Rupestris
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 28,982
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
So what is the measure of sharpness to go by?
- Thread starter Eliteone2383
- Start date
Wrong. But thanks for playing. Blades don't magically become "0 thick" immediately. So all blades are a nanometer thick at some point.
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2005
- Messages
- 16,379
All that talk about having to go to universities that have million dollar equipment when all you're saying is a thinner blade cuts better.
A dull razor blade will out cut a sharp chopper because its thinner, not because it's sharper. We all know that.
What are you saying about measuring sharpness ?
lol you know not what you are talking about.
sharpness can have a precise numerical value attached to it but this requires highly sophisticated instruments out of reach of most people.
Eliteone2383
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2015
- Messages
- 1,019
For those type of cutting chores I sharpen no finer than 320 grit. This will give you a slightly toothy edge , I then buff/polish the wire/burr off of the edge.
This is done on a slack belt so the edge is con vexed and is very strong as well..
Your mileage may vary!
320 grit? Like sandpaper?
Certainly feel free to show us a drawing of how this all works.
So there are blades that are 1 picometer wide at their narrowest point?
not even close. in theory the narrowest point is infinity minus 1 unit of some nameless prefixed meter.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
- Messages
- 10,844
When I first started to sharpen to BF standards, I stopped wearing shorts because the bald patches on my legs made me look like I had some skin disease.
So all blades achieve this thickness? thinness?
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2015
- Messages
- 1,851
Marcinek you just wouldnt even understand... only those of us with very sophisticated equipment can comprehend this theory
If they do, then all blades have the same sharpness, based on your theory.
No if this is NOT the case the only option is that all blades hit some minimum, measurable thickness and then become, instantaneous ly perfectly flat.
Which is it, Skippy?
Marcinek you just wouldnt even understand... only those of us with very sophisticated equipment can comprehend this theory
The kind of sophisticated equipment that makes geometry and reality not exist!
Fascinating thread, will read more in the AM. I have a Sharpmaker, but I suck at using it, lol. A really sharp knife is nice, but I'd be covered in bandaids. I'm one of those idiots that 'flips' my knife in the air - like, I throw it up in the air and catch it, lol. I very rarely drop the knife or whatever I'm throwing around. It's closing the knife too quickly that will bite me. With that being said, it's sometimes nice to have a moderately sharp knife. Lol!
As far as sharpest, my Delica and Dragonfly were very sharp from the factory. However, I bought a Benchmade 531 a while back that was shockingly sharp. The first day using it, opening a case of bottled water, I ran the knife the full length of the top of the packaging. I pierced 4 bottles along the way, nearly decapitated 2 of them, and had no idea. Like butter. I haven't experienced anything like that since. It was cool.
As far as sharpest, my Delica and Dragonfly were very sharp from the factory. However, I bought a Benchmade 531 a while back that was shockingly sharp. The first day using it, opening a case of bottled water, I ran the knife the full length of the top of the packaging. I pierced 4 bottles along the way, nearly decapitated 2 of them, and had no idea. Like butter. I haven't experienced anything like that since. It was cool.
I have read that some chipped stones can get to edges that are a few atoms thick. THAT is sharp. I think the theoretical edge can vary from one steel to another, something like the sizes of the carbides, etc.
I've bought a lot of different factory knives and different brands tend to come at different sharpness. Buck, Gerber, CRKT, Kershaw, ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco- I have found that the Spyderco knives are much more likely to come out of the box pretty sharp. I don't worry about it though, if they come sharp I use them, if they don't come sharp I sharpen them. I found that a little stropping after sharpening gives and edge plenty sharp for my needs.
Other than Catra testing, it seems that it is difficult to measure sharpness in a way that you can describe it to another person or compare with another person's tests. I don't do any hair shaving on myself and I never got the fingernail trick to work. I'm not sure that either one of these tells you that a knife is really sharp. For my I've found that if I can cut the thin shiny paper that advertisements in the sunday paper are printed on, that is pretty sharp. This stuff seems much harder to cut than standard printer paper.
I've bought a lot of different factory knives and different brands tend to come at different sharpness. Buck, Gerber, CRKT, Kershaw, ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco- I have found that the Spyderco knives are much more likely to come out of the box pretty sharp. I don't worry about it though, if they come sharp I use them, if they don't come sharp I sharpen them. I found that a little stropping after sharpening gives and edge plenty sharp for my needs.
Other than Catra testing, it seems that it is difficult to measure sharpness in a way that you can describe it to another person or compare with another person's tests. I don't do any hair shaving on myself and I never got the fingernail trick to work. I'm not sure that either one of these tells you that a knife is really sharp. For my I've found that if I can cut the thin shiny paper that advertisements in the sunday paper are printed on, that is pretty sharp. This stuff seems much harder to cut than standard printer paper.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2013
- Messages
- 4,897
Well in my experience in makes a heck of a difference in ease of cutting with a mirror edge. The biggest difference IMO is just getting rid of the factory edge, I can get a 120 grit edge more uniformly ground, polished and sharper than any factory edge I have laid hands on and it cuts much smoother due to that. When it comes down to it, factory edges just suck IMO, they may be sharp but the scratch pattern just never seems to cut as easily as a proper sharpening job done by an individual rather than the factory methods. However, whatever sharpness does the neccessary job is totally adequate, im just a bit of a sharpness snob:thumbup:
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2010
- Messages
- 798
If it takes off my leg hair, it's good. (Not enough arm hair left to test at the current moment.) or can push cut a free hanging bit of magazine paper for my slicers.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 32,479
Yes, Its on the toothy side and works great for heavy cardboard Plastic ties and the other items you mentioned cutting. I start at 120 grit for all knives and then 320 grit, 600 grit on up to 2000 grit depending on the purpose of the knife. Americana/German type Culinary gets taken to 600 grit then Japanese go to 2000 grit. You can get yourself a mouse pad like for a computer and sheets of sandpaper and do it by hand. I use my 2 x 72" variable speed knife making grinder. Start low and work your way up in the grits and test at each level to find what works for you.
Also you can use an old leather belt to strop the edges and remove the burr.
Marcinek you just wouldn't even understand... only those of us with very sophisticated equipment can comprehend this theory
Yes this sharpening quantitive theory does seem to be above up simpletons around here.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,678
Oh my goodness....