Quick note. This video is about analyzing the TEST itself, and what exactly we are testing. Of course heat treatment, and steel matters. And they definitely play a role here as well. However, geometry, is often a game of a few degrees, and a few thousands of an inch in blade thickness, that determines whether a knife survives this kind of test or doesn't. Also, if we start stressing the knife on different axis's we will also get different results, since other factors then come into play. This is just a quick rundown showing that everything may not be as it seems.
@OUTDOORS55 ive had a kme for quite a while now. When I first got it, I ruined a few knives trying to get super small angles with those mirror polished secondary bevels. Turns out cutting simple plastic or cardboard at that level will give you considerable edge damage and dull your razor sharp knives to the point it won't cut at all. Expensive lesson learned.
I was recently speaking with a company that was worried about the strength of the edge with high hrc, and i said basically what you did here if you want your edge to take abuse then play with the geometry but don't run the steel soft to doit
I just started watching your channel about two months ago and I have learned so much that I'm now the designated sharpening woman for my family's ruined blades and I just sort of stumbled into interest in this stuff. I find the science and skill behind it absolutely fascinating, thank you.
I'm less worried about the edge but more that it was hit with a hammer, if its to briddle you could easily snap it in half doing that. You can fix a chipped edge but you can't fix a blade that snapped in half Edit: typo
So if your knife needs to cut a lot of nails in daily use, just use your favorite knife but sharpen it to at least 30°. Thanks again Alex ! *reminds me of a salesmans trick ; demonstrating something that doesn't show what you think it does.
@@Marcus_Shaw that's unironically a good idea, taking a kitchen knife that dulls quite fast due to being in a "everything" drawer and sharpening it at a duller angle can help keep a heavy duty knife sharp for longer, same idea as his video on wire cutters, tell her that one is for cutting bones or opening aluminum bags then, have a well sharpened knife on a separate stand, call it fancy knife or whatever, for cutting veggies, soft meats and the typical stuff
Thank you for clarifying how important edge geometry is and how it’s important to adjust your sharpening angles for the work you intend to do with it. If 1084 is your steel of choice you can have wildly different preforming knives just by changing your secondary bevel sharpening angle.
I feel the same way about makers doing the nail test who haven’t put an edge on the blade yet. If you put an edge on a blade that can push cut paper easily and slice through a free standing cardboard tube after being batoned through the nail, then you definitely have something . Edge geometry is performance oriented, heat treatment and steel choice do play roles.
Excellent! Of course the edge angle has a huge effect on edge retention and cutting ability. They are "opposites" so it is a matter of having the correct compromise for each use case.
We can use the same angle with 3v and different protocols. Lets say we compare the standard crucible protocol vs the low temper protocol. The low temp protocol will reduce the risk at the same angle. So while you are right, geometry does matter. So does the protocol.
Thank you, I saw a video of cutting through a nail and I thought, wow that's a hard steel. Your videos are really educative for those that like knives. Thank you again.
Put ~10°ps on it with a 20°ps micro bevel (true micro). It should hold up and cut easier. 1- destress the edge 2- secondary to 10°ps 3- apex a micro to 20°ps If you do, don’t form a burr. Forming a burr lowers edge retention and you end up with a fatigued and damaged apex on a freshly sharpened knife.
I pretty much said exactly this on a peterbuilt knife channel video the day before yesterday. Its geometry over steel and heat treatment when it comes to failures when chopping thru nails.
I now see why European swords were sharpened to 25° plus angles. The lack of edge damage is impressive and especially important for blades going up against fully armored targets.
People are quick to make the destruction videos so they can have clout of saying “oh it’s a bad heat-treat. Garbage brand” when as you said, geometry has a lot more to do with it.
