Meat Plant Research

[KnifeGrinders]

Interesting he can actually tell the difference with a 12 dps blade.

If you have a chance to talk to a private boner/butcher you'll be surprised how picky and exacting they are about the cutting edge on their knives.
No wonder, considering they use three 5" or 6" boning knives, and one 9" or 10" carving knife to bone and divide 5-6 beef carcasses at a speed of 1 body per hour - these knives must last sharp.

They will never cut with a factory edge, no matter how sharp it is, because they know it won't last over the first minute of cutting.
They won't accept a belt sharpened knife because as they say after the belt it takes 5-6 sharpenings on the bench stone to get the edge lasting again - they know they would have to grind away the metal which temper had been changed by the overheating belt.
They will know without microscope where the edge hasn't been deburred completely, as it will stop cutting in a minute and they aren't able to steel it back into the sharp cutting edge.
And as the above butcher told, they feel tiny difference in the edge profile.

These guys are the most demanding customers of ours... and the least paying tight arses.
Want to master sharpening? - make one butcher pay for it and stay happy.