Areas of Use and Limitations of the edge sharpness testers

[KnifeGrinders]

One area of limitation I've thought about is the difference in edge type and use vs how the sharpness is measured by the EOU testing equipment.  For example, I tend to do more push cutting during use.  This comes from breaking down boxes when I worked at a grocery store.  For that type of use, high polish and low angle worked well.  This is also the way the EOU testers work, by pushing straight down into a medium and seeing how much effort it takes to cut.  

However, for those that use more of a slicing motion, and coarser edges, it seems it might not be the most representative test.  Don't get me wrong, I've had coarse edges that had very high push cutting sharpness, but it seems it might be like testing a hacksaw by trying to plane a 2 x 4.  I've seen some tests used that were for coarse edge slicing ability, but they are not standardized.

Yours is an interesting observation, and seems very true.
I'd word it for myself that the edge sharpness tester is less suitable to estimate ragged and coarse/rough edges with pronounced toothiness.

[EOU]

Thanks to KnifeGrinders and Me2 for breathing some life into an older thread. It is just as important to us that our customers understand what our instrumentation will do as opposed to what it won't. Both of you are correct in describing, accurately, what both sides of that coin look like. We're big on analogies here and this is a favorite that we've used before; we think of our instrumentation as we do a thermometer. Is temperature the sole determinate in whether we feel comfortable outdoors or not?  How about wind velocity, humidity, and is the sun shining or not? Will we be playing tennis or just sitting on the porch swing? All of these factors contribute to our decision to grab a jacket on the way out the door or not. Same with knives and knife sharpening, plenty of factors to consider before we select or sharpen an edge and thank goodness for that. If one size fit all we wouldn't have much to talk about would we?