Look at a cold cut chisel vs a hot cut chisel. A cold cut has a very blunt angle compared to a sharper hot cut chisel. The cold cut angle spreads the pressure across more edge area and moves the material more efficiently. The hot cut chisel can be sharper because its expected to be used on material that has been heated to a degree of softness/maleability. Kitchen knives often have 20°.
man this is something I have really been concerned with. lol what a joke I am 70 yrs old and have never once had the need to cut a nail in half with my knife.
@@1947froggy Rats! You beat me to it, I was going to remind people what the angles are on a cold chisel. But I was thinking 73.5 % of folks won't know what we are talking about.😪
This short video may seem simplistic , but it explains one of the most fundamental concepts of knife sharpening in a way that viewers will always remember.
Totally agreed with you but should the grind of the knife be part of the geometry as well? A convex grind knife might help to split the nail toward the end of cutting, it's kind of demonstrated when the angle was increased to 30 degrees, the nail was not cut through but split by the side of the blade. It would be interesting to include the grind as part of your experiment, e.g. hollow grind so the sides are not affecting the cutting. Great video and appreciate your contribution to the knife community.
Very helpful thanks. Any chance you can do a vid on best angles for knifes in different usages like kitchen, bushcraft, cardboard, hair whittling (not sure if that’s a legitimate use for normal people 😂) etc…
Cheers for painfully pointing this out. I often get modern super duper steel knives with lots of micro chips. to sharpen. I shallow out the bevel angle by a few degrees and problem solved.
So I know this has been "the talk" lately, and I think that context really matters here. Yes, we know a knife isnt designed to go through nails and all that, and that you almost inevitably will ruin the edge. But the failure mode matters here, when you take two similar knives of roughly the same geometry/thickness and one gets some edge damage while the other shatters into pieces 1 inch up the blade then that is (imo) a way too extreme difference in failure for me not to think theres something else going on with the steel here. But yes you are absolutely right on this point. I just think theres more to be said about it.
@@LogisticallyMisrepresented Liiiike the heat treat protocol. Again, the interesting part is HOW it fails, especially when the bits it breaks into has alot of 45 degree angles on it which we have seen in a few cases of this kind of "testing" lately. Larrin Thomas talked about this a while ago, how hardness isnt necessarily an indicator of anything being done correctly because you can overshoot the treatment and still get to the correct hardness, but the structure inside is weak and brittle. I dont know enough to say thats it, but something is going on that is not related to geometry when instead of a chip like shown here, the entire blade just goes into pieces
Yeah theres more to say for sure! Keep in mind though that this is a game of a few degrees and a few thousands of an inch in grind thickness. Literally 2 degrees on the bevel, and a couple thousands on the grind can mean the difference between a broken blade, and one that's completely fine. If you're specifically looking for a knife to cut nails, or mild steel, or whatever, thickness is your best bet. Thats why bolt cutters cut through bolts. I pinned a comment talking about what this video is looking at. Thanks for the comment 👍
Sure, but obviously people aren't carrying knives around town to cut nails with, so their geometry would typically not be optimized for that purpose. The idea behind a constructive test of this type is to compare results between different steels/treats/etc. with geometries that are not optimized for cutting nails (or wire, hardwood knots, or whatever).
I suppose if you're doing the test, to compare two knives that have the same exact geometry, then it would make sense as a test of the respective steels/heat treatments ...and I'd assume that you could compare knives with different combinations of steels and hardnesses, to see how acute they can get, for the same amount of damage? (I'd assume that geometry is the biggest factor, but surely the steel, heat treat, and hardness also play a role)
MagnaCut was the only steel I got to cut trough a nail with thin hollow ground blade, truly amazing. But not much info from that test, and it is ruined by people who do it for no info, just a cheap add. Whittling a nail or a brass rod is a much better test to see edge stability, will it roll or chip. Best steel I tested with that method was Elmax.
Geometry/edge thickness is a major factor in these tests, but when you say that it is the only factor it seems that you are saying that all steels and all heat treatments have the same toughness... Or maybe you are saying that toughness is not a factor at all? This looks like a rare miss for you.
