How sharp is sharp

[keswickbaber]

Just want to know when you no when your are sharp. I no there are degrees in sharpen.I try to keep them sharp enought to shave the hair on your arms. I put a leather belt on my grinder. Its does pretty good, but scare might burn the tools edge.

[Cottonwood]

Keswickbaber, there are about as many ideas of how to check to see if a knife/tool is sharp as there are ideas on how to sharpen a knife or tool. Shaving the hair on your arm does show that a tool is sharp but it is not necessarily sharpend in a way that will make it a good woodcarving instrument.
The configuration of the bevel of the edge has more to with the efficiency of the tool for carving than almost any other. If the bevel is rounded and not flat, it still may shave hair but it does not carve well in my estimation.

There are lots of "tests" favored by different people out there that, to them, tells them they have a sharp tool. The
"tests" can range any where from sliding the edge down your fingernail ,to see if it digs in, to holding a sheet of paper by your index finger and thumb and seeing if the edge will cut the paper as it is pushed down through the paper. I usually judge the sharpness of an edge by the ease it goes through the wood and if in cutting across the grain it leaves a shiny cut. Some others may have different methods but that is what I rely on.

[Kenny_S]

Well said Millard. I use the edge of a piece of scrap basswood and see how well it slices through the wood. No drag, then I feel it is sharp. A little drag, then back to either stropping it till there's no drag or reconfigureing the bevel.
But then, that is just me.

[Larry Marshall]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

paper. I usually judge the sharpness of an edge by the ease it goes through the wood and if in cutting across the grain it leaves a shiny cut.

I agree with this method. Sharp should be determined the context of use. If you can cut end grain and get a smooth, shiny cut, the blade is sharp. And you can keep your arm hair that way :-)

[Claude]

Hold the knife/gouge under a light so the light is reflected from the polished bevel into your eyes. Slowly rotate the tool until edge is pointing straight at you, and continue until you see the light reflected from the back of the tool. Do this a couple of times. If at any point, you see some light reflected from the "sharp" edge, it isn't sharp enough. A truly sharp blade will not reflect light from the edge into your eyes.

This says nothing about the bevel being appropriate; that's assumed...

Claude

[macktruck]

Like the posts above I gauge it by how well it cuts a scrap wood across the grain.
Macktruck

[CarverFromNoWhere]

My method is cutting end grain on extra finely grained basswood or cedar, if it make a clean cut repeatedly in end grain it's sharp. If it's dull or less sharp you will see a cloudy looking cut and if it has nicks in it will leave little white stripes along the path. The properly sharpened tool slices, shears, and cleanly cuts the end grain, if it has resistance caused by minute fractures or scratches ect. the best way I have found is this test.
Just my opinion and my way of testing, I don't consider being able to shave hair sharp.
Carl

[Blunt]

I'm new to whittling but have been sharpening for over 30 yrs. and as stated I have found sharp is when it cuts what you need to cut easily and well. I convex all my whittling knives and i have had good success converting my chisels to a convex edge. I carve for 1 to 2 hrs a day sometimes more and all i have done for over a week is strop the edge on some news print. Of course when I run out of basswood the amount of sharpening will increase )