How sharp, is sharp,and how to tell???

[RubyFan]

Whats the test,to say when a knife is sharp? And can you ever get it as sharp as the factory?

 

[stoffi]

Sharp is when the edge does what you want it to do or more. If you wanna shave with your knife and it does, it's very sharp.
If you wanna just chop some wood with it, but it won't shave, then it's still sharp for your purposes.
Testing sharpness is relative, so it would best be done by using it as intended and seeing if it does it.

 

[JBK2596]

People have different methods, if it can cut you its sharp.
normally you can get a knife sharper than it comes from the factory with the proper skill or equipment

 

[Morkte]

It's fairly easy to get a knife sharper than it came from the factory. Some tests for sharpness are; push cutting phone book paper, shaving hair, splitting hairs, and slicing thin layers of skin. The spyderco sharpmaker is a decent, high value sharpener that can get a knife to shaving sharp, with the ultra-fine stones and a strop you can get a knife to hair whittling sharp. Check out jdavis882 on youtube, he is a sharpening expert.

 

[singularity35]

When a knife cuts what you need it to cut without undue drama, then it's sharp enough.

 

[hank_rearden]

ok, from what i understand so far:

1. choppers - follow the ABS standard that it should be able to chop through a soft 2x4 and still shave immediately afterwards. rope cutting is more a test of slicing sharpness and how well it can avoid binding.

2. a slicer - my own standard is the hair strand test. it must be able to split the strand in either direction. but actually, i find that getting a no-resistance cut through a fresh sheet of phone paper even harder.

 

[getridone]

I have personally set an arbitrary standard of curling preschool lined paper (similar to phone book) across the grain, at a certain speed of slice. A knife might readily cut with the grain of this paper but not be able to cut across the grain at all. As far as rate of cut, the sharper the knife the faster I'm able to slice. If it can do this it can do anything I need it to during the day. These are my personal standards.

 

[Maprik]

Whats the test,to say when a knife is sharp? And can you ever get it as sharp as the factory?

Dude, Tom Veff of Veff Sharpening Service gets my knives much sharper than any factory. After he sharpens a knife it cuts through leather like it's paper and slices through 1 inch hemp rope like it's a cucumber. I've learned to use a strop to keep them that way and hopefully it'll be a few months before I need to sharpen them again. Though at $6 a knife I could just go to Tom for a monthly service...

 

[mkjellgren]

Sharpness is relative as everyone else has said. With that said, I sharpen all of my knives to a hair whittling edge, which is FAR sharper than any knife I've seen from the factory. In all honesty, most factory sharpening jobs are pretty underwhelming. So much so that the first thing any of my new blades comes in contact with is a sharpening stone. It just takes the right equipment, a steady hand, and some practice. Now, that's not to say all my knives stay hair whittling sharp for very long, I use my knives too much for that, but I do strop them every day or after each use. With a good strop you can keep a shaving sharp edge for quite a long time.

 

[Robert Carter]

When I put a edge on a knife I like to be able to cut thru 1/4 leather strap fairly easy and still shave the hair off the arm. I've had no complaints so far but like the other posters have said its sharp enough to do the job you want it to then its sharp enough. It's very easy to take sharpening a knife I little to far.

 

[AKC]

Felt it + Blood = Sharp

Didin't feel it + Blood = Very sharp

Didn''t feel it + Blood + Digit on the floor = Scary sharp

 

[CWL]

Whats the test,to say when a knife is sharp? And can you ever get it as sharp as the factory?

I've never considered the edge that comes from a new knife to be very good and always put my own edge on every knife that I use. A factory edge is just a starting point.

To test of sharpness, a quick rule of thumb is to place the knife edge at a 45 degree angle against your thumbnail. A good edge will immediately bite-into your nail and stay put while a dull or inferior edge will slide off.

That should be your starting point for sharp.

 

[getridone]

Felt it + Blood = Sharp

Didin't feel it + Blood = Very sharp

Didn''t feel it + Blood + Digit on the floor = Scary sharp

So that's how I tell what scary sharp is huh?

 

[Sonnydaze]

To test of sharpness, a quick rule of thumb is to place the knife edge at a 45 degree angle against your thumbnail. A good edge will immediately bite-into your nail and stay put while a dull or inferior edge will slide off.

This is one I believe in. One of my Spyerco PM2's in S90v does this out of the box. Pretty rare.
Sonny

 

[marcinek]

I demand that my blades can baton mink pubic hairs lengthwise.

 

[macrocheesium]

I've never considered the edge that comes from a new knife to be very good and always put my own edge on every knife that I use. A factory edge is just a starting point.

To test of sharpness, a quick rule of thumb is to place the knife edge at a 45 degree angle against your thumbnail. A good edge will immediately bite-into your nail and stay put while a dull or inferior edge will slide off.

That should be your starting point for sharp.

I see what you did there.

 

[someoldfart]

Felt it + Blood = Sharp

Didin't feel it + Blood = Very sharp

Didn''t feel it + Blood + Digit on the floor = Scary sharp

Best post so far...

 

[timbit]

I have personally set an arbitrary standard of curling preschool lined paper (similar to phone book) across the grain, at a certain speed of slice. A knife might readily cut with the grain of this paper but not be able to cut across the grain at all. As far as rate of cut, the sharper the knife the faster I'm able to slice. If it can do this it can do anything I need it to during the day. These are my personal standards.

I just had an image of a preschool teacher sitting at his/her desk curling paper with a 10" bowie EDC as the children and parents look on with looks of horror. LOL. Okay children, it's nap time now. LOLOL

 

[retzius]

I've never considered the edge that comes from a new knife to be very good and always put my own edge on every knife that I use. A factory edge is just a starting point.

To test of sharpness, a quick rule of thumb is to place the knife edge at a 45 degree angle against your thumbnail. A good edge will immediately bite-into your nail and stay put while a dull or inferior edge will slide off.

That should be your starting point for sharp.

This is what I usually use too. For utility sharp this is more than adequate.

 

[Urban Dweller]

I've never considered the edge that comes from a new knife to be very good and always put my own edge on every knife that I use. A factory edge is just a starting point.

To test of sharpness, a quick rule of thumb is to place the knife edge at a 45 degree angle against your thumbnail. A good edge will immediately bite-into your nail and stay put while a dull or inferior edge will slide off.

That should be your starting point for sharp.

This is exactly how I test my sharpness before putting that puppy in my pocket. My dad taught me this when I was a kid and I've done it ever since, super easy and quite reliable in determining working edge...