Wish you made it clear heat treatment IS important. Sure, my esee clone will stop chipping when I baton if I just put a 30 degree angle. But why would I do that when my Spyderco Enuff 2 in K390 that is much thinner and has a 17 degree angle but doesn’t chip.
Well now I feel dumb for going for a thin blade and 17 degree angle on some of my last knives. I was so excited for how they cut but I guess the nails are going to win 😢
Hi Alex, wishing you the best of health in 2025! I learn from every video you post and look forward to each one! Thanks!! PS: as we speak I'm sharpening a knife!
I am not too interested in knives.. Watching your videos because you make good videos, and know what you are talking about. One thing I am wondering about is what is the perfect edge angle for different uses? Keep up the good work.
I know mine is sharp enough that when I slipped, I had to get nine stitches. I don’t really care if it cuts a nail. If I need to cut a steel nail, I’ll use a cold chisel or a saw.
Now that I think about it, why are there demonstrations cutting a nail with a knife? Who (in their right mind) would use a knife to cut a nail in the real world?
Yes that would be testing edge stability between different steel/heat treatment of said steel at that specific angle which would give you an result that might be completely different in a different angle :)
It makes sense, if you hammer a straight razor through a nail - expect significant damage. If you take a pair of diagonal cutters with 45° chisel looking ends, it’ll chew through a nail with no issues. Would space age alloys and super steels allow for a slightly smaller angle with no damage? I mean obviously a blade made of ivory soap is going to deform regardless of angle - is there any advantage for the super hard alloys, even if just fleetingly small? I’m thinking you could get away with 29° or 28° angle instead of 30° - or would the advantages be even smaller than that? Cheers!
You were doing awesome right up until your conclusion. Geometry is not the only factor in whether or not your knife will survive cutting nails. Material properties and the quality of steel do absolutely matter. A better way to conclude it is: As the edge gets thinner, material properties become more critical. I would be interested in you testing different metals, all at the same thin geometry to see which one performs best. I suspect metals with high toughness will do the best. Cheers.
Ordered a bunch of stuff (Sharpal 162N, StroppyStuff 0,5 micron, oak wood strop) and had a try on my Böker Plus Talpid (D2) and yeah I don't get shaving sharp or hair whittling sharp but I got some small chips out and learned a lot already!! Can cut paper easier and more effortlessly before tho! That strop was prolly not a good idea (also way too expensive), didn't really look at the size (160х25х11 mm), pretty small already for my folder, way to small for kitchen knives I bet. Can't do the finger/thumb angle finding trick, therefore I'm also not sure what to do about that.
ThankYou. My other peeve is usually Americans need a quality knife to baton or pry lumber. Small wonder why your big manufacturers deliver compromised heat treatments. I would much rather have a chip then a rolled edge.
Quick note. This video is about analyzing the TEST itself, and what exactly we are testing. Of course heat treatment, and steel matters. And they definitely play a role here as well. However, geometry, is often a game of a few degrees, and a few thousands of an inch in blade thickness, that determines whether a knife survives this kind of test or doesn't. Also, if we start stressing the knife on different axis's we will also get different results, since other factors then come into play. This is just a quick rundown showing that everything may not be as it seems.
@OUTDOORS55 ive had a kme for quite a while now. When I first got it, I ruined a few knives trying to get super small angles with those mirror polished secondary bevels. Turns out cutting simple plastic or cardboard at that level will give you considerable edge damage and dull your razor sharp knives to the point it won't cut at all. Expensive lesson learned.
I was recently speaking with a company that was worried about the strength of the edge with high hrc, and i said basically what you did here if you want your edge to take abuse then play with the geometry but don't run the steel soft to doit
Why compromise the heat treat and worsen the performance of your steels just to have a knife with an aesthetically pleasing bevel grind?
@@wolfshield22 who really needs a knife, anyway? we should ban all knives and make society safe again. Let's ban all sharpening supplies too. LOL
@@skippylippy547how you gonna cut your steak?
