Well, a couple of things...
1. Looks like a 45 degree angle to me
2. I doubt that a perfect imprint of the edge geometry would be left with this test
3. How do you suggest they rigged it?
As I am the OP for this, I would to answer these questions because they are relevant;
The purpose of the test was not to prove anything but to find out - and its no scam, the smith's family went to school with my wife's family and lived only two houses down the road. In fact the smith's father is still good friends with my brother-in-law.
It was just two guys talking about knives, that two hours later, resulted with the test. The only one who gained was me - I now have two notches; one in my Busse SQ and one in Buck Strider, both are good conversation pieces.
Regarding edges, the dragon was touched-up prior to the test and was about 40 degrees inclusive. The Busse was an SQ with Competition Finish meaning it was factory finished with a conves edge for cutting competitions, therefore the best that Busse could make for cutting everything from wood, string, straw, etc. in that model.
I will be flex testing the reference blade, and doing other stuff too, so we shall see how good it is. I will provide pictures of course.
I have never heard about blade-on-blade tests before, but others apparently have. I am told that it was the precursor to the Rockwell tests when we fought with swords.
I am open to any information on this because I really would like to learn more from people who have done this before.
