The BESS Exchange is sponsored by Edge On Up - Relevant General Discussion

Mike Brubacher has passed

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 03:09:41 +0000

It is with a heavy heart I say that Mike Brubacher passed away last night, 2025/01/30, about 11:00 pm.

For those of you who don’t know, Mike invented our edge sharpness testing instruments, the PT50 series, Edge Lab, the BESS (Brubacher Edge Sharpness Scale), was the founder of Edge On Up and changed the world of edge sharpness testing. A truly amazing man. Thank you Mike!

Temperature used to be described with words like “chilly” or “freezing” or whatever. In the 1600’s European physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit gave the world a way to measure temperature and describe it to others in numerical degrees. Now we can say it’s 34° F.

Before Mike, sharpness was described as “scary sharp”, “razor sharp”, etc. Mike gave the world the ability to share exactly how sharp an edge is and affordable equipment to test it. Instead of “shaving sharp”, thanks to Mike, now we can say the edge is BESS 134 and everyone world wide can know exactly what that means.

The ability to communicate edge sharpness is revolutionary, changed the sharpening world, and we all have Mike Brubacher to thank for it. He was an amazing man.

On a personal note, Mike and I were close friends. I already miss being able to share life moments and thoughts with him. I feel so lucky our life paths crossed.

Saved old tool (Fun with rust removal electrolysis)

Wed, 24 May 2023 03:41:16 +0000

A friend of my wife left her hand clippers out in her garden over the last Michigan winter. The clippers didn’t fare well and were heavily rusted. While the resulting “patina” was from one perspective attractive, they were trashed as a useful tool. They would still open/close, but not smoothly and needed a lot of help. I had to use an impact wrench to get the screw out so I could take them apart.

My wife’s friend knew that I sharpened stuff and gave her the clippers for me to “sharpen” them.

Now… Um… Every so often I get a tool in really bad condition for “sharpening”. People just don’t understand. Of course I could comply and just sharpen them, call it good and return them. Of course there is no way in hell I could just sharpen them and call it good. The old tool deserved more, and I wouldn’t be happy with the job I did if I simply sharpened the rusted tool.

So, I decided to restore the clippers. I put them in the trusty electrolysis tank to remove the rust, cleaned, sharpened, lubricated and reassembled them. Now they work great with a new lease on life and with any normal maintenance will last for generations.

I think saving old tools from the trash is fun and rewarding. The results are always amazing. So much so I thought I should pay my wife’s friend for the opportunity. Instead I charged her $4.00 and called it good.

Here I detail my electrolysis tank and how to make one and use it. Hey kids! Cheap, super easy and a lot of fun:
http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?t...587#pid587

Here’s another example of what electrolysis can do:
http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?t...576#pid576

Anyway, here’s the before and after pics of the clippers:

Used Rapid Edge Extend-A-Blade Folding Utility Knife with Edge Lab

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 17:22:57 +0000

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150BESS with clip

After opening Edge Lab A and some accessories.
Seems Rapid Edge's blade handled it's own works well.

Trizact 337DC vs 347FC

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:59:02 +0000

Can anyone help me understand the difference between the 3M Trizact 337DC and the 347FC belts? I've done a google search and looked at 3M's info and found the following. What should I know? I'm in the process of buying belts for my new Viel S5 grinder (coming on Tuesday) that I'm putting on a 1/2 HP 1750/1140 rpm motor on. Plan to run at 1140 rpm to give me 1790 sfpm belt speed to sharpen knifes. Currently using a Ken Onion Blade attachment. Time to join the "bigboy" party (lol) and please be kind to this newbie.

