EDGE STABILITY IN BUTCHER’S AND KITCHEN KNIVES

[Mike Brubacher]

Thanks for the picture KG. That edge does look like it might cut something. As I inferred earlier KG, you don't let any grass grow under your feet. The meat cutting experiment will be an interesting one. We did a little experimenting of our own with two cheap ceramic knives that I grabbed out of the bottom of the knife drawer at home. Quite honestly, didn't even remember that we owned them. I'll post that information to the Edge Retention Part II thread because it's more germane to that topic. Well done KG!

[KnifeGrinders]

See Edge Retention Part II for the ceramic knives testing results.

[EOU]

Congratulations and thanks to KnifeGrinders for their fine and extensive work with the meat processing industry in Australia and New Zealand. Here, in part, is some of the evidence of that work with publication of a great article in "Australian Meat News".

                                                                                      


Great work and thank you very much KG!

[KnifeGrinders]

NELLA Solingen stainless steel knives


A few months ago we started sharpening for Mad Mex, they use this Canada brand of professional knives in all franchises here in Sydney.
First sharpening we did at 12 dps, but as the edge showed poor retention, we did the next sharpening at 13 dps - with still a disappointing outcome.
Had to test it thoroughly and established that the lowest edge angle holding well is 14-15 dps. The customer feedback turned to positive as soon as we sharpened knives at this angle.
The only info about the steel is that it is "Solingen stainless steel".

15 dps is a common sharpening angle in Europe, and is recommended for kitchen knives by many, Tormek including.
We see now that there are grounds for this standard, as well as we know that many other knife brands perform better at an angle lower than that.

There was one more unexpected and therefore interesting finding about the NELLA knives.
Our usual routine of setting edge on #1000 before moving the blade to deburring did not work well with them - we could not get edge sharper than around 300-400 BESS.
For them the best edge sharpness is achieved when the edge is set on #400 and then deburred; furthermore the best sharpness we get on them when deburring with the honing paste of 3-6 micron and not any finer, my attempts to refine the edge with 0.5 micron honing compound only worsen the sharpness score.
Sharpness we get when the edge is set on #400 and deburred at a higher angle with 3-6 micron honing compound falls within 100-130 BESS.

Overall i should admit that encounter with this brand has been quite educational to me. If not for the BESS PT50 sharpness tester I wouldn't be able to quickly solve challenges this brand posed.