Testing Some Inexpensive Knives

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me2

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I have been interested in testing some less expensive knives for a while, so about 6 months ago, I bought a Chicago Cutlery Partoku from the local grocery store for $6.

After using it in the kitchen for a while, I decided to sharpen it and see how much cardboard it could cut.

Last weekend the test was involuntarily ended. I tested by cutting cardboard boxes into strips about 1/2" wide with the full edge length, minus about 1/2" at the heel, which somehow didn't get sharpened. Sharpening was done at 12°/side with a hand applied microbevel roughly 15°/side. Sharpening was done on a Norton Economy stone, finishing with the fine side. Sharpness was checked by slicing loose leaf notebook paper, and by folding the paper in half lengthwise and cutting it while standing it on the corner of a table.

So, after cutting 1 km of cardboard, the edge would still slice paper and cut a folded piece just sitting on the table. The fun ended after my wife found the knife and started using it for heaven knows what, including a trip through the dishwasher.
 
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do you want to kill knife industry , man ? :D
Inexpensive knives with high quality are poisonous to the industry , take it easy .

i found my GI TANTO cuts like cray and the retention on it is not bad , what's wrong to the knife , me2?
 
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No. She doesn't know. I was aiming for a mile of cardboard, but there's no point in it after her dishwashering it and cutting on plates and whatever else.
 
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me2 said:
So, after cutting 1 km of cardboard, the edge would still slice paper and cut a folded piece just sitting on the table. The fun ended after my wife found the knife and started using it for heaven knows what, including a trip through the dishwasher.
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1 km?

It passed the test
 
Gave me a chuckle, me2--thank you.

Many years ago I decided I would find which of my knives had the best steel, which to me meant which would take the best edge and hold it the longest. I sharpened up all of my blades, including stuff like ATS34, 440C, David Boye's dendritic steel, a forged 52100 mastersmith blade, a blade in CPM 10V, one in CPM 420V (now S90V), one in Stellite 6K and various and sundry others.

I was going to cut ½" sisal rope until each knife would no longer cut cleanly through the rope, using just a 2" length of edge on each knife blade to make the competition "fair".

I decided to use an inexpensive production folder with "brand X" steel as a control blade, to see how far I could go with a "garden variety" steel. At 100 cuts I could not determine that the cutting action was even beginning to slow down. I envisioned how long I would be cutting to try and dull some of my better blades, how much rope that would take and the level of effort and time required. I put the project on hold and never got around to finishing it up.

In the intervening years I’ve realized on some elementary level how much thought goes into the work of people like you, Cliff Stamp and Jim Ankerson, to identify and isolate the many different parameters affecting edge retention, including not only steel but geometry, edge finish, heat treat and hardness. It’s comically obvious how pointless my exercise had been. Probably the one valid thing I learned was that any “modern” blade steel was apt to hold an edge well beyond what I considered adequate for my needs.

I’m still something of a steel snob—just not as insufferably so. :)
 
Hey Will. How's it going? I'm pretty sure that had the wife not reclaimed the knife, it would have made a mile of cardboard. If it weren't for the ceramic plate interference that is. I've had my eye on another cheap blade from the local grocery. I think I'll get it next week and see how it does. Its $7. I came to the same conclusion as you when I tested some Krupp stainless and some S30V.

Yepimonfire, there has to be a reason for our differences. I always lean toward a sharpening issue, but that's just cause its the easiest to test.
 
Interesting test, thanks! Any idea of what kind of steel it was and approx. dimensions/geometry?
 
The blade is 0.055" thick, 12°/side back bevel with a ~15°/side apex bevel. Thickness behind the eedge is around 0.010", give or take. Nice small kitchen knife size 5" blade with about 4.5" sharpened. Hollow ground with grantons. Ultimately, my plan is to sharpen it flat on the stone along the hollow, like a straight razor. Just taking it in stages. Next is 7/10 dps.
 
As a continuation of this thread, I recently cleaned out some of the garage. This involved breaking down some boxes left there since Christmas. I used my trusty Cold Steel Scalper in Carbon V steel, which I bought from Smokey Mountain Knife Works about 18 years ago for the princely sum of $15.00. I replaced the handle with cherry wood and flared brass tube rivet, and rebeveled the edge to 12 degrees/side with a 15 degree per side (dps) microbevel from the Sharpmaker Medium triangles. At the start of the test, the edge would treetop arm hair.

After cutting about 1300 feet of cardboard, over half of it double ply, and doing some miscellaneous light yard work, the edge still cut folded standing notebook paper and would slice curly thin slices of notebook paper. I ran out of cardboard and went ahead and resharpened it tonight. Another blade like this one, bought at the same time from SMKW, was hardness tested and came back about 60 HRc, tested on the handle. I really like this knife, and it's one of my favorites in my collection, so I don't use it much for testing. It was nice to see it was still able to do what I needed without issues.
 
me2 said:
As a continuation of this thread, I recently cleaned out some of the garage. This involved breaking down some boxes left there since Christmas. I used my trusty Cold Steel Scalper in Carbon V steel, which I bought from Smokey Mountain Knife Works about 18 years ago for the princely sum of $15.00. I replaced the handle with cherry wood and flared brass tube rivet, and rebeveled the edge to 12 degrees/side with a 15 degree per side (dps) microbevel from the Sharpmaker Medium triangles. At the start of the test, the edge would treetop arm hair.

