How do you describe the sharpness?

[Polisher]

I was good this past year and I bought a Gen 3 WEP with all of the stones 100-1500, ceramics and leather strops 1-.05 as a present to myself.  I find myself able to sharpen knives well beyond what I had ever though possible or beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.  After sharpening my kitchen, pocket knives and some family and friends knives I’m at a 100% success rate for people cutting themselves (me included) after giving them back.  Simply telling my wife that I had sharpened our knives and to be very careful didn’t seem to get the message across before she sliced off the tip of her finger and didn’t even know it.  I try to explain to people that these knives are way beyond what they have ever experienced using in the kitchen and cringe when the first thing they do is run their finger down the blade to test my work.  Any suggestions on getting the point across?

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[NotVerySharp]

I just did this myself.  I purchased a unit, and the first couple knives were so so, they cut paper ok.  Then after a few more knives, made the mistake of doing what you just described, running my own finger down the blade to test the sharpness. Hah.  Yea, I got 2 small cuts tonight!  Wish you would have posted this a day sooner!

 

[tcmeyer]

I tell my people to keep their kitchen knives in protective sleeves and separate from all the other junk utensils.  Never let your sharp knives make contact with other utensils.  Touching other knives causes as much damage as does normal use.  As soon as you’re done using the knife, wash it and put it into a sleeve before putting it in your knife drawer.   Never put a sharp knife into dishwater.  When you go to retrieve it, you’ll spring a leak.   When you wash the blade, lay it flat on a surface, lift the spine to put the apex closer to the surface, then brush or wipe away from the edge.

To preserve a sharp edge, never cut anything hard, like bone, and never cut on a hard surface – only on wood or soft plastic cutting boards.  If you must cut on a hard surface (it happens) let only the tip contact the hard surface.

When I deliver a batch of sharp kitchen knives to friends or on the counter for my wife to wash, I’ll lay a band-aid alongside as a reminder.

[dulledge]

NotVerySharp wrote:

I just did this myself. I purchased a unit, and the first couple knives were so so, they cut paper ok. Then after a few more knives, made the mistake of doing what you just described, running my own finger down the blade to test the sharpness. Hah. Yea, I got 2 small cuts tonight! Wish you would have posted this a day sooner!

NotVerySharp, I like your posts, but don’t like your avatar picture. It is too graphic and disturbing. I had similar cut when I was a child and tried to fix my  broken wooden skis. Blood gushed and I passed out from looking at it.

[Readheads]

I demonstrate sharpness by gently scraping (not cutting) the knife edge on my thumbnail. I find that a well sharpened knife will immediately “catch” the nail.  I also demonstrate an unsharp knife so that they can gain an appreciation of the difference.  I tell everyone to wash the knife as soon as possible after use and get a block to put it in.  If it doesn’t get washed right away, we use the counter ledge at the far end of the sink as the unofficial spot to keep the knife.  Also, I just got a Messermeister white ceramic hone for edge touch ups and use the thumbnail test as a before and after. A couple of very gentle strokes and the thumbnail catches right away.  I find it very convenient and a good way for the user to develop respect for the sharpness.

Alas, my wife training has mixed results and I find our kitchen knives laying around in various spot on our counters.

[Ski bum]

I use newsprint paper cut into strips. whenever I’m at store I grab the auto shopper,boat shopper, home shopper at the exit for my test strips. Using a razor knife cut the binding edge off, and you have loose sheets of paper. Each sheet becomes 5-6 two inch strips. The ultimate test is to hold the strip in one hand only and run the overhang down the blade. As your knife gets scary sharp it will slice the paper. At first the paper might buckle or tear. Do some more strokes and try again. I do this with the blade mounted in the vice while sharpening and it provides undeniable proof of sharpness. Always try to cut the paper before sharpening to use as baseline sharpness\dullness indicator.

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dulledge

[NotVerySharp]

dulledge wrote:

NotVerySharp wrote:

I just did this myself. I purchased a unit, and the first couple knives were so so, they cut paper ok. Then after a few more knives, made the mistake of doing what you just described, running my own finger down the blade to test the sharpness. Hah. Yea, I got 2 small cuts tonight! Wish you would have posted this a day sooner!

NotVerySharp, I like your posts, but don’t like your avatar picture. It is too graphic and disturbing. I had similar cut when I was a child and tried to fix my broken wooden skis. Blood gushed and I passed out from looking at it.

I hope this one is ok!  Sorry if it bothered you.

2 users thanked author for this post.

dulledge, Organic

[dulledge]

Readheads wrote:

I just got a Messermeister white ceramic hone for edge touch ups

I use 12″ DMT ceramic steel for honing. After 2 strokes per side the edge is hair shaving again. The key is to use extremely light pressure.

[Josh]

I normally check for shaving arm hair and then use a version of the 3 finger test (mostly using my thumb). The key is to slide it along just enough to where it penetrates the first layer of skin. Tells me a lot about sharpness and edge aggression as you can literally feel it.

[Pinkfloyd]

The rolled glossy paper or rolled newspaper test is supposed to be a good representation of a very sharp knife. First time I tried with a knife that sliced paper easily, then tried a rolled magazine paper it would not slice that till I did some more very fine work on the blade. At about the 39 second mark on the test link starts the rolled paper test. There was a better demo of this, but I cant find it now.

Paper test

[Author]

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