The Sharpest Knife Contest in Sydney 2018

[KnifeGrinders]

Do Australians know how to sharpen knives? Yes, I think so. This is quite the knife sharpening story KG. The only knife story that I know of that would compare is the professional job that you and Michael at Australian Knife Magazine do in putting these contests on. Simply one more huge success for both of you! This is the sort of thing that makes an industry grow and does so in many ways. First and foremost it generates interest and sets the bar. Now other sharpeners know what is possible and they can gauge their efforts against those achieved across the world. My hat is off to the winners for their remarkable edges and to Knife Grinders and Australian Knife Magazine for putting together a really well run contest. My personal thanks to those who participated and especially to those who made it happen!

Thank you Mike very much, for your amazing instruments and support.
Does it amaze you guys as much as me that  thanks to BESS we can compare sharpness of knives in the American, UK and Australian sharpness contests!

Funnily enough, in the non-kitchen knives category, the Australian winner of 40 BESS is also an Opinel Carbone as the Opinel Carbone that won the Knives UK sharpest knife contest at 153 BESS.

In our Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne knife shows winning knives are under 50 BESS (i.e. sharper than DE razors).
Among the custom-made knives, about a dozen of knives scored under 100 BESS in the Sydney Australian knife show, and many dozens in the 160-200 BESS range (i.e. of the utility blade sharpness).
The next knife show and the sharpness contest is in Perth in February.

When Australian knife people talk about sharpness, they talk BESS numbers simply because it has become an international language of edge sharpness, and are understood in the Americas, UK and Europe, Asia, everywhere.

[grepper]

Mr. KG exclaimed, "Does it amaze you guys as much as me that  thanks to BESS we can compare sharpness of knives in the American, UK and Australian sharpness contests!"

I completely agree.  Not only that, before Mr. Mike's sharpness testers there really has not been any reasonable way to measure sharpness at all, which would make sharpness contests a highly subjective event at best.  Judges would have to sit around and argue if knife A cut paper better than knife B, etc.  It would be a joke.

The BESS has indeed become a world-wide standard, revolutionized sharpening and the understanding of what it means.  That's quite an accomplishment.  Pretty cool Mr. Mike!

[KnifeGrinders]

Mr. KG exclaimed, "Does it amaze you guys as much as me that  thanks to BESS we can compare sharpness of knives in the American, UK and Australian sharpness contests!"

I completely agree.  Not only that, before Mr. Mike's sharpness testers there really has not been any reasonable way to measure sharpness at all, which would make sharpness contests a highly subjective event at best.  Judges would have to sit around and argue if knife A cut paper better than knife B, etc.  It would be a joke.

The BESS has indeed become a world-wide standard, revolutionized sharpening and the understanding of what it means.  That's quite an accomplishment.  Pretty cool Mr. Mike!

Only because I've seen cases of acute allergy on some other forums to word-grouping BESS and standard, for the time being I prefer to say world-wide language of sharpness - but yes, BESS is an internationally recognized standard.
I also find it pretty cool to be able to chat with a living founder of a new standard and inventor of the most popular sharpness tester in the world.
And mate, these PT50 series are unbreakable, I won't be surprised if my grandson will still be using the very first tester I got from Mr. Mike B. in the year he patented it.

[Bud]

You did a great job with your knife contest post Knife Grinders. Really nice! Just face facts gentlemen. BESS hasn't been around long enough to be everybody's standard. These things take decades and longer. Doesn't matter much to me how long it takes because it's my standard right now and a whole lot more people's every year. Cutting up a piece of toilet paper may be someone else's standard and if so, I wouldn't say a word about it to them. If somebody gives you any grief about it Knife Grinders you should just smile and offer to help remove the stick that's stuck up their rear.

[EOU]

We're still laughing here concerning your medical assistance advice to KG Bud but your point is well taken. While we don't claim to be experts in the "standards" world we are very familiar with it having dealt with it from both the scientific and engineering point of view extensively during our careers.  Scientific and engineering test standards are a good thing, not bad, but like most things where some people spend their working lives in a very small world, they seem to often lose sight of the forest for the trees. Most new measurement methodologies spend years and years in general use before they catch the eye of an ISO or NIST committee. A good example would be the Rockwell Hardness Test. While it was invented in the early teens and sold in the thousands during the twenties it didn't receive standards recognition until the mid-thirties and even then the "standard" was little more than an operating manual. What drove standardization and acceptance of the Rockwell? The fact that thousands of users had been using it successfully for many years. Your assertion that the BESS is "your standard" is well taken. It's also well taken by many others and they are supported by definition as well. Here is something we lifted from the BESSU website that speaks to the common  definition of "standard".
 
Merriam Webster Dictionary - "something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example."
 
Oxford Dictionary - "an idea or thing used as a measure, norm, or measure in comparative evaluations." 
 
Most standards are driven by the industry associations and guilds that they emanate out of. These sorts of associations are very scattered in the knife industry at this time and this is why BESS, is very much a grassroots sort of effort. If the sharpened edge world, at some future point, demands formal standardization then we imagine they shall have it.

[KnifeGrinders]

My trophy from the Show














A 1080/15N20 feather Damascus Gyuto with a carved antler handle forged by Jason Towball Knives, Portland NSW Australia.

I've named the knife Styx - that Greek mythology river between the underworld and the world of the living, the damascus pattern like many streams of our lives running to the tip where the lives end. The porous core of the deer antler matches the skulls decay.

[grepper]

That's an amazing knife. That blade is cool! He is also a very talented carver! I wonder how long it took him to do the handle.