
That sharpness is enough for most tasks, knives can very easy shave hair and cut paper.

Cliff Stamp · Oct 25, 2005

ERdept said:
I was wondering if your knife can to this.

It isn't hard to do it on a draw, but I have not seen any knife than can do it on a push. Some types are harder to cut than others, the less rigid it is, the sharpen the knife needs to be to make a clean cut.

-Cliff

TrentKTS · Oct 25, 2005

Freehanging toiletpaper can be done with a decently sharp knife using appropriate speed and technique.

I like to try cutting rice paper to test edges. Some folks call them "rolling papers" and they come in convenient little, multi-paged packs.

SAKguy · Oct 25, 2005

None of my knives have ever been able to do it.

I am not too worried about it as my knives still cut my hands pretty well

.

RJ Martin · Oct 25, 2005

I recycle used printer paper for TP and I can cut that just fine.

Seriously, it depends on what type of TP you use. They are all different.
Cigarette papers are more consistent. Stick with one size, brand, and you'll have a valid comparison from knife to knife.

Cliff: I cut papertowels on occasion, and I notice that a thrust cut often cuts better than a pull cut. Depends on the angle the edge is presented to the cut, too.

Laceration · Oct 25, 2005

I can cut free hanging TP cleanly lengthwise with a slash but to go fully through horizontally is much more difficult. I use a Lansky and this is as sharp as I can go. This is probably more than necessary but I really enjoy sharpening. I was pretty proud of myself when I was able to get my knives this sharp but I guess it's not that hard to do. I'm glad that Cliff said that he hasn't seen a knife able to push cut TP because I've tried to get knives that sharp and couldn't do it. Thinning out the edge helps a lot I've found because most stock edges are unnecessarily thick.

freddy1 · Oct 25, 2005

As a matter of fact, i was in the toilet 5 min ago (pushing hard, i should eat more veg !

) and i notice my New caly Jr ZDP189 clipped on my pant...
So i test it on paper toilet...
uggly cut ! i was quite desappointed !

Rat Finkenstein · Oct 25, 2005

freddy1 said:
As a matter of fact, i was in the toilet 5 min ago (pushing hard, i should eat more veg ! ) and i notice my New caly Jr ZDP189 clipped on my pant...
So i test it on paper toilet...
uggly cut ! i was quite desappointed !

:barf: Too Much information!

Cliff Stamp · Oct 25, 2005

rj martin said:
Cigarette papers are more consistent.

Yeah but way easier to cut as they are much more rigid.

I cut papertowels on occasion, and I notice that a thrust cut often cuts better than a pull cut. Depends on the angle the edge is presented to the cut, too.

Yes, by push I meant down into the toilet paper, no angle, and no draw of the blade along the paper, the same part of the blade makes contact with the paper from the start to end of the cut.

R.J., what is the lowest angle you have found A2 works well for your chisel ground blades?

-Cliff

WadeF · Oct 25, 2005

I can cleanly slice TP through multiple perforations with a slashing motion. I tried this with one of my striaght razors once and I could actually get slowly and it sliced it cleanly. I could even slightly change the direction of my cut and it would still slice cleanly making nice smooth curves. The straight razors have a nice hollow grind blade and are extremly thin so there isn't much material for the TP to catch on.

I'm thinking of taking my Spyderco Calypso and putting an even thinner edge on it. Then it should be a super TP slicing machine.

I had posted a picture of this test, where I hang a roll of TP from my basement ceiling, and slice at it. I've gone through an entire roll already testing various knives. If you have any little defect or chip in your edge, it will catch.

Here is the image. The knife looks funny because I took the image into photoshop to darken the TP and background to make the slice and texture of the paper more visible. The knife was left out of the selection so it would still be visible. It's a Spyderco Calypso Jr. with the grey FRN handles, VG-10 steel:

SAKguy · Oct 25, 2005

I have no idea why this matters to people.

If my knife can cut stuff that I normally cut I'm happy. I would never need to cut TP with a knife so why bother?

I can tell a knife is sharp without cutting TP.

Cliff Stamp · Oct 25, 2005

SAKguy said:
I would never need to cut TP with a knife so why bother?

It isn't about just being able to cut the light paper, it is simply setting higher standards for sharpness, sharper knives cut better for longer. How much of an influence sharpness makers depends on the medium, some can be more dependent on cross section.

WadeF said:
I can cleanly slice TP through multiple perforations with a slashing motion.

High speed makes it easier, try cutting straight down with a slow draw then with a slow push.

-Cliff

cabron50 · Oct 25, 2005

So I'm reading this forum and the next thing I know I'm in the bathroom trying to cut Charmin Ultra with my CS Voyager. No can do.

Jeff Clark · Oct 25, 2005

So I was trying out the cheap product in the stalls at work. I could do a draw cut at about a 45-degree blade tilt. It was very interesting the way that the paper would briefly catch on microscopic edge inperfections as I made my cut.

I don't consider the alloy in my Adventurer SAK to be the best so I think I could do better with an AUS-8 blade. I honed this blade at about 9-degrees per side and microbeveled it with my ultra-fine Sharpmaker rods at about 12 degrees. I also slightly stropped the edge with chromium oxide. It does a pretty decent job of shaving.