NickZac
Ultimate Member
I used to test using hair and cardboard for a while, but I would wind up with patches of hair missing on my legs and arms and it would look like I was molting. I did the fingernail tests for a while but I honestly was never able to gauge very well with them. Same with rubber band testing.
I've settled on paper for now even tho it's a test that will always favor an edge with some degree of micro-serrations for the bite, so I'm not thrilled with it as an assessment. This is my XM-18 sharpened after I rolled the edge pretty badly cutting wire...as a 'tactical' folder with a ridiculously thick blade and a thicky thick 45 degree bevel, it's not really made to be a slicer but I can still get it to have pretty reasonable scary sharp on an EP. For me, it is sharp when I can run the blade gently down the edge of paper and it takes a small stand off that is so thin that the sharp blade causes it to curl up.
So what do you do to gauge sharpness?
I've settled on paper for now even tho it's a test that will always favor an edge with some degree of micro-serrations for the bite, so I'm not thrilled with it as an assessment. This is my XM-18 sharpened after I rolled the edge pretty badly cutting wire...as a 'tactical' folder with a ridiculously thick blade and a thicky thick 45 degree bevel, it's not really made to be a slicer but I can still get it to have pretty reasonable scary sharp on an EP. For me, it is sharp when I can run the blade gently down the edge of paper and it takes a small stand off that is so thin that the sharp blade causes it to curl up.
So what do you do to gauge sharpness?