God I´m bored watching knifenuts slice paper

I cut cardboard because they are pretty relevant to those who have to deal with them.

Plus, they don't need a blade sharpened to 8000 grit / sub-10 degrees per side to slice them down.

My blades are sharpened to only 600 grit (DMT Diafold Fine) so it is only okay for EDC I think).

Also, serrations on combo-edge or fully serrated blades do reasonably well (imo) on cardboard too, making cardboard a fairly versatile testing medium for demonstrations.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
Slowstarter said:
Enough is enough! Watching cardboard getting sliced is just a tad less boring. Stop it!
Click to expand...
Cardboard has its merits as a uniform and available medium :)
For kitchen knives testing I cut(mince/shred/battonet/chiffonade) about 14-15 lbs veggies, but that lasts ~2 hours and that'd be really boring to watch on the video. Gives different perspective on the kitchen knives compared to cardboard, but on the other hand, utility knives don't work that well for vegetables and don't really tell you about abrasive wear resistance.
Until we have something better, cardboard and rope are the easiest, best in terms of testing.
 
Dagon said:
In my little review clips, I cut food twice (review of the Boker Plus Rhino and review of the Arconsat, the latter done tongue in cheek) because I thought it appropriate there.
In general however I don't cut anything. It's also something usually don't particularly want to see.
Click to expand...

Hi Dagon,
I watch your reviews as well as ankersons and lots of others. I love watching people who are as interested in knives as I am. As a bonus, you get to see styles that you normally wouldn't be exposed to. I still have my Enzo folder I bought after watching your review and carry it often. A great knife I would otherwise never know about.
Am I sick of watching paper cut? Yeah, I suppose but I'm willing to forgive it cause peoples knife excitement is contagious.
If you need some variety, you could always watch the cold steel DVD.
 
i do'nt cut a lot of paper but on my better edges when i step outside the shine on the bevels makes the sun hide.
dennis
 
I don't like em cause they don't demonstrate anything about sharpness. This is a video of an edge sharpened by a file, it isn't as impressive as something taken through a series of grits to a high polish, but just how much difference is there? it isn't until light pushcutting or hair whittling that you can truly tell on video that the edge has been refined beyond whatever came from the factory.

[youtube]xoZAQBeTdAc[/youtube]
 
One day I discovered "hair whittling". I thought it wounded kind of like Elmder Fudd dropping a hair onto his axe on the saturday morning cartoons. Then I saw video of it and was very impressed.

Then one day I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if I can whittle hair that's held taught and straight," and sure enough I could with only a 1K water stone and a 2x6 piece of leather as a strop. Since then I've kind of seen the whole "hair whittling" thing as being something somewhat anecdotal in how sharp it really indicates an edge is, beacuse the only reason I can see myself investing in more sharpening equipment now is so that I can whittle hair that's free standing like I've seen people posting with very high-polished edges. Then I realize how foolish that is considering my current equipment only needs me to hold it somewhat taught and straight between my fingers.

It is kind of an all right test medium versus paper though. I just pluck a hair off my chin, hold it between my thumb and index finger, and the other end just sticks between my pinky and ring finger so it's "straight". Then I see how easily it whittles hair off moving the edge away from my pinky and middle finger to see how much it pulls the hair out at the same time. If I can whittle hair without the end coming loose from my pinky and middle finger it's sharp enough for me, and if it doesn't drag the other end of the hair out at all then it's darn sharp.

Though, that doesn't stop me from obsessing over honing stones late at night wondering how to spend money I don't have just to get to the point where I can whittle hair free-standing.

There's pretty much no ryhyme or reason for it to me except just the thrill of the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment, though. At the end of the day though I kind of wonder, "What is the point?" I mean, I can accomplish an edge sharper than any of my needs even require at this point, and I'm pretty confident that with a higher-grit stone I would be at that "hair whittling" stage. So ultimately, I wind up concluding that $60-$80 for a new stone just isn't worth bragging rights.
 
KennyB said:
At the end of the day though I kind of wonder, "What is the point?" I mean, I can accomplish an edge sharper than any of my needs even require at this point, and I'm pretty confident that with a higher-grit stone I would be at that "hair whittling" stage. So ultimately, I wind up concluding that $60-$80 for a new stone just isn't worth bragging rights.
Click to expand...

I agree to a large extent. I will also point out that "hair whittling" can be achieved with some pretty meager equipment if you really want to. A single UF Sharpmaker rod can be purchased for under 20 bucks.
 
hardheart said:
I don't like em cause they don't demonstrate anything about sharpness. This is a video of an edge sharpened by a file, it isn't as impressive as something taken through a series of grits to a high polish, but just how much difference is there? it isn't until light pushcutting or hair whittling that you can truly tell on video that the edge has been refined beyond whatever came from the factory.

