How sharp is sharp enough - A personal thing?

R

Rhodies

Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
284
This is my first post so here goes. If my knives e.g. pocket folders or kitchen knives can do the following, slice through paper, easily slice through a tomato with no resistance or draw blood when using just the weight of the knife dragging across my knuckle or the fleshy portion of the backside of my finger is sharp enough for me. I left out hair shaving out on purpose. Some of my knives will shave hair and some won't, even after passing the above listed personal test, I don't fret. If I would use that particular knife to exclusively shave with then it would be a problem but since I don't. Besides, I don't attempt to shave my arm hairs any longer since I was beginning to look like a freak, LOL.
 
OK... um -m-m... not sure what else to say except "welcome to BF". A lot of folks will be happy to share their tips and techniques and also will be happy to hear how you do things.

I didn't find a question in there so I'll generalize. I think "sharp enough" for most of us on BF is a personal thing. Some of us are spectacular sharpeners that really focus on that particular skill and have the equipment & experience to make a blade into a light saber. Others here do a very passable job of maintaining an edge so that it works well for us but it won't set any records for sharpness or blow anyone's socks off. Then, there's the group that keeps the professional sharpeners in business ;).

How sharp is sharp enough? It's usually a personal thing that varies from one knife knut to the other. You sound like you have excellent skills and high standards. The tests you describe would certainly be sharp enough for my needs.

Again... welcome!
 
I was just throwing out my personal opinion and what I look for for my needs and was hoping to get opinions of others with their personal experiences. Thanks for taking the time to reply and sharing your experience.
 
Welcome to the forums!

Personally, I got to have an edge which can whittle hair, whether it is toothy or polished.
 
Welcome to the forums! This sub forum is full of people that are very proficient at sharpening and there's a few of us that are a bit obsessed. I personally have different levels of sharp for different knives depending on their blade shape, blade steel, and intended use.
 
Yes. "Sharp enough" is generally a subjective thing for each person to determine, based on the types of things they need to do.

You can also have a very sharp knife that is not the right tool for a particular job due to the blade geometry, while a less sharp knife with the proper geometry would work fine. So sharpness per se is not the only defining factor.

My kitchen-knife "sharp enough" and my pocket-knife "sharp enough" are usually based around different sets of tasks.
 
Rhodies said:
This is my first post so here goes. If my knives e.g. pocket folders or kitchen knives can do the following, slice through paper, easily slice through a tomato with no resistance or draw blood when using just the weight of the knife dragging across my knuckle or the fleshy portion of the backside of my finger is sharp enough for me. I left out hair shaving out on purpose. Some of my knives will shave hair and some won't, even after passing the above listed personal test, I don't fret. If I would use that particular knife to exclusively shave with then it would be a problem but since I don't. Besides, I don't attempt to shave my arm hairs any longer since I was beginning to look like a freak, LOL.
Click to expand...

Any knife I have, bar none, when brought near to my arm will inspire all the hair on my arm to pull them selves out of my skin and jump to the floor and then run under the sofa where I can't get to 'em. Any thing less is . . simply . . not sharp enough. :cool: :D :cool:
 
For me, it has evolved with my sharpening skill. I used to be happy with clean slices in index cards. Now, I want something that can easily and quickly pop hair off my arm. Welcome to the forums!
 
All knives that go in my pocket will cleanly slice through a page of a phonebook, without snagging or slipping. That's what I look for as the minimum. If they pass that test, I know they'll easily handle any chore I put to them. I won't carry them at all, until they do pass. Most of them will also shave hair from my forearm, which is gravy, but I don't worry too much if they don't do that right away. Such shaving capability can almost always be improved by thinning the edge geometry just a little more. And I usually get around to doing that anyway, over the course of subsequent resharpenings. So, if it's not quite clean-shaving today, there's a good chance it will be eventually.


David
 
its definitely a personal thing, and even then, can vary from one knife to the next - atleast for me.
 
OP - Welcome.

Like everything, 'enough' comes down to personal standards. For many, my knives are much too sharp and dangerous, 'I'll cut myself with that' they say- all you can do is sigh and know that is a lost battle.

One thing I would say is that you should never, I say NEVER test a knife by drawing blood. Crazy! There are plenty of things to test cut, don't cut yourself. OK hair shaving is one thing, but cutting into your skin to draw blood on purpose. Please stop that.

For me the most important test is bite. That edge must bite into what I'm cutting. The bite translates into slice as you draw the blade through as long as the edge is consistent and has no nicks or blunt spots.

I'm liking micro-serrations where I don't go to too fine a grit, but do then strop it quite hard. The edge then has shine, but is not a perfect mirror. Quick to achieve and touch up.

I can obsess over a perfect mirror edge and then find myself reluctant to cut with it. Makes it a waste of time to do all that work; looks lovely though.

So in summary 'Bite', that's what you need. ('you' being 'me')
 
Draw cuts newsprint against the grain in three general locations: Near the heel, before the belly, after the belly. Cleanly push cutting copy paper against the grain passes my test for sharp enough as well, particularly for the blades which I use on the typical residential production home job site.
 
I guess I do occasionally test an edge by cutting a page from a phone book ... but mostly anymore the feel of it on the stone as it gets sharp and a gentle touch with my thumb (not to cut my skin but just feel the bite) lets me know it's sharp ... occasionally I'll shave a little hair off my arm after I make a few passes on a ceramic hone or strop.
 
Thank you all for your replies. Very interesting, how your own personal sharp test are pretty much the same with vary little variations. I have not used newsprint yet, nor pages out of a phone book, this all new to me so I'll have to give it a try. For right now, I use a heavier 28/30 pound copy paper so maybe I'm missing something, like a sharp knife? As for drawing blood, just wanted to let you folks know I generally stop when I feel the bite of the blade. Sometimes the cut will draw a bit of blood but these are just small surface cuts which scab over and disappear in a couple of days. Yea, I agree, there are safer methods than drawing across the back side of my finger. I like the idea of newsprint, I will have to incorporate that into my routine. Thanks guys.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
All knives that go in my pocket will cleanly slice through a page of a phonebook,
Click to expand...

Ha, ha
I read that too fast.
I thought it was a Charlie Mike post. Which would have said something like :"Will cleanly slice through a phone book with no snags".
If you haven't seen the knives he makes you are in for a treat. A scary treat; but a treat.
 
Subwoofer_CPF said:
One thing I would say is that you should never, I say NEVER test a knife by drawing blood. Crazy! There are plenty of things to test cut, don't cut yourself. OK hair shaving is one thing, but cutting into your skin to draw blood on purpose. Please stop that.
Click to expand...

Yes I was sitting in a steel bar with my Dad when I was very young (~6) and I learned a lesson that day from just listening to these two "old guys". My Dad said what happen to your hand ? His friend said "I was cutting off some callus with my pocket knife and it got infected".

If you're a "cutter" at least sanitize the blade first. Of course if the edge isn't sharp enough and you go back to the stone expect it to be the equivalent of sticking your knife in a sewer.

iDnOh . . .
 
Wowbagger said:
Ha, ha
I read that too fast.
I thought it was a Charlie Mike post. Which would have said something like :"Will cleanly slice through a phone book with no snags".
If you haven't seen the knives he makes you are in for a treat. A scary treat; but a treat.
Click to expand...

I have sliced the corners off phonebooks, at full thickness, as just another fun way to test an edge. Taking narrow slices off the corners is a quick way to make a handful of confetti, like that. :D


David
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top