Tests of sharpness

[Bogeyman]

Incase anybody tries this out,

DON'T BE SO BLOODY STUPID!!!!

I can see how it works and it obviously does for him, but I don't want to take the risk thanks.

just my opinion, of course

Uuuuhmmmm……. O.K.!?! Of course you’re entitled to your opinion.

I understand the fact that you don’t want to take “the risk”, but assuming that one is “bloody stupid” for trying this test is a bit of a negative remark, don’t you think? Condemning the method of testing like this ( ) is meddling to me.

I mean we all know the risks of working with knives; we’re not children......Shaving your arm hair, testing with your thumb and all that isn’t that much less dangerous!
Just because of the fact that it is a “new” approach to test the sharpness of a blade and the fact you use a cutting motion on your limbs, make it seem a bit weird, but not all that more dangerous than the other methods. Also it isn’t something you do immediately on a shaving sharp blade, without having carefully tested it out on duller blades, if one is afraid of injuring oneself.


Evidently there are lots of ways of testing a knife edge, all of them have their own supporters and ALL of them have their own hazards………

 

[Dave Budd]

I'm only expressing my opinion having seen hundreds of people pick up my knives at shows and test the sharpness in a variety of ways. I've seen them touch the edge, stroke acorss the edge, snag a nail, shave hair and cut paper. In all of the blade-to-body-part versions I have seen people draw blood over the years.

we often don't think too much of the safety when shaving an arm or touching a nail because we are used to doing it. If you suddenly start trying to feel an edge by running fingers along the blade, then you are likely to cut yourself once in a while at least.

I often demonstrate sharpness to people by shaving hair (I'm stood behnd a table where I can't get bumped into) or by featheing a piece of paper, a rizla if it's a fine edged blade normally. I often also pick up a handmade nail and shave a bit off that to demonstrate sharpness and edge retention

My other half prefers to keep all parts of herself safely away from teh knife. If she can see light being reflected off the cutting idge then it is blunt, if not then it is sharp (ie no flat surface to reflect). Sure that will only tell you if it's sharp and not extremley sharp, but then nor will any other test involving touching it.

 

[Martyn]

Tai Goo uses a novel test. Take a hair from your head (you need long hair) and bend it into a loop and hold it between thumb and forefinger. The loop should be about an inch or so long. Take a knife and apply light pressure onto the apex of the loop so the natural "spring" in the loop of hair shows some light resistance to the blade. Dont slice, just press a little. If it cuts the hair it's sharp, if it doesnt, it isnt.

PS - I agree with Dave, that 3 finger thing is a daft way to test an edge and is just inviting the flow of blood. But still each to his own and the Darwin awards are given freely.