Does anyone check their knives with Bess scores?

[Manchez]

I recently acquired a BESS tester.

This was on a PT50A Industrial using
test media (which scores 20% lower)

Scores were in the double digits after a touch up.
I lap/stropped and ended up with a low score.
imagine that after the first cut this knife will be back into
the double digits or potentially higher.

This is my SG2 work knife Shibata Battleship.
I keep other knives on hand finished
at lower grits depending on task.

Does anyone check their knives with Bess scores?

 

[jedy617]

me

 

[bsfsu]

I've got a PT50B.

 

[mengwong]

If you push cut straight down without wiggling or slicing, what number do you get?

 

[Manchez]

If you push cut straight down without wiggling or slicing, what number do you get?

That is a good question.

Unfortunately, I used this knife to prepare food
and can not replicate the exact
test using a push cut.

I will try the test again at some point and will share
the difference in numbers when and when not
using the knife fulcrum with a push cut.

 

[jedy617]

I was going to say that number is kinda wild... Not sure about that texhnique. My knives are parallel when doing the cut, not a fulcrum like that. My best ive seen I think from mine is 60ish? I consider anything 150 and under extremely sharp. Anything up to like 300 is fine for me in the kitchen.

 

[Kawa]

I use the PT50B
I use the test medium (wire in a round box), not the clips.

I assume you are not allowed to 'cut' the wire. The bess tester is ment to measure the amount of force needed to cut the medium, measured in grams. So no wiggling or slicing, just a straight push down.

I measure at 3 points, tip, mid and heel and I take the average of that as 'my score' for that knife.

My best score is 90 for my Yoshikane bunka in white2 (really thin knife), finished on a kitayama 8k.
My other personal good knives mostly end up between 100 and 140.
When doing a really scrappy knife, i'm happy if I end up in the 200-250 range.

I also find the chart that comes with it really accurate. Around 100 you can start to cut hanging hairs.

 

[Kawa]

It's a fun toy for me. I don't use it for confirmation (you aready know when a knife is sharp) and I certainly don't use it with every knife.
My level of sharpening is that I don't always end up with the same consistent perfect results, so when I think I did a really good job, I'm curious how well I did.

 

[mengwong]

Yeah, I only really get mine out when I’m procrastinating really, really hard on something. Or when trying to characterize a new knife/steel/thinning.

Usually a thinning + sharpening progression through SG500 SG2000 SG8000 SG16000 gets me to a result in the 90–110 range. Bulk wire, not clips.

Then, annoyingly, diamond pasted strop goes further to 70–100.

Next time I want to reproduce the “gets sharper after board contact” experiments from
http://knifegrinders.com.au/SET/Chopping_Boards.pdf

 

[mengwong]

Not sure about that texhnique

I do use the magnetic fulcrum gadget – I think the correct technique is shown at


Some people go too fast


Some people go handheld which in my mind invalidates the test due to micro-sawing


That last video, the dude definitely knows how to sharpen, so he’s only hurting his own credibility by running fast and loose.

 

[Kawa]

I don't use the magnet.
I try to keep a 90 degree agle as steady as possible. I want a straight push down. An other way to describe it, use the direction gravity naturally goes.

When you use the magnet, like in video 1, you kind of make a circular motion into the test medium. The more you measure towards the heel, the stronger this effect is. This gives you an other angle of impact with the test medium. Since the wire isn't fixed for 100%, you might make a small slicing motion, I don't know.

To be honest, I haven't compared magnet versus no magnet.
I should do this though, for fun

 

[Hockey3081]

I was mildly interested in getting one of these as a toy until I saw this.

 

[mengwong]

It would be a worthy experiment! I really think the lateral stabilization is important to counter slicing due to muscle jitter.

 

[Barmoley]

Would pressing on the end of the handle slowly with one finger be better than using full grip? Seems like it would be more difficult to cheat that way, but maybe not doable?

 

[jedy617]

I don't really trust most others bess scores, I mainly use it to see how I am doing with my own sharpening and how different stones affect my edge. Fun tool for sure

 

[Justinv]

What version are most people buying? The PT50A sounds a bit overkill vs the PT50B; you are getting a more accurate scale and I’m not sure if that is needed. Is the extra resolution of the A useful?

 

[blokey]

I check bass score, put the knife in front of a subwoofer and see which one sound the best

 

[jedy617]

What version are most people buying? The PT50A sounds a bit overkill vs the PT50B; you are getting a more accurate scale and I’m not sure if that is needed. Is the extra resolution of the A useful?

B

 

[bsfsu]

That last video, the dude definitely knows how to sharpen, so he’s only hurting his own credibility by running fast and loose

Yeah that guy does get some stuff sharp but his content is a bit click baity and he looks to clock his Bess. His line of knives are the best out there apparently.

 

[blokey]

Yeah that guy does get some stuff sharp but his content is a bit click baity and he looks to clock his Bess. His line of knives are the best out there apparently.

He’s hurting credibility by selling junks…

 

[captaincaed]

No. I mostly do cutlery and razors, so it doesn’t seem to add much for me.

 

[stringer]

I wouldn't spend the money on one most likely. But if I had one I would be interested in comparing things like zero edge vs micro bevel, 30 degree inclusive micro vs 45 degree inclusive micro, 2k finish vs 12k finish, hard ark vs. coticule, etc.