What to use to test sharpness?

I like the thumbnail and paper, but some one here mentioned about slicing the letters off newsprint without cutting through. really fun!!
 
All of the above work well, but I must give credit to Christina Glesser for showing me what has become my most sensitive test of sharpness.

Hold the knife like you would a comb & lightly use a comb motion downward on the hair on your head,(if ya got any).
The most natural reach for me is just over & behind my right ear. It's very easy to tell the difference between 2 blades, both of which are sharp enough to shave arm hair easily. The sharpest blade "grabs" the hair more. Just be careful..
 
If the blade will slice through paper without a ragged edge but instead cleanly, thats sharp enough for me.

I also use the thumbnail and the end of my thumb where I slice a few layers off at a time. People see me do this and cringe but it works for me after all these years. It's good to show a spot that releases the skin as not sharp enough, then work on that spot and repeat.

Brownie
 
fresh road Kill, about 10-15 MPH, should slice clean without drag. Blade should pick up minimal tissue or liquid splatter.
 
I use a concrete block. If the knife cuts through it the blade is sharp. For some reason my knife is never sharp and the more I test it the duller it gets. I just cann't figure it out.
 
This is a great thread and gives some insight to peoples' day-to-day knife-sharpening tests, but someone should start a thread about people's ULTIMATE sharpness test to see how people test their edges that they're REALLY proud of to see what they use to test their BEST edge.

I'm sticking with my "suspended hair" test for that too.
 
Newspaper (from both top and side, thin shallow cuts) and an old hardwood dowel.
Shear some newsprint, whittle a little and back to the paper.
If it cuts the same way, I'm good to go.

[Actually I'm a paper cutting junkie. Store receipts, catalogs, empty envelopes, you name it, all full of little triangular cuts. Drives my wife nuts ;) ]
 
Fulloflead, my ultimate test of sharpness is cutting arm or chest hair without touching the skin.
 
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