Exactly 👍
@@skippylippy547 -- You're a British politician, right?
I just started watching your channel about two months ago and I have learned so much that I'm now the designated sharpening woman for my family's ruined blades and I just sort of stumbled into interest in this stuff. I find the science and skill behind it absolutely fascinating, thank you.
Oh god, I can hear the souls of a billion knife nerds screaming out in pain.
LOL!
I screamed out in pain as the knife was pounded through the steel ... then I was impressed that knife did it with a 25degree edge
I'm less worried about the edge but more that it was hit with a hammer, if its to briddle you could easily snap it in half doing that. You can fix a chipped edge but you can't fix a blade that snapped in half
Edit: typo
@@Tryxxor That's an excellent point!
Basically a follow-up to the video where the same edge geometry change fixed the wire cutters that were being damaged by just cutting copper. Nice.
I learned something new once again watching your videos
I always learn something new on this channel. It's great!
Watches everyone run out and resharpen to 30 degrees. 🤣
No nails will be safe.
So if your knife needs to cut a lot of nails in daily use, just use your favorite knife but sharpen it to at least 30°. Thanks again Alex !
*reminds me of a salesmans trick ; demonstrating something that doesn't show what you think it does.
I increase the edge angle on all the knives my wife is likely to use 🤔🤣👍
@@Marcus_Shaw LOL!
@@Marcus_Shaw that's unironically a good idea, taking a kitchen knife that dulls quite fast due to being in a "everything" drawer and sharpening it at a duller angle can help keep a heavy duty knife sharp for longer, same idea as his video on wire cutters, tell her that one is for cutting bones or opening aluminum bags
then, have a well sharpened knife on a separate stand, call it fancy knife or whatever, for cutting veggies, soft meats and the typical stuff
So many people new to knife making got led down the wrong path by the "destructive testing" that they saw on a certain TV show.
It wouldn't have FIRE in the name would it????😉
Thank you for clarifying how important edge geometry is and how it’s important to adjust your sharpening angles for the work you intend to do with it. If 1084 is your steel of choice you can have wildly different preforming knives just by changing your secondary bevel sharpening angle.
This was painfully hard to watch, but very informative. Thanks, dude.
Always favor truth above corporate profits!
Hmmm .... isn't "Truth" against the law now? 🤔
TH-cam bans the truth regularly.
Why do you hate America?
🥴
@@blaiseutube Why do you hate nails?
I feel the same way about makers doing the nail test who haven’t put an edge on the blade yet. If you put an edge on a blade that can push cut paper easily and slice through a free standing cardboard tube after being batoned through the nail, then you definitely have something . Edge geometry is performance oriented, heat treatment and steel choice do play roles.
Either way, chopping a nail isn’t a genuine test of anything. It’s a strawman.
Excellent! Of course the edge angle has a huge effect on edge retention and cutting ability. They are "opposites" so it is a matter of having the correct compromise for each use case.
can ü elaborate a bit on this?
Science teaches us a bunch when we try new things. Great video!!
Thank you for making this video. This should be a mandatory watch for anyone who is into the world of knives.
As always. Just good old straightforward common sense. Thanks again...
Preach brother! Love the simple and easy examples.
Wow. Now this is a vivid result and demonstrates why I enjoy your channel so much. Thanks, Alex!
We can use the same angle with 3v and different protocols. Lets say we compare the standard crucible protocol vs the low temper protocol. The low temp protocol will reduce the risk at the same angle. So while you are right, geometry does matter. So does the protocol.
@@tacticalcenter8658 this is more about analyzing the test than the protocol.
Thank you, I saw a video of cutting through a nail and I thought, wow that's a hard steel. Your videos are really educative for those that like knives. Thank you again.
Put ~10°ps on it with a 20°ps micro bevel (true micro). It should hold up and cut easier.
1- destress the edge
2- secondary to 10°ps
3- apex a micro to 20°ps
If you do, don’t form a burr. Forming a burr lowers edge retention and you end up with a fatigued and damaged apex on a freshly sharpened knife.
