how far is too far for normal cutting : edge geometry

[me2]

Cliff, where can Joe's work on this be found? I run my higher end stainless blades (154CM and formerly a 440V blade) at ~15-17 degrees with a small 20 degree microbevel from the sharpmaker. It is true that I havent compared them to thinner blades from tool steels. I dont remember the steels, but they were from your comparisons on some pukko's. I presume the stainless was 12c27 or similar, and the carbon was something like 1085 or 1095. If you didnt do the testing then I must have linked to it from your site. Both knives were less than $30, IIRC.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Cliff, where can Joe's work on this be found?

The usenet group rec.knives holds a lot of work by Mike and Joe on these issues. Joe also posted early on modifiying a Cold Steel fixed blade (SRK) and a Benchmade Axis lock, this was one of the first before and after quantitative comparisons.

This was a benchmark for knife "reviews" because it showed how performance didn't have to be left with the NIB state, and that the user could make a *massive* difference, and it also destroyed a lot of myths such as the steel itself being inherently a better "cutter", as he showed just how much effect the geometry and finish made.

Both knives were massively recut edge wise and left with the dual edge he basically invented, which is a coarse/finish polish producing an edge similar to a partially serrated blade but not as limited and easier to restore. This leaves a very aggressive section for slicing and then another for finish work.

He did a series of articles "How to make the XXX perform", they were early on Knifeforums and Bladeforums, I did a few searches and neither showed up so likely they were deleted in the pruning.

If you didnt do the testing ...

I have seen stainless outperform carbon many times, the stainless Randall for example had better edge retention than the carbon one on several occasions, it is actually significantly harder, plus for that style of knife you can't go that low edge wise.

With steels, in order to notice the differences in performance you typically have to do a lot of cutting, have a very high tolerance for sharpness, run very low edge angles, or cut very abrasive materials. The more of these you do the larger the differences that will be seen.

-Cliff