Edge retention, an interesting video...

No, Alex needs to improve his testing practice.
That video is more about why proper testing is important, otherwise you can't isolate what the steel is doing.

No one has to reinvent the wheel

There is alot of research and information available by people that figured out of to properly test edge retention and reduce variables so you don't get 8cr13mov to cut as long as s30v


Wayne Goddard, Mayard Meadows, Phil Wilson, Jim Ankerson.

Excellent resources.

For some reason it's like this information has been lost to time.


Here

http://www.seamountknifeworks.com/articles.htm

On Phil Wilson article Page the is a PDF titled
"A REAL LIFE KNIFE TEST"

He goes into the details of rope cut testing


What is it used for?
How are variables are reduced?

You can use Alex's video for why these things are important.
 
Everyone cuts different amounts of different kinds of materials and different companies treat different steels differently.
To say one steel is better than another based on one test of 3 blades from one company is kind of a stretch.

I don't understand a need for these tests anyways.
I prefer to just buy a knife I like and use it, if Im unhappy with the steels performance then it's not for me and I don't care what it's called.
 
Im rubbing my face.... yes in disgust. He has just revealed the big coverup in the knife community. S30v is a lie. A gimmick.
Really?
 
To be slightly contrarian, this sort of issue has made me rethink my own steel choices.

If I need to be strict about measurement to tell the difference between cheap steel and expensive steel in my own everyday use, then does it really matter to me in that use? Shouldn’t I make my carry decisions on other attributes of the knife, if I can’t reliably tell a difference in function of the steel?

That said, there are areas I can tell a difference. I have a couple of dedicated knives I use for cardboard, because cardboard murders a keen edge.

But for daily carry, I’m trying out everything from S110V to 1095 to see what’s noticeable.
 
His testing was a little loosey-goosey; and he overlooked key variables, such as edge width, but he should still have been able to detect differences in edge wear between 1080 and S30V.

I can detect such differences. Our major edge-wear testers, such as Ankerson, find major differences. Knifemakers find big differences. Scientists and metallurgists find large differences. So why didn't this guy? Maybe his sharpening technique is inconsistent. Maybe he's just trolling us.
 
Twindog said:
His testing was a little loosey-goosey; and he overlooked key variables, such as edge width, but he should still have been able to detect differences in edge wear between 1080 and S30V.

I can detect such differences. Our major edge-wear testers, such as Ankerson, find major differences. Knifemakers find big differences. Scientists and metallurgists find large differences. So why didn't this guy? Maybe his sharpening technique is inconsistent. Maybe he's just trolling us.
Click to expand...
Alex is a skilled Sharpener but it looks like he doesn't understand edge finish and convex versus v edge
 
If a lot of folks with stricter testing protocols have gotten results that run counter to yours, the first thing to do is examine your methodology. It's not a sure sign that you're screwing something up, but it's the most likely possibility.

Now to be fair, I think loads of us, myself included, do obsess over relatively minor steel changes that are unlikely to have any noticeable effect on real world performance, see the thread on Cold Steel's change from XHP to S35VN for an example, but I certainly can tell a difference when I use knives in something like AUS8 or 420HC and knives in S30V or M390.
 
His results should not be surprising. The tests for high sharpness/arm shaving agree with Ankerson's tests a while back. They also agree with tests I did a few years ago.

The longer endurance cutting tests will be difficult to distinguish if just using paper to judge the edge. I've also seen this comparing my own tests to Cedric and Adda's testing and some on here a couple years ago. Differences between my tests and some here back then were between 5 and 10 times.
 
The results are wholly unsurprising. Sharpness is almost instantly destroyed when cutting recycled cardboard. And the stuff is so inconsistent even within a single unit that I wouldn't really trust results from cutting a single box.

Cardboard boxes are, however, probably the most common cutting medium for actual real-world use, so what we can get out of Alex's video is that steel type isn't going to mean a whole lot for the average joe who can sharpen his own knife.

I'll still keep buying S30V blades though lol
 
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