337DC
Equipment - Machines
Bench Top Motors, Manual Backstand, Pressure Assit Backstand
Flex Type
No Flex
For Use On
Aluminum, Carbon Steel, High Nickel Alloy, Soft Metals, Stainless Steel, Titanium/Zirconium
Industries
Marine, Metalworking
Micron Grade
Micron Grade, A160, A300, A45, A65

347FC
Equipment - Machines
Cylindrical Grinders, File Belt Sanders, Manual Backstand, Pressure Assit Backstand, Random Orbital Sanders
For Use On
Carbon Steel, High Nickel Alloy, Stainless Steel, Titanium/Zirconium
Industries
Metalworking
Micron Grade
Micron Grade, A160, A30, A300, A45, A65

"KnifeGrinders"

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 16:32:21 +0000

I was sorry to learn that the knife sharpening community has lost an important influencer, prolific writer and videographer, and friend in Vadim Kraichuk, this month. Some may have known him better as "Wootz" from other forums but on Bessex, he was simply known as the, abbreviated, "KG". Vadim was an unabashed and energetic pursuer of the science of knife sharpening. His experiments helped sharpeners distinguish myth from reality and then, he freely shared those findings with the knife sharpening community at large. His presence and contributions will be very much missed. Our thoughts are with his wife and children in Australia.

Cubitron II video

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:40:39 +0000

This looked like an informative video about Cubitron II.

https://youtu.be/KrQLMEyiN94

Krn

New Distributor of Edge On Up in Australia

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 05:14:20 +0000

Hi All,
I have recently teamed up with Mike at Edge-On-Up to now offer the range of testers and parts directly to Australian consumers.

We are based in Sydney

Feel free to check out the site and let us know what you think
https://zanvak.com.au/collections/edge-on-up
-Russ

Titanium and the dreaded BESS Contest

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:44:23 +0000

My friends: I was a bit of a knifemaker in the early 1970's, quitting in 1975 - or so it is stamped on my last blade. I could make a pretty knife, but not a sharp one. The whole theory was lost on me.

I moved (this was before the word "transitioned" was invented) to racing motorcycles. My mis-spent youth was consumed with this pointless exercise, but somehow I made it profitable, and now, in retirement, my time can be partly spent back with my old love - knives.

Through the miracle of the internet and the questionable gift of YouTube, many questions have popped up into my feeble brain. While worrying over whether my knives were "sharp enough," I stumbled onto the little - and reasonably priced EDGE on UP PT50A BESS tester that I bought through Sharpeningsupplies.com

I have never made a better knifemaking investment !

It is possible, that the continued proliferation of BESS - testing contests will draw me back into the field - since there is a STANDARD way to inexpensively measure sharpness at EVERY stage of the building, sharpening and competing regimen.

While spending too much on sharpening supplies - and we all know how much fun that it - it teases me to find that I really know NOTHING of the theory of choosing a "steel" and a "grind" with the goal of matching that seductive YouTube poster that showed - pretty convincingly to me - that he had somehow produced a near-perfect edge on his little "PT50A" that measured below 10Gg ! ......................

Help me and others by discussing which knife steel alloy would be
best for a winning blade, and at what thickness near the edge.

Also what included angle I might be looking for on that "Killer Edge."

As the title infers, titanium and it's effect on hardness
( along with it's carbides) draws my attention.

SPYDERCO offers little - but sometimes not cheap - sources
of blades to practice sharpening with. Although $200 per
practice blade make my arm hair stand up,
if METAMAX @ 70HRC is a winner, than
the cost doesn't seem so bad.

Your thoughts ?

BESS Sharpening Competition on BF

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 18:59:24 +0000

Over on blade forums there's a big thread of some guys that are doing a competition to see who can get the lowest BESS score on a blade. I haven't really bothered to read any of it, but I thought someone here might be interested:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/any-...n.1781350/

Brian.