[youtube]xoZAQBeTdAc[/youtube]
Click to expand...

That's regular printer paper so no it really doesn't prove much as most factory edges will do that, or should anyway.

Once you get into newspaper and even better phonebook paper things get a lot harder to cut smoothly. It's rare to get a factory edge that will slice either newspaper or phonebook paper clean without tearing it, push cutting with a factory edge, almost never from my experiences. It's also the sound when the blade cuts through the paper, if it's really sharp it will be almost silent as it cuts through it.

TP is another good test, if a blade can slice though that smoothly so it looks like it was cut with scissors then it's extremely sharp, that's holding it between your fingers and slicing through it.
 
Last edited:
Yes, but too many videos use printer paper or lined notebook paper. Too heavy to show anything. Factory edges can be very good, I've had luck with Kershaw, Spyderco and Microtech.
 
hardheart said:
Yes, but too many videos use printer paper or lined notebook paper. Too heavy to show anything. Factory edges can be very good, I've had luck with Kershaw, Spyderco and Microtech.
Click to expand...

Spyderco and Cold Steel usually come with very sharp edges for the most part, also Kershaw, but nothing is perfect all the time. :D

Yeah printer paper ect I can take a dull knife and use my very old puck with no oil and in a few mins I can get it sharp enough to slice that stuff. LOL
 
hardheart said:
Forgot about CS, their stuff is usually very sharp oob
Click to expand...

I don't remember ever getting a CS knife that was dull out of the box, most as you say are very sharp.

The Hair Whittling thing can be had off a Sharpmaker with the UF stones fairly easy, there are levels of sharpness well beyond that. :)
 
Ankerson said:
I don't remember ever getting a CS knife that was dull out of the box, most as you say are very sharp.

The Hair Whittling thing can be had off a Sharpmaker with the UF stones fairly easy, there are levels of sharpness well beyond that. :)
Click to expand...

I've only owned less than a dozen CS blades, but none of them were the slightest bit sharp when I got them.

I like the knives in general, but overall, the ones I've received all had terrible finish. :grumpy: My CS katana looked like the blade was ground and sharpened by a blind monkey, part of the edge was horribly rolled over, and the rest was completely unfinished/unsharpened.

Oh well, at least I don't mind sharpening, reprofilling, and customizing my blades. :)
 
BryFry said:
I've only owned less than a dozen CS blades, but none of them were the slightest bit sharp when I got them.

I like the knives in general, but overall, the ones I've received all had terrible finish. :grumpy: My CS katana looked like the blade was ground and sharpened by a blind monkey, part of the edge was horribly rolled over, and the rest was completely unfinished/unsharpened.

Oh well, at least I don't mind sharpening, reprofilling, and customizing my blades. :)
Click to expand...

Never had that problem and I have been buying and using their knives since 1986.

The sharpest factory edge I ever saw on a knife was their Black Rhino, that thing was sharp even by my standards out of the box, I couldn't believe how sharp it was, it was that good.
 
Many see paper slicing as the go/no go of sharpness. While some here may not, it is an acceptable way, IMO, to demonstrate that something is adequately sharp. I have used it to show axes are sharp before a video review.

Some of the more knowledgeable here should be able to learn even more from it in a video, because they will recognize the sound, the look, the way the paper reacts, etc.
 
Any Cal. said:
Many see paper slicing as the go/no go of sharpness. While some here may not, it is an acceptable way, IMO, to demonstrate that something is adequately sharp. I have used it to show axes are sharp before a video review.

Some of the more knowledgeable here should be able to learn even more from it in a video, because they will recognize the sound, the look, the way the paper reacts, etc.
Click to expand...

Any real "sharpenening knifenut" knows the sound of a sharp knife and a REALLY SHARP knife by the sound it makes going through the paper - Ankerson!! I can't even hear the paper slice when you sharpen your knives. :thumbup: I can still run my finger or thumb up & down the edge and not get cut, but I'm not copy paper. :D
 
Ankerson said:
Never had that problem and I have been buying and using their knives since 1986.

The sharpest factory edge I ever saw on a knife was their Black Rhino, that thing was sharp even by my standards out of the box, I couldn't believe how sharp it was, it was that good.
Click to expand...

I believe you, and I'm not trying to bash their knives. :) Guess I just must've got some duds. They still cleaned up ok though. :thumbup:

....A for the OP's question, I never seem to get tired of seeing knives cleanly slicing things. I'm probably just strange though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top