- Joined
- Aug 19, 2010
- Messages
- 261
This would be a contest with prizes (hey, it sounds like a lot of work). Some may include desirable knives or forum sponserships. I'm interested enough that I will put down some of my own money for this contest, if it happens.
I believe that anyone with enough time on their hands can reprofile and hone a low inclusive angle onto a blade and cleanly slice through tissue paper or TP with ease. With that in mind, let's try something slightly different.
The Contest is as follows: your goal is to find the GREATEST inclusive edge bevel angle that will still cleanly slice (push-cut) in two a single piece of double-ply toilet paper. For reference see videos from Ankerson and others.
The purpose of this contest is to see who can use their sharpening and honing skills along with their knowledge of steels and edge geometries to produce the winning combination. The choice of double-ply toilet paper as the benchmark ensures that the winner must produce a very sharp yet very smooth edge otherwise they risk tearing the test media. To give readers some idea for a starting point: I believe Ankerson has produced some knives with 30-40 degree inclusive bevels that demonstrate the ability to push-cut toilet paper.
This contest is open to anyone registered for this forum and having more than 100 posts as of the contest's starting date(?); It is imperative that you have a way to accurately measure your knife's inclusive edge bevel. Accepted methods include the usage of a guided sharpening system such as the Edge Pro (important details below) or other guided sharpening systems. If you are using an Edge Pro and your knife has a saber grind- resting the knife on the flat (not the bevel) on the blade table when you sharpen means your inclusive angle is double the indicated. However, full flat ground blades or saber ground blades with large bevels that sit on the blade table will be sharpened at LESS than the indicated angles (besides providing a false angle reading, the resulting edge would be better at cutting). With a few caliper measurements and a simple equation a correction can be made to ensure a proper angle setting (I'll elaborate on this later).
Now, If you're a veteran hand-sharpener and know the exact angle at which you sharpen, we may be able to accept that on faith. Otherwise, for everyone else- as long as you use an acceptable method to accurately measure the edge bevel angle it will be a-ok (I'll detail some methods that should work with a calipers and a calculator)
So, what can you use and how many tries do you get?
Well, you get one try for the contest but you can practice as much as you want with as many knives as you want until you think you've gotten it right. Other than that, you may use any pocket knife you like outside the exceptions listed at the bottom. That means you can use blades of any shape, size, steel, edge geometry, and grind as long as it's a folding pocket knife. All participants must provide video proof of the feat, as well a description of the make and model of the pocket knife used, it's blade geometry, grind type, steel, and of course the inclusive angle that was used.
Exceptions and Exclusions
Straight Razor pocket knives are not allowed
Knife blades thinner than 0.XXX inches are not allowed
Microbevels are not allowed due to the difficulty in verify the exact angle present
You can not heat up your knife so that it burns its way through the media
Feedback Feedback Feedback? Good Idea? Eh? How many weeks of prep should be allowed?
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