Most excellent!!! Thanks for taking the time to do this while you're less than 100%, and I hope you feel better soon.
I pretty much said exactly this on a peterbuilt knife channel video the day before yesterday. Its geometry over steel and heat treatment when it comes to failures when chopping thru nails.
I was waiting for your response to these videos that have also been popping out for me. I knew there was something wrong with those tests. Thanks!
This was primarily in response to a ad i saw running on instagram from a Chinese company trying to sell their "knives". 🙂
Youre a Knife Guru, thats gotta be it. 🙏
This is why I watch your videos, to learn. Thanks
Excellent educational video, geometry v. heat, and Geometry FTW!
I now see why European swords were sharpened to 25° plus angles. The lack of edge damage is impressive and especially important for blades going up against fully armored targets.
You may be able the chance the edge angle. But not the blade geometry. Some people (like me) like robustness over slicing performance
Yep, Can't add material where it's been removed👍
@@OUTDOORS55 yessir. Excellent video.
This was amazing! Awesome video dude!
People are quick to make the destruction videos so they can have clout of saying “oh it’s a bad heat-treat. Garbage brand” when as you said, geometry has a lot more to do with it.
Ty for giving me closure.
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.
Super. Thanks for taking the time and effort to educate us. Very informative.
Great video one of the best I’ve seen in a while… excellent explanation in my opinion
Look at a cold cut chisel vs a hot cut chisel. A cold cut has a very blunt angle compared to a sharper hot cut chisel. The cold cut angle spreads the pressure across more edge area and moves the material more efficiently. The hot cut chisel can be sharper because its expected to be used on material that has been heated to a degree of softness/maleability. Kitchen knives often have 20°.
Great video dude,, awesome to see and definitely very helpful when trying to understand the process.
man this is something I have really been concerned with. lol what a joke I am 70 yrs old and have never once had the need to cut a nail in half with my knife.
I've tried to explain this to end users whom use their knives for things that the knife is not made for.
This is why it's impressive when Carothers does their nail chop tests at 20 DPS.
Carothers compare elmax or 3v vs delta3v and delta elmax at the same angle. The low temper models at the same angle perform better. Ht matters.
Thanks again for another amazing vid
So you're telling me bolt cutters aren't made out of magic!?
Very informative, must be why my cold chisels are always over 25 deg. Happy weekend! Froggy
@@1947froggy Rats! You beat me to it, I was going to remind people what the angles are on a cold chisel. But I was thinking 73.5 % of folks won't know what we are talking about.😪
Good info. Thank you.
Very interesting. You know i gritted my teeth when you cut that nail. Lol
I've never thought about cutting a nail with my pocket knife and I'm not impressed with that test.
This short video may seem simplistic , but it explains one of the most fundamental concepts of knife sharpening in a way that viewers will always remember.
Right. So from now on I'm sharpening all my knives to 30 degrees.
I love this channel exactly for this kind of bullshit checking! You are THE authority on knives imho.
Please review the sharpened best sharpeners when you get a chance thank you
Great illustration. The secret is out now!! 🤣
Cool beans. Knew I was about to learn something when I saw your video pop up.
Totally agreed with you but should the grind of the knife be part of the geometry as well? A convex grind knife might help to split the nail toward the end of cutting, it's kind of demonstrated when the angle was increased to 30 degrees, the nail was not cut through but split by the side of the blade. It would be interesting to include the grind as part of your experiment, e.g. hollow grind so the sides are not affecting the cutting. Great video and appreciate your contribution to the knife community.
Very helpful thanks.
Any chance you can do a vid on best angles for knifes in different usages like kitchen, bushcraft, cardboard, hair whittling (not sure if that’s a legitimate use for normal people 😂) etc…
The more you know
🌠
Awesome video thanks for the information
It's almost like edge geometry matters.