Throwing Axe Handles

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:40:53 +0000

hello everyone

today i have a question and i need opinions and suggestions or advice.

one of my newest knife exchange customers is a big sports complex, i supply the kitchen knives on a bi-weekly exchange and they also have 4 axe throwing bays (booths) and i have a 10 axe bi-weekly exchange also.

the problem is they charge like 24.00 per hours per person to throw my Cold Steel Competition throwing axe at a wooden target and 99% of these people have no clue on how to throw and axe (nor do i)..............this leads to many many broken wooden axe handles. they are open from wed thru sunday and every wed i call in the morning to see how many were broken. so in 5 days of throwing 10 axes, they break from 4 to 8 per 5 day period.

i have been using Cold Steel replacement handles (hickory from asia) and i bought some nice Tenn. hickory handles to see if they would last any better..........NO.

they decided to try a fiberglass handled axe from Kobalt to see how they hold up. they did hold up, but they would fly all the way back at times to the person throwing...........down the river with that plan.

i have sharpened many throwing axes for other customers before this exchange came along and most used same type of wooden handled axe or many used the Estwing steel campers axe..............a bit pricy compared to the Cold Steel wooden...............not sure on the bounce back part.................but at the cost of the handle and removing and replacing the broken wooden one every 5 days has become expensive for us both.

let me know your thoughts on all of the above..............thanks

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axe2.jpg (Size: 115.15 KB / Downloads: 3)

Merry Christmas to everyone

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 14:03:01 +0000

see you all soon

1/2HP Kally

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 10:38:06 +0000

https://www.kalamazooind.com/product/1sm...lt-sander/

You can order 1/2HP 1725RPM Kally or 1/2HP 3450RPM.

Kalamazoo 1SMP

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 12:36:57 +0000

New Kally.

https://www.kalamazooind.com/product/1sm...lt-sander/

Using systems like Wicked Edge, TSProf, or similar professionally?

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 15:13:40 +0000

I read the term "professional" with the upper end of these blade sharpening systems(Wicked Edge, TSProf, etc.).

I know people use Tormek's professionally, there are numerous videos of professional blade sharpeners using them.

But I can't find actual professionals using systems like the Wicked Edge, TSProf, or others like these.

Are these systems really used professionally?

Vibration of Kally

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 03:26:38 +0000

Hello everyone.

I changed my Viel S5 to Kally. Yeah, I think it's upgrade.

But unfortunately, I found one defect. This machine makes vibration just before it stops working.(Not during operation.) Check below video. That kally has exactly same problem.

How do you think about that?

How Razor Blades Dull

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:55:24 +0000

An interesting line of discussion came up recently in a maillist on the making of bamboo fly rods, in regard to dulling of edges. This may be old news to knife sharpeners, but as it pertains to razors, something we use as references or standards, I found it interesting and confirming.

Relevant discussion from the original thread is further below, immediately below are links to the source information referenced in the discussion.

Rick

Article URL
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/...id=3445815

Video URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kgw6j9n...tion=share

On 8/17/2020 5:32 AM, H...V... via Rodmakers wrote:
>
>
> On 17 Aug 2020, at 14:27, T...S... via Rodmakers wrote:
>
>> What they don’t talk about, and the razor companies don’t tell you is that what causes most early failure in a blade is actually corrosion. Stainless is not naturally corrosion resistant, what makes it so is a microscopically thin layer of oxide that forms on it’s surface. When you shave, that oxide wears away allowing corrosion to start. As long as the metal is exposed to oxygen in the air, the oxide layer will restore itself fairly quickly, and the steel is again protected.
>
>
> I assume that is a chromium oxide? As far as I know it is primarily the chromium content that makes stainless steel ’stainless’ - and iron oxides are, for the most part, and that includes all non-esoteric oxides, non-passivating, i.e. an iron oxide layer (aka rust) does not prevent further oxidation underneath - unlike e.g. an aluminium oxide skin on aluminium.

