OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:45 pm
Dan In MI wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:17 am
I use receipt paper and mail-order catalogs. There is a certain conglomerate who sends catalogs faster than I can slice them up!
I similarly use the frequent, redundant, and wasteful NRA mailings to do the slice test.
Great idea OC! It seems within a month of renewing my NRA membership I start getting renewal notices. It's becoming so annoying that I don't renew my membership until they send me a discounted offer to renew after my membership lapses. They would have a lot more money to spend on legislation if they stop sending out all the mailers, and buying cheap Chinese knives as a premium!
To stay on topic, I test larger knives on a tightly rolled piece of old blue jeans material, about 3/8 in diameter. It's tough material and not easily cut unless the edge is sharp. If the edge will cut through the blue jean material cleanly, without a lot of pressure, it is sharp. Often times blade thickness works against this test, but it will tell you if the edge is not sharp, even with a thick blade. You can definitely tell if the blade is not grabbing and cutting the material.
Regarding testing sharpness on tomatoes or other vegetables / fruit; that will indeed give you a good indicator of the knives sharpness, but be sure to clean the blade well afterwards with soap and water because the acid in a tomato or other fruits will definitely affect the edge, especially with carbon steel. The Henckles rep told me many years ago that the juice of a tomato will even a stainless knife.
Many times I find that a knife doesn't need to be sharpened, only cleaned. I use a spray called
Blade and Bit Cleaner to clean knife blades before sharpening and generally also after sharpening. I was amazed to find that many knives have a layer of food or other particles on them. Often just cleaning the blade restores 80 to 90% of the sharpness. I don't like to remove metal unless I have to. A cleaning with Blade and Bit Cleaner and stropping if necessary takes care of most of my kitchen knives