After cutting about 1300 feet of cardboard, over half of it double ply, and doing some miscellaneous light yard work, the edge still cut folded standing notebook paper and would slice curly thin slices of notebook paper. I ran out of cardboard and went ahead and resharpened it tonight. Another blade like this one, bought at the same time from SMKW, was hardness tested and came back about 60 HRc, tested on the handle. I really like this knife, and it's one of my favorites in my collection, so I don't use it much for testing. It was nice to see it was still able to do what I needed without issues.
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That Cold Steel knife has 50100B steel, the same steel used in Becker knives. Good stuff.
 
Will York said:
Gave me a chuckle, me2--thank you.

Probably the one valid thing I learned was that any “modern” blade steel was apt to hold an edge well beyond what I considered adequate for my needs.
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The above is probably true for most people.
 
I started with another cheap blade last night, a 4" blade Santoku from the local Publix grocery store, their house brand of knife. I think I'm going to switch to 3/8" manilla rope instead of cardboard. Last night and part of this evening was spent resharpening it after some kitchen use. The edge was previously rebeveled to 12 degrees per side with a ~15 degree per side microbevel. Sharpening was done on the Norton Economy stone coarse then fine side.

A note about these three blades and sharpening. It takes less than five minutes to go from end of test dull to hair whittling sharp on the Norton stone. It's almost like cheating its so fast and easy. I got the Publix knife this sharp last night and half the reason I resharpened tonight was just to see if it could be repeated. No problem.

Also a note about these cheap knives and build quality. The Chicago Cutlery and Publix knives were noticeably warped, to the point that sharpening was affected to some degree, though minor. The CS Scalper is straight as far as I can tell. The kitchen knives will also form orange rust in small, distinct spots after a trip through the dishwasher. No big deal, but it may bother some users. Compared to the CS (Carbon V), naturally they are worlds ahead in rust resistance.
 
dingy said:
do you want to kill knife industry , man ? :D
Inexpensive knives with high quality are poisonous to the industry , take it easy .

i found my GI TANTO cuts like cray and the retention on it is not bad , what's wrong to the knife , me2?
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Sorry. Didn't notice this earlier. I'm not sure what you mean. The knife edge was dull and dented after a trip through the dishwasher and cutting some vegetables on a ceramic plate, if that's what you mean.
 
me2 said:
Sorry. Didn't notice this earlier. I'm not sure what you mean. The knife edge was dull and dented after a trip through the dishwasher and cutting some vegetables on a ceramic plate, if that's what you mean.
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hi , me2 , i love cheap things , especially when they comes with good quality .

i like what you did , do you found out some cheap knives with good quality yet ?


ps: As i observed for a long time , cheap knives was not welcome here ,and few people will interested in you tests on cheap knves here.
 
My favorite is still the Cold Steel Scalper. That has to do with handle comfort, edge holding, handle comfort, cutting ability, etc. I'd like to continue the testing with the Publix knife, but haven't had time lately. There are many different opinions on what is still sharp after testing a knife, and this is why I give an easily replicated test such as slicing common notebook paper.
 
There is a reason why a thin machete keeps on cutting vegetation. There is a reason why a thin knife can keep on cutting. Same reason. Nice test. But it speaks more to the thickness of the blade and geometry than the steel type.

Dingy, no one is starting crap in this thread except you. give it a rest man. I like my GI tanto as well.
 
Cobalt said:
There is a reason why a thin machete keeps on cutting vegetation. There is a reason why a thin knife can keep on cutting. Same reason. Nice test. But it speaks more to the thickness of the blade and geometry than the steel type.

Dingy, no one is starting crap in this thread except you. give it a rest man. I like my GI tanto as well.
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Hi cobalt , there must be some misunderstanding here , cuz my English is not very well.

i am not a Thorn ， and do not make fun of me2 , i know this guy for years.;)

i come here and said above , i like what me2 did that testing on cheap knives, cuase i have some knives that they are chaep and performed ok.

many years ago , i got a set of antario old hickory knives , and those cheap carbon steel knives retented really well.

Cobalt and me2, i got a Opinel 8# made of carbon steel recently , i will try this little knife
BTW , it costs me 15 Bucks in China .
 
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Cobalt said:
There is a reason why a thin machete keeps on cutting vegetation. There is a reason why a thin knife can keep on cutting. Same reason. Nice test. But it speaks more to the thickness of the blade and geometry than the steel type.
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I have several knives with very thin blades, less than 1/32". This test was set up in a way to minimize the effects of geometry and the sharpness test of cutting paper relies almost solely on the apex sharpness, not the geometry behind the very cutting edge. Those thin knives will still cut carrots when dull, but will not slice paper. My machetes will still cut thumb thick branches but cannot clip the top off a blade of grass or slice paper when dull. If you want to cut cardboard, rope, or some other standard and readily available material until the blades won't slice paper, nearly any steel will do it for a LONG time. Prep 2 or 3 days worth of meals on a ceramic plate and run the knife through the dish washer each time and no steel will stay sharp for long.
 
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