Excellent post and good points Mr. KnifeGrinders. I agree. Sharpness and how well the blade will perform in various situations are different, but not necessarily exclusive. A dull blade will never perform well regardless of the bevel angle or edge finish, while a sharp blade may or may not perform well for a particular task depending on the bevel angle and especially the edge finish.
Sharpness must be established first as there is not much sense in messing around with a dull blade. Once a blade is sharp, the bevel angle and edge finish can be tuned to the task at hand. For instance, when slicing tomatoes and most general tasks a toothy edge will perform better and longer than a smooth polished edge. For chopping and push cutting there is not much advantage in a toothy edge.
Sharpness testing not only allows establishing initial sharpness, but also aids in determining how well a blade of different bevel angles and edge finish performs as it dulls.
Sharpness testing aids understanding of blade performance and edge retention. Performance to task and stress resistance are indeed different tests than sharpness, but nonetheless closely interrelated at all stages of stress and performance testing.
Sharpness must be established first as there is not much sense in messing around with a dull blade. Once a blade is sharp, the bevel angle and edge finish can be tuned to the task at hand. For instance, when slicing tomatoes and most general tasks a toothy edge will perform better and longer than a smooth polished edge. For chopping and push cutting there is not much advantage in a toothy edge.
Sharpness testing not only allows establishing initial sharpness, but also aids in determining how well a blade of different bevel angles and edge finish performs as it dulls.
Sharpness testing aids understanding of blade performance and edge retention. Performance to task and stress resistance are indeed different tests than sharpness, but nonetheless closely interrelated at all stages of stress and performance testing.