Testing edge-holding ability?

Guys its really not that difficult and it doesn't require S90V to cut a lot of rope. Just sharpen your knife at 15-16*, strop off the burr and start cutting sisal rope. When I cut I use a vise to hold the rope and a kevlar glove. The knife I'm holding is a Buck 110 with cpm-154 steel, sharpened on a x-coarse dmt stone and it made 2000 cuts on 1/2" sisal rope before it started to drag. DM
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David Martin said:
Guys its really not that difficult and it doesn't require S90V to cut a lot of rope. Just sharpen your knife at 15-16*, strop off the burr and start cutting sisal rope. When I cut I use a vise to hold the rope and a kevlar glove. The knife I'm holding is a Buck 110 with cpm-154 steel, sharpened on a x-coarse dmt stone and it made 2000 cuts on 1/2" sisal rope before it started to drag. DM
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Depends on what point one wants to stop cutting, I stop at 20 LBS of down force on 5/8" Manila. ;)

Don't even want to think about cutting until dull or close to dull, that would be a crazy amount of rope with steels like S90V, S110V, 10V or K294.

Did 1,800 Slicing cuts on 5/8" manila to 20 LBS with my Custom K294 knife and it wasn't even close to done yet when I stopped and it still had good bite so as I said I wouldn't want to think about taking it to dull.
 
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Ankerson, Thank you for all your time and efforts taken to do cutting tests and give us this info. so freely. Yes, its surprising how much rope the good steels will cut. When I'm doing one, its a weekend affair because my hand gets fatigued during two days of cutting. Yet, its a good learning experience. DM
 
David Martin said:
Ankerson, Thank you for all your time and efforts taken to do cutting tests and give us this info. so freely. Yes, its surprising how much rope the good steels will cut. When I'm doing one, its a weekend affair because my hand gets fatigued during two days of cutting. Yet, its a good learning experience. DM
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That's a lot of rope DM. :thumbup: So do you attribute the super rope cutting ability to the micro serration left by the scratch line of the X-Coarse stone on a quality steel?
 
cziv said:
That's a lot of rope DM. :thumbup: So do you attribute the super rope cutting ability to the micro serration left by the scratch line of the X-Coarse stone on a quality steel?
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Coarse edges cut rope more efficiently in a draw cut so they cut longer than polished edges will before starting to slide (lose bite).
 
This is K294 (A11) and 1,800 slicing cuts on 5/8" Manila rope.

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David Martin said:
Ankerson, Thank you for all your time and efforts taken to do cutting tests and give us this info. so freely. Yes, its surprising how much rope the good steels will cut. When I'm doing one, its a weekend affair because my hand gets fatigued during two days of cutting. Yet, its a good learning experience. DM
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Should try cutting Manila instead of Sisal, more expensive, but it's more abrasive and harder to cut so you would use less. :)
 
cziv said:
That's a lot of rope DM. :thumbup: So do you attribute the super rope cutting ability to the micro serration left by the scratch line of the X-Coarse stone on a quality steel?
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CZ, Yes, from my tests I think your accessment is accurate. During the past 3yrs. I've conducted numerous cutting tests slicing miles of sisal rope under various parameters and your observations hold suprisingly true. One other item which surfaced thru cutting with many different steels sharpened, using many different stones and grit types show the diamond stones offer greater advantages in edge retention. Some other items I'm still questioning. Thanks, DM
 
Ankerson, What about poly rope? I have a lot of that type. How do you determine your 20lb. weight limit during cutting? DM
 
David Martin said:
Ankerson, What about poly rope? I have a lot of that type. How do you determine your 20lb. weight limit during cutting? DM
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I cut on a scale, wood on top of a scale then the scale is adjusted for the weight.
 
David Martin said:
Ok, I see thanks. DM
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I think it's a good stopping point for reference.

With some of the steels I test going until dull would as I said take an insane amount of rope to get to that point, not to mention time and wear and tear on me.
 
O-yes I totally see why you do it that way and agree. Thats a good stopping point because after doing much of this a person starts to feel the fatigue. Which is not good when operating a sharp implement as thats when a slip could occur. Needless to say, the man wears out before the knife.
Keep up all this good work. Thanks again for sharing this aquired knowledge. DM
 
David Martin said:
O-yes I totally see why you do it that way and agree. Thats a good stopping point because after doing much of this a person starts to feel the fatigue. Which is not good when operating a sharp implement as thats when a slip could occur. Needless to say, the man wears out before the knife.
Keep up all this good work. Thanks again for sharing this aquired knowledge. DM
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I usually take a lot of breaks from cutting, takes me a few days also to run one knife in the high wear steels.
 
Thats a safer method. My kevlar glove has prevented a few cuts. Sometimes I have to get it done over the weekend and I can 'feel it' when I retire Sunday night. I lay there thinking, (while the Ibuprofen kicks in) man I'm glad thats done. DM
 
You guys are nuts. ;) I did this about 5 years ago, and my bad (tennis) elbow started flaring up big time, and I had to stop. The guys at Lowes would always ask, "Now what did you need all this rope for?" :D That glove on DM's leg isn't just for show, and I don't think he's a Michael Jackson impersonator...

I don't think most appreciate just how much time this kind of testing really takes. When I win the powerball, ...
 
I totally appreciate the testing other folks do around here! I've done no more than a fraction of what these tests entail and I decided I was too cheap to pay for the rope needed to do it right. I will of course gladly incorporate the results into my own philosophy and give credit whenever possible...Thanks DM and Ankerson - only one way to get this sort of info!
 
sodak said:
You guys are nuts. ;) I did this about 5 years ago, and my bad (tennis) elbow started flaring up big time, and I had to stop. The guys at Lowes would always ask, "Now what did you need all this rope for?" :D That glove on DM's leg isn't just for show, and I don't think he's a Michael Jackson impersonator...

I don't think most appreciate just how much time this kind of testing really takes. When I win the powerball, ...
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Yeah, I really start to feel it when cutting with one of Phil's knives, they cut forever compared to the standard knives..:eek:
 
sodak said:
You guys are nuts. ;) I did this about 5 years ago, and my bad (tennis) elbow started flaring up big time, and I had to stop. The guys at Lowes would always ask, "Now what did you need all this rope for?" :D That glove on DM's leg isn't just for show, and I don't think he's a Michael Jackson impersonator...

I don't think most appreciate just how much time this kind of testing really takes. When I win the powerball, ...
Click to expand...

My wife questions my sanity when conducting these tests as well. Yet, I think my time, efforts and dollars are well spent in learning somethings in the edge retention area on knife steels. Then passing this along to others for education in hopes they too will benefit from it, some way. Thats about all I get out of it so, when someone says, thank you,--- its really appreciated. I'm sure Ankerson et. al., thinks the same. Thanks guys, DM
 
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