Quote:
Originally Posted by Crex
The "end all" test is using the knife for it's intended design use - over and over and over and over - ad infinitum. If it doesn't do what it's supposed to, then the maker did something wrong.
|
This ^^ is sort of where I am. Now, please do not misunderstand from my OP, I am not against testing. In fact I do most of the tests as mentioned and as Ray suggests. My point to all this is newbies are often given the advice,
"cut a bunch of cardboard, whittle 2 x 4's, cut hemp rope, baton through some hardwood, brass rod...and then break it and "read" the grain. This is the "standard"."
My point is, what IS the standard, or A standard? How MANY cuts through cardboard? How MANY cuts through rope? Can the brass rod actually leave the tip of a blade bent if it is sharpened at too shallow of an angle, even though the HT is good? What do I expect when batoning through hardwood?
At what point can the edge dull and still be "good"? Or can the edge never become dull?
And finally, break the blade and "read" the grain? (Good tip above about comparing it to a broken file. THAT is useful and something a newb can do and relate to)
Bottom line. I realize at the end of the day, we each have to determine our own guidlines and criteria of whether our knives "pass" our own testing according to what we expect of them. When newbies are offered advice it seems to me there should be some standard of pass/fail, some "jumping off point" rather than just arbitrary suggestions, and there doesn't seem to be.