Knife Cutting Test

[pogo]

Hi Everyone. Is there a real good test for cutting ability? I discovered a good test of cutting ability by accident. I ran out of .080 weed whacker line and rewound it & started to cut it and the blade just danced on the stuff. I keep all my knives hair shaving sharp. The next knife from a custom maker did the same. Getting very frustrated I got my new Frosts Army knife & it zipped through it like butter. I also tried my opinel with a medium working edge & it cut it but not as easily as the Frosts & yes it will shave hair as well. To make a long story short, I was amazed at what some knives can do & others cannot. :grumpy:

 

[yobbos1]

My favourite tests are hard and soft wood shallow slices. (if the wood curls-good.) and shaving paper. Of course there is always the arm hair test.

 

[yoda4561]

This is why shaving hair is but one factor in how "sharp" a knife is. You can use even a coarse ~300 grit stone and get an edge that can pop hairs off your arm, and this will cut spectacularly on a large number of materials. Not all steels can handle an edge like this, as it tends to blunt very quickly as the micro-teeth don't have enough supporting material. I find I prefer semi-polished edges for most knives, around 1000-2000 grit, with higher grits for more specialized work, like woodcarving knives or "showoff" edges that excel at a particular cutting task but aren't really much good for anything else. At 1000 grit the edge will readily catch hairs above the arm and if I strop I can usually get them to cut off above the arm. There's also enough bite that it can cut solid materials like trimmer line with ease, as well as fiberous material.

 

[Stone Knife]

First check that there's no wire bent over on one side or another.
Then, I just apply a bit of pressure with my thumb -carefully- back from the front edge at about 80 degrees. If it's "grabby" all along the edge, both sides equally, then I'll take a couple of slices off an 81/2 x 11 sheet of copy paper. If that's snag-free all along the edge, step four is to shave a bit of the arm hair, testing both sides of the blade. If all four conditions feel right, then she's ready for service.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

..the blade just danced on the stuff. I keep all my knives hair shaving sharp. The next knife from a custom maker did the same.

The edge is too thick and/or obtuse, rip it down if you want to be able to cut that cord and similar materials better.

-Cliff

 

[Evil Steel]

I don't know about anybody else but in my opinion I expect my new knife right out of the box to be able to pop hairs effortlessly off my arm. Most knives I have pruchased recently all do come this way. On the occassion it dose not shave or losses its ability after using it a couple of times I loose intrest in or feel that it may not be meet my expectations. I know this should and dose not make a bad knife but certianly spoils any excitement of getting a new knife. I was frustrated after years of buying knives to never get them back to the way it was when it was new. The only I found to really get what I was looking for was to buy a new knife. I sure this was partly an excuse to tell myself I just needed another knife. So I began a search to try and find someone who could teach me how to truly sharpen a knife. You would think this should be an easy task but I found it much harder than I ever expected. That is until I purchased a book from Razors edge which I read entirely the first day. After that I purchased a video from them as well as stones they make themselves. Today I can actually put an edge on just about anything and feel comfortable doing so an any knife.