Does the knives that pass the HHT usable as a daily knife?

L

lowks

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Sep 14, 2013
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I have seen some videos on YouTube showing how some people have sharpened their spydercos to easily pass the hanging hair test. My question are :
1. Is this degree of sharpness even desirable for an everyday use knife?
2. Using the sharpmaker with normal angles and ultra fine stones is this achievable?
 
1. Yes, the sharper the better.
2. Abosuletly, you just need time and patience, but it is achievable.

Welcome to bf. :)
Kirby
 
The edge disappears once you cut anything worth mentioning, but it's still fun. It is achievable with the UF stones.
 
It's not really undesirable, but it depends on if you want to put the extra care and effort into producing such a keen edge, only to have it removed with your first or second significant use of the edge. it's not as if these knives dull any quicker, it's just a knife that's actually used does not stay hair-whittling or HHT-sharp for long at all. If it's worth it to you to perpetually touch it up back to this level practically every day or every use then there's nothing wrong with it.

Myself personally, whenever I sharpen a knife too much, I become hesitant to use it and have all my hard work "ruined" so I just tend to put a "good enough" edge on it so I'm not all hung-up on messing up my nice prestine edge. No point in getting it sharp if I'm not going to use it.
 
Goosey said:
The edge disappears once you cut anything worth mentioning, but it's still fun. It is achievable with the UF stones.
Click to expand...

Sure a coarser edge does better but as an example, in his humungous test thread, Ankerson finishes his test knives with 6k grit polishing tapes. The edges still have to be stressed by cutting a lot of rope to show the difference between categories. That probably means that the edges don't "disappear once you cut anything worth mentioning".
 
singularity35 said:
Sure a coarser edge does better but as an example, in his humungous test thread, Ankerson finishes his test knives with 6k grit polishing tapes. The edges still have to be stressed by cutting a lot of rope to show the difference between categories. That probably means that the edges don't "disappear once you cut anything worth mentioning".
Click to expand...

I mean the ability to pass the straight razor hanging hair test will disappear, the knife will still remain very sharp.
 
"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I think you already know the answer to this. But...If you roll the edge on an extremely sharp knife or if the knife is working hard you can get small chips in the edge? Could actually end up after a shorter time being less sharp than one that started out with a proper edge for your usage. Or something. On my hunting/skinning knives I use about a 19 degree edge and never seemed not to do the job. Fillet knives keep about 15 degree. I would think 19 degree on a chopper would be OK?(per side)

For sho'nuff hanging hair cutting what would you think the edge would have to be?
 
sirupatespecial said:
"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I think you already know the answer to this. But...If you roll the edge on an extremely sharp knife or if the knife is working hard you can get small chips in the edge? Could actually end up after a shorter time being less sharp than one that started out with a proper edge for your usage. Or something. On my hunting/skinning knives I use about a 19 degree edge and never seemed not to do the job. Fillet knives keep about 15 degree. I would think 19 degree on a chopper would be OK?(per side)

For sho'nuff hanging hair cutting what would you think the edge would have to be?
Click to expand...

It depends on a variety of factors. Heat treatment, steel, grind, edge geometry, hardness, force used to cut, material being cut, etc.

Many of the "super" steels can be taken below 30 degrees inclusive and still retain plenty of toughness for rough tasks.

A knife with a very clean 50 degree edge could pass the hanging hair test, but then so could a 40 degree, 30 degree, 20 degree, and so on. Changes in edge geometry - all other factors remaining the same - can provide significant increases in edge retention.
 
sirupatespecial said:
"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I think you already know the answer to this. But...If you roll the edge on an extremely sharp knife or if the knife is working hard you can get small chips in the edge? Could actually end up after a shorter time being less sharp than one that started out with a proper edge for your usage. Or something. On my hunting/skinning knives I use about a 19 degree edge and never seemed not to do the job. Fillet knives keep about 15 degree. I would think 19 degree on a chopper would be OK?(per side)

For sho'nuff hanging hair cutting what would you think the edge would have to be?
Click to expand...

LOL, if you're chipping or rolling a polished edge but not a coarse edge on a similar knife, same steel, same bevel angle, and performing the same tasks, then something else is going on
 
No, I'm talking about starting with a smaller bevel angle. "Sharper" to me. Same knife, same steel, same task. Say 30 degree inclusive opposed to 38 degree. And I'm just asking...If you roll or microchip the smaller bevel, can it end up duller after the same amount of work or cuts than the steeper bevel?

"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I mean, that's what you said wasn't it? Sharper, all other things being the same, means a shallower bevel does it not?
 
sirupatespecial said:
No, I'm talking about starting with a smaller bevel angle. "Sharper" to me. Same knife, same steel, same task. Say 30 degree inclusive opposed to 38 degree. And I'm just asking...If you roll or microchip the smaller bevel, can it end up duller after the same amount of work or cuts than the steeper bevel?

"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I mean, that's what you said wasn't it? Sharper, all other things being the same, means a shallower bevel does it not?
Click to expand...

Could it? Yes. Would it? Maybe. Would it still be sharper afterwards? It depends.

Way too many variables in your statement to make a concrete judgment. In general, a thinner edge geometry and more acute bevels will require less force to make the same cut: the edge, therefore, will need to withstand less force attempting to damage it. At a certain point the strength of the steel, being relatively weaker due to having less mass than a thick edge, will meet or exceed that amount of force.

When you sharpen your knives, you should be attempting to find this point and staying just barely on the side of having a little too much steel.
 
sirupatespecial said:
No, I'm talking about starting with a smaller bevel angle. "Sharper" to me. Same knife, same steel, same task. Say 30 degree inclusive opposed to 38 degree. And I'm just asking...If you roll or microchip the smaller bevel, can it end up duller after the same amount of work or cuts than the steeper bevel?

"Won't a knife that starts sharper be sharper with the same use, than one that starts duller?"

I mean, that's what you said wasn't it? Sharper, all other things being the same, means a shallower bevel does it not?
Click to expand...

Then in that case all your doing is comparing apples to oranges and you just took my post out of context since I was comparing an HHT passing knife vs. one that didn't because previous posters mentioned that such a sharp knife would lose sharpness quickly
 
I guess it depends on bevel angle.

my yanagi is extremely sharp, but would dull on a lemon seed.

my CRK knives are still extremely sharp but the angle is more robust so itll handle more hard use.
 
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