On 8/17/2020 5:07 AM, H...V... via Rodmakers wrote:
> Note that there is nothing special about the ‘process’ they describe - see also their introduction:
>
>> Steels for sharp edges or tools typically have martensitic microstructures, high carbide contents, and various coatings to exhibit high hardness and wear resistance. Yet they become practically unusable upon cutting much softer materials such as human hair, cheese, or potatoes. Despite this being an everyday observation, the underlying physical micromechanisms are poorly understood because of the structural complexity of the interacting materials and the complex boundary conditions of their co-deformation. To unravel this complexity, we carried out interrupted tests and in situ electron microscopy cutting experiments with two micromechanical testing setups. We investigated the findings analytically and numerically, revealing that the spatial variation of lath martensite structure plays the key role leading to a mixed-mode II-III cracking phenomenon before appreciable wear.
>
> It’s only their detailed look at what’s happening at the ‘between nano and micro’ scale, after each individual use that is (somewhat) new.
>
> So yes, this is definitely also what’s happening to our plane blades on bamboo, and to plane blades on ’normal’ wood, and to kitchen knives while cutting onions on a chopping board.
>
> Way I understand it is the extent of this process is primarily dependent on the alloy type and heat treatment of the steel. My guess is that razor blade steel is harder, more crystalline, than our plane blade iron.
>
>>
>>> On 17 Aug 2020, at 13:56, T...S... via Rodmakers wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear All,
>>> here is an interesting study and especially a nice video how razer blades become dull.
>>> Perhaps same is happening to our plane blades due to the hard cane fibres.
>>> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/...id=3445815
>>>
>>> br
>>> Tapani
>>>
>>> Rodmakers List - https://rodmakers.canerodmakers.com

Old knife restoration

Thu, 21 May 2020 02:26:38 +0000

I enjoy rescuing old tools and giving them a new lease on life. It's always a shame when an old tool, frozen with rust is forsaken when with just a bit of work can be born again and restored to another entire lifetime of usefulness. Here's a couple of examples on page 1 and 2 of this post:

http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?t...576#pid576

I've done a bunch of them and have enjoyed much success, however nothing compared to what this guy does.

He uses a lot of time consuming hand work, but moreover, some very imaginative and inventive restoration ideas. Anyway, I enjoyed this video where tackles a beyond all hope, mostly disintegrated old knife. Maybe you will enjoy it too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKV1xr2ZqJs

Here are some other hopeless, basket (trash can) cases he rejuvenated. Pretty cool. Scroll through the list of videos. There are some beautiful old tools in very deteriorated condition given a new, useful lease on life. A great demonstration of how those old, built like a tank tools can last many lifetimes... As long as someone cares to keep them maintained or save them if they have become forlorn, abandoned and left to the dark abyss of oblivion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGU2DAWnOtE

Two New Intl. Distributors

Fri, 08 May 2020 17:18:56 +0000

We are very pleased to announce our cooperation with two new stocking distributors in Europe. Please welcome in the UK:



www.multitoolproducts.com

And based in the Netherlands:

English https://www.knivesandtools.com/en/ct/edg...esters.htm

French https://www.knivesandtools.fr/fr/ct/edge...nchant.htm

German https://www.knivesandtools.de/de/ct/edge-on-up-schaerfetester.htm

Tormek SVM-45

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:53:28 +0000

D7A9DA91-6A71-4AFC-9A14-D136469745FC.jpeg (Size: 68.87 KB / Downloads: 10) Tormek redesigned the SVM-45 knife jig in 2002. The jig was shortened. I need a pre 2002 longer jig for a Tormek related project. If anyone has one and would be willing to part with it, I would gladly trade either aa brand new latest version SVM-45 or $40 US, the cost of a new jig. The photo shows the different before and after 2002 lengths.

If you can help me out, please send me a message.

Thanks, Ken Schroeder

My Sharpening and knife related videos

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 13:13:25 +0000

I'm going to post all (most?) of my knife and sharpening related videos here to make them easier to find. These are mostly all on my youtube channel, which you can link to from any of them.

Let's start with my latest. A how to on assembling and installing Grepper's KallyRest:

Brian.