Knife Review: Lionsteel M4

[subwoofer]

Thanks for another great and detailed review!  You do excellent reviews Mr. Subwoofer.

I like how you always include data in your reviews, especially edge sharpness numbers.  I've found it interesting how many new blades are 200+, in this case ~250.  I presume this a balance between usability and edge retention.

You've just got me thinking of a few extra tests I want to run now.

Factory edges are an interesting subject. I was chatting with the guys at Chris Reeve Knives, and they said that even for their high end knives, the economics dictate that they can only have an operator sharpening any one blade for about 15s. More than that and they are having production held up and other team members not working. To increase this would need another person and add further cost to production.

This is going to be the same across all manufacturers so I'd say the factory edge sharpness is always going to be limited.

However, the other side to this is exactly that a finer edge is going to be more subject to rolling or chipping if a hard steel, so there is a practical limit on how sharp an edge should be for different uses.

I have found that I now aim for 200 when sharpening, and have a process that gives me that pretty reliably with relatively low effort. This is the edge I put on each knife I test, once I've measured the factory edge, and it easily shaves hair and slides through thin magazine paper.