I guess this explains side cutters surviving feats that would be terrifying for a knife.
You will live a long long healthy life because we need your enlightenments 🔪
Cheers for painfully pointing this out. I often get modern super duper steel knives with lots of micro chips. to sharpen. I shallow out the bevel angle by a few degrees and problem solved.
Companies need to heat treat their nails better.
LOL!
Is round really the best geometry?
So I know this has been "the talk" lately, and I think that context really matters here. Yes, we know a knife isnt designed to go through nails and all that, and that you almost inevitably will ruin the edge. But the failure mode matters here, when you take two similar knives of roughly the same geometry/thickness and one gets some edge damage while the other shatters into pieces 1 inch up the blade then that is (imo) a way too extreme difference in failure for me not to think theres something else going on with the steel here.
But yes you are absolutely right on this point. I just think theres more to be said about it.
Like what.?
@@LogisticallyMisrepresented Liiiike the heat treat protocol. Again, the interesting part is HOW it fails, especially when the bits it breaks into has alot of 45 degree angles on it which we have seen in a few cases of this kind of "testing" lately.
Larrin Thomas talked about this a while ago, how hardness isnt necessarily an indicator of anything being done correctly because you can overshoot the treatment and still get to the correct hardness, but the structure inside is weak and brittle. I dont know enough to say thats it, but something is going on that is not related to geometry when instead of a chip like shown here, the entire blade just goes into pieces
Yeah theres more to say for sure! Keep in mind though that this is a game of a few degrees and a few thousands of an inch in grind thickness. Literally 2 degrees on the bevel, and a couple thousands on the grind can mean the difference between a broken blade, and one that's completely fine. If you're specifically looking for a knife to cut nails, or mild steel, or whatever, thickness is your best bet. Thats why bolt cutters cut through bolts. I pinned a comment talking about what this video is looking at. Thanks for the comment 👍
Am I the only one left wanting to see his dollar store kitchen knife sharpened to 30 degrees and hammered through?
or the ozark trail d2 crap…
What about the brass wire test?
I may start to keep my EDC at 25 degrees instead of 20 now
I always use my knives to make custom length carpentry nails.
Loved the slap of all the mouth pieces selling blade snake oil.
"Kidz, geometry izz gooad mmmkay. Mmmkay." South Park.
That's not fair, using logic to battle internet myth....
He's only using some examples but not the ones that prove him wrong in some cases where ht matters.
Same reason why an Axe is 45deg... edge retention for when you slip and hit granite ;-)
Thanks for the video
Sure, but obviously people aren't carrying knives around town to cut nails with, so their geometry would typically not be optimized for that purpose. The idea behind a constructive test of this type is to compare results between different steels/treats/etc. with geometries that are not optimized for cutting nails (or wire, hardwood knots, or whatever).
If you try cutting nails outside a content setting you got far bigger problems than a nicked knife
THANK YOU! I've seen these and it bugs the crap out of me, lol
Good test
I suppose if you're doing the test, to compare two knives that have the same exact geometry, then it would make sense as a test of the respective steels/heat treatments ...and I'd assume that you could compare knives with different combinations of steels and hardnesses, to see how acute they can get, for the same amount of damage? (I'd assume that geometry is the biggest factor, but surely the steel, heat treat, and hardness also play a role)
MagnaCut was the only steel I got to cut trough a nail with thin hollow ground blade, truly amazing. But not much info from that test, and it is ruined by people who do it for no info, just a cheap add. Whittling a nail or a brass rod is a much better test to see edge stability, will it roll or chip. Best steel I tested with that method was Elmax.
This is why i sharpen by knives to a 90 degree exclusive.
Geometry/edge thickness is a major factor in these tests, but when you say that it is the only factor it seems that you are saying that all steels and all heat treatments have the same toughness... Or maybe you are saying that toughness is not a factor at all? This looks like a rare miss for you.
