What's your favorite knife test material?

Your favorite cutting test material(s) are:

  • printer paper

    Votes: 8 17.0%

  • magazine pages

    Votes: 11 23.4%

  • phonebook pages

    Votes: 14 29.8%

  • newspaper

    Votes: 9 19.1%

  • post-it notes

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • packing peanuts

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • packing paper

    Votes: 2 4.3%

  • junk mail

    Votes: 5 10.6%

  • arm hair (shave)

    Votes: 14 29.8%

  • other (please explain)

    Votes: 17 36.2%
  • Total voters
    47
G

Guy McVer

Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
2,584
For testing sharpness I like to use paper. The reason is that the paper helps me feel how smooth and consistent my edge is. If there are any inconsistencies, it will affect the cuts. Paper is really good for that. I also enjoy the sound and tactile sensation of cutting paper.

My favorite type of paper to use is magazine paper, but I also like newspaper. Magazine paper is good at telling you right away how sharp your edge is. Other thicker papers are too easy to cut with something that's not really very sharp.

What is/are your favorite material(s) to cut for sharpness testing? Why do you like it/them?
 
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GusSharp68 said:
an Antifa radical if I can find one but I digress
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Try Portland.

I use a single thickness of paper towel, not supported particularly well. If the edge cuts cleanly into that, I know it's good.

I do think that thin paper is probably better, because it gives you more nuanced feedback, but I'll give up what I'm doing when it isn't working for me, and not before.
 
I learn everything I need to know about my edges using phonebook pages or thin-stock magazine / catalog pages or newsprint. If an edge slices cleanly and repeatedly through such paper without skipping, snagging or hesitating to initiate the cut, I know my edge is ready for anything else I expect it to do. If there's some hesitation in starting the cut, i.e., if I have to give it a little more pressure or angle it a certain way, I know at least a portion of the edge is either incompletely apexed or there's a rolled burr on part of it. If it snags mid-cut, then there's a burr or a ding (dent) or chip in the edge. If it slips without cutting, it's incompletely apexed or with a severely rolled burr. If I feel some significant resistance in making the cut, even if it's not snagging or skipping, the edge geometry is likely pretty thick as compared to what I prefer. And making these cuts SLOWLY into the paper will show exactly where these edge defects will be along the edge. So, a simple slice into a piece of thin paper will diagnose a lot of issues with an edge, if one is paying attention to it.

I don't rely solely on shaving sharpness to test an edge. If my edge is first able to do all the things listed above consistently, and then it also shaves or tree-tops hair from my forearm, that's gravy. I'm also aware that a thin burr will mimic shaving sharpness easily, but it won't be durable for anything else.

A real bonus comes in doing all the things listed above, and then also making the same tests after cutting into a piece of wood. If the edge still passes those tests above after a cut or two into some wood, that shows the edge is also quite strong as well as being sharp.
 
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Been using printer paper for a few years, tells me well enough what's going on. Consistency with what you're using is important. I've been too cheap to get a BESS tester so far, but then again that just tests raw sharpness at one point. Cutting through something like paper won't quantify sharpness as exactly as a BESS tester but can still tell you a lot about what's going on with the edge once you get used to it.
 
Magazine paper, paper towel, and butchers twine. Cutting the twine on a cutting board using very light pressure seems to tell me more then the paper alone. A clean complete sever with a short stroke is what I want.
 
Sushi. Branches. Artichoke stems.

I can't remember the last time I had to cut my way out of a paper bag.
 
Fingernails..if the blade bites easily into my thumbnail,it's sharp.

Also, whatever material potato chips bags are made of
 
Voted "other" because I've been using gas pump reciept paper. Thinner then 20 pound printer /copy paper requires sharper edges. Usually any reciept paper is thinner.
 
%&**&!@%!!

I've been playing around with using paper instead of paper towels, and it's giving me really good information. I am going to have to change my ways.
 
My favorite is BESS tester media. Second favorite is rolling papers. The cool thing about rolling papers, as explained by the late, great Vadim Kraichuk, is that you get two tests in one. If you can slice a paper lengthwise, it means you have a sub-.2µ apex, or the equivalent of a BESS score <=100. If you can slice a paper horizontally, it means your edge is sharper than a double-edge razor, or the equivalent of a BESS score <=30.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Flesh. Usually mine.
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I was cutting my forearm/wrist for a while. Several little girls here afraid of a few paper cuts scolded me about it, which is not the reason I stopped. Pain isn't a good metric.

A polished edge will cut you without feeling pain. It will glide across the skin rather than grip and dig in like a blade sharpened with 800grit. Pain is usually immediate with the latter.

Now, I just prefer to shave leg hair. A slow stroke with very little effort should pop the hairs off.

I think holding a hair follicle with your hand and cutting it in half is a better achievement, but it requires an apex with a lower angle than I prefer on my current EDC. And hair thickness varies... BESS tester is probably the best, I just don't care enough to spend money on it. If I had one, it would influence me to sharpen my knife every couple days and I'm better off not doing that.
 
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