'Scary sharp' ?

[Librarian]

Reading the WorkSharp thread the term popped up again.

Is is possible to quantify 'scary sharp'?

Are there things a 'scary sharp' blade can do, or do better, than a 'less sharp but still sharp' blade?

Razor blade folks seem kind of obsessed with sharpness.

See also http://www.bladetest.infillplane.com...sharpness.html (woodworking perspective) and

http://www.catra.org/pages/products/kniveslevel1/st.htm

[omgwtfbbq]

It's kind of weird thinking about the phrase "scary sharp" because generally when people say it they mean the blade is very sharp.

I, on the other hand, would argue that a blade that is "scary sharp" would be a duller blade, because after all, more "accidental" injuries from dull knives happen than with sharp knives.

When it comes to appropriate sharpness, I can get a little obsessive. I'm not really happy unless any knife I own or sharpen for someone else is "shaving sharp."

[SkyHawk]

Microtome blades are scary sharp. They can cut sections of tissue down to 0.5 micron thick for microscopic examination. They are my benchmark for scary sharp, and I don't know if any regular knife could be sharpened like that.

So in my book, for pocket type knives, scary sharp is anything that can cut you with even the slightest inadvertent touch. But they aren't nearly as scary as a microtome blade.

I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it...

[uxo2]

I have a sharpmaker and my blades get
Scary sharp.

In other words.

Marketing

[ElvenSoul]

8000 grit JPS +

I heard Scary Sharp is ability to remove finger and not feel it.

[Librarian]

While poking around, I saw a mention of obsidian blades, for eye surgery and such -

Obsidian is used by some surgeons for scalpel blades, as well-crafted obsidian blades have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, the cutting edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers thick.[34] Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; when examined even under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even.

Good quality obsidian fractures down to single molecules which can produce a cutting edge 500 times sharper than the sharpest steel scalpel blade ("American Medical News", Nov. 2, 1984:21). On the cellular level an obsidian knife can cut between cells rather than tear the cells as a steel knife will do. A sharper cut will allow a wound to heal more rapidly with less scarring.

http://obsidian-scalpel.blogspot.com/

Can't get any sharper than single-molecule edge; pretty delicate, though.

[ElvenSoul]

Legendary Water of Ayr Stones have claims of putting unequaled edges on blades.

[Maltese Falcon]

We use these at work.

http://www.finescience.com/Special-Pages/Products.aspx?ProductId=109&CategoryId=53

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[RandyD]

Scary sharp can be defined as the level that RandyD cannot achieve.

[kylednf]

Scary sharp is just a term used to describe an edge that is a step above hair whittling. It is not quantifiable.
Knife people describe their edges as hair whittling when it literally whittles hair and there is a level above that known as "scary sharp". It's knife forum nerd stuff.

My Bradford G3 in CPM3V is scary sharp. It feels like the skin on my fingertips is popping when touching the edge.

The knife world is a lot nerdier than the gun world...

[Cody]

Scary sharp = The paper splits in half by itself at the mere site of the blade.

[kylednf]

Once you've hit hair whittling it's pretty much bragging rights and personal satisfaction. There is no benefit to scary sharp for EDC purposes.

[MJB]

My Havalon is scary sharp.....every time I use it it makes me put gloves on or go slow cause it's scary

[Maltese Falcon]

The first time you play around with a new knife, you end up cutting yourself somehow.

Scary enough for me..

Yay!, 100 posts to 5000.

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[Red-Osier]

You can get cement tools Scary sharp. Over the years the blade of a Finishing Fresno trowel can get so sharp just a slight touch can cut bad. To me that is Scary sharp