Wish you made it clear heat treatment IS important. Sure, my esee clone will stop chipping when I baton if I just put a 30 degree angle. But why would I do that when my Spyderco Enuff 2 in K390 that is much thinner and has a 17 degree angle but doesn’t chip.
@@bboyshr6 not saying its not important. We are analyzing the test itself here. Not necessarily the knives
I was wrong again I thought it was about HT good video
LMAO! Cant wait for peterbuiltknifeguy to show up for this video. " BuCk uSEd 2 b AbLe 2 dO tHiS!"
Well now I feel dumb for going for a thin blade and 17 degree angle on some of my last knives. I was so excited for how they cut but I guess the nails are going to win 😢
Hi Alex, wishing you the best of health in 2025! I learn from every video you post and look forward to each one! Thanks!! PS: as we speak I'm sharpening a knife!
What are we gonna cut next? Diamonds?
I am not too interested in knives.. Watching your videos because you make good videos, and know what you are talking about.
One thing I am wondering about is what is the perfect edge angle for different uses?
Keep up the good work.
@@elnes66 theres no perfect angle. It depuon what you're doing. Thanks for watching! Really appreciate it👊
I know mine is sharp enough that when I slipped, I had to get nine stitches. I don’t really care if it cuts a nail. If I need to cut a steel nail, I’ll use a cold chisel or a saw.
Now that I think about it, why are there demonstrations cutting a nail with a knife? Who (in their right mind) would use a knife to cut a nail in the real world?
Nobody. This test is pointless
Edge damage might be minimal like what you might get by hitting a staple cutting up a box.
"Look how strong that knife is, it cut through a nail without ANY damage" is the usual explanation
Lets say you test 10 knives all at a 20° angle, some perfom better and some perform worse, surely thats a test of better quality vs worse quality?
Yes that would be testing edge stability between different steel/heat treatment of said steel at that specific angle which would give you an result that might be completely different in a different angle :)
Always learn something new and educational watching Alex's channel. Cheers and best wishes for the New Year. MikeR.
It makes sense, if you hammer a straight razor through a nail - expect significant damage.
If you take a pair of diagonal cutters with 45° chisel looking ends, it’ll chew through a nail with no issues.
Would space age alloys and super steels allow for a slightly smaller angle with no damage? I mean obviously a blade made of ivory soap is going to deform regardless of angle - is there any advantage for the super hard alloys, even if just fleetingly small?
I’m thinking you could get away with 29° or 28° angle instead of 30° - or would the advantages be even smaller than that?
Cheers!
You were doing awesome right up until your conclusion. Geometry is not the only factor in whether or not your knife will survive cutting nails. Material properties and the quality of steel do absolutely matter. A better way to conclude it is: As the edge gets thinner, material properties become more critical. I would be interested in you testing different metals, all at the same thin geometry to see which one performs best. I suspect metals with high toughness will do the best. Cheers.
Read the pinned comment 👍
Ordered a bunch of stuff (Sharpal 162N, StroppyStuff 0,5 micron, oak wood strop) and had a try on my Böker Plus Talpid (D2) and yeah I don't get shaving sharp or hair whittling sharp but I got some small chips out and learned a lot already!! Can cut paper easier and more effortlessly before tho!
That strop was prolly not a good idea (also way too expensive), didn't really look at the size (160х25х11 mm), pretty small already for my folder, way to small for kitchen knives I bet. Can't do the finger/thumb angle finding trick, therefore I'm also not sure what to do about that.
Another interesting video!
ThankYou. My other peeve is usually Americans need a quality knife to baton or pry lumber. Small wonder why your big manufacturers deliver compromised heat treatments. I would much rather have a chip then a rolled edge.
Thats fine I have an angle grinder
rockstar vid 🌞
Can you do a similar test with a convex grind. Thanks
What in your opinion would be the optimal thickness behind edge and edge angle on a 12" all around bowie knife?
Long answer is : "Bc Alex is a sharpening gawd...."
Cleavers aren't beveled at 30-35 degrees for nothing!