No man is prophet in his own country?

[rob streeper]

I had a look through the Bessex forum that Knifegrinder posted above and the closest I see to technical evaluations are these very superficial threads.

Victorinox sharpening experiment

Lasting Cut 8" Chef's Knife

Duplicating the Lasting Cut Chef's Knife Edge

Blade Angle Finder

Work Sharp Cullinary

I'd never heard of removing burrs from knives by rubbing on blue jeans.

[KnifeGrinders]

For those who may be interested,

Our study on traditional sharpness tests coupled with the edge apex width in microns and BESS score is coming in the November issue of the Australian Knife Magazine.
The Australian Knife Magazine is available via subscription at www.isubscribe.com.au
Individual issues of the AKM can also be bought through eBay.

Our full-scale study on honing knives on paper wheels is scheduled for publishing in the December issue of the US Sharpener’s Report.
The findings we made in that study using Mike Brubacher’s sharpness testers coincide with Tormek engineers approach to honing chisels on leather wheel.

[BobL]

The Australian Knife Magazine is available via subscription at www.isubscribe.com.au

Our full-scale study on honing knives on paper wheels is scheduled for publishing in the December issue of the US Sharpener’s Report.

Interested yes, but not at $32 for the AKM subscription, and US$26 for the USSR.

[FenceFurniture]

This is nothing but a Sales thread, and has been reported as such.

[rob streeper]

I did too.

[FenceFurniture]

Lappa, the little margin I have from selling these instrumets isn't even worth the label "marketing" - some beer money, maybe.

Doesn't matter if you are selling at a loss...it's still inappropriate marketing.

You can hire the BESS sharpness tester from us for a cost of a pack of Marlboro, play with it for a month, and either return or keep...

It is available right here in Australia, can be yours for a handful of peanuts

$250 is a Handful of peanuts? A packet of Marlies costs $40?

Yer full of it!

[elanjacobs]

I'm with the others. We want data. So far all I've seen here is anecdotal evidence (at best) and marketing hype.

This forum might cater to hobbyists, but there are many people here with decades of experience across a wide variety of industries who see straight through the buzz words.

[KnifeGrinders]

Those calls for "data" honestly baffle me.
The instrument gives you an edge sharpness score, which is a number on an international BESS scale.
It is like asking for a data behind a Rockwell hardness number - it is just a number on an agreed scale, HRC scale or other.

[elanjacobs]

No, we're asking for data on the instrument; tolerances, repeatability, etc

[KnifeGrinders]

The professional edge sharpness tester PT50B has +/- 5 resolution on the BESS scale (+/- 0.05 micron edge apex width).
The industrial edge sharpness tester PT50A has 1 BESS of resolution (+/- 0.01 micron edge apex width).

5 BESS of resolution is more than adequate for all the sharpening discoveries and perfecting your sharpening process.
Learning is simple: keep testing an edge at the same spot till the BESS score repeats itself within +/- 5, which is the instrument resolution - took me about a dozen measurements.

Off to my workshop now, please ask if anything unclear, will be back online after 8PM

[doug3030]

Ok so if I order one for $250, one of two outcomes is possible:

1. it works and it helps me sharpen my blades, or
2. it doesn't work and it results in a sharper decision-making process next time.

Either way something gets sharper.

Cheers

Doug

[rob streeper]

I've started doing some experiments with this technology. At the time this discussion began I bought the ATF10 aluminum test fixture on Amazon.
The BESS DoubleX Test Medium was, and still is, out of stock

BESS sharpness tester medium unavailable.JPG

so I made some educated guesses and bought some substitute media. Results so far indicate that the basic idea works. I'm preparing a separate thread detailing my work.

P.S., I started the thread, look here: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f127/e...38#post2052913