The definition of 'blunt'

[subwoofer]

Hello All, perhaps a strange thread on a sharpening and sharpness forum, but it seems I may need an arguable measurable definition of 'blunt'.

In the BESS scale, it is defined up to 2000 where there is an unsharpened DE blank quoted (assuming this is an unsharpened razor blade blank), also compared to a butter knife.

Can I safely say that an edge measured at 2000 BESS or above is 'blunt'?
If the answer is yes, does this have an equivalent, directly measurable, edge apex width?

Has anyone else needed to define when an edge is officially blunt?

Addition:
Might there be a cutting test that a 'blunt' blade will demonstratably fail as a proof?

[Mike Brubacher]

Hello subwoofer and good to hear from you again! I don't really hear the term “blunt” used as much “dull” unless it's after 8:00 at night and I'm watching reruns of CSI Miami. I don't suppose that you get that TV show in England but somebody is always getting in the head by a blunt object in that series. While the maximum sharpness of an edge is somewhat finite in that it has to be at least one molecule wide, the possibilities for bluntness seem to be somewhat infinite. I've not spent much time thinking about how dull an edge might be. If I were going to think about it however I might use the same logic as is used when describing maximum temperatures: everyone in the US agrees that when is 100°F outside that it is hot and when it's 110 Fahrenheit outside, it's hotter.

[subwoofer]

Hi Mike, it seems to be the norm for tv/movie production with the blunt swords and knives used by the actors 'blunts'.

'Dull' in my experience is more of a working definition for a knife needing to be sharpened, and is not the term being used as it would refer to a live blade that could be sharper.

'Blunt' is being used in some forthcoming legislation (don't get me started), which is actually leading me to investigate a possible legal definition of 'blunt'. If you grind off the edge bevel flat, by how much would you need to do this for it to become a 'blunt'.

If I could use a BESS number that would be measurable. I'd also like a demonstration (other than dragging the blade along my hand - maybe that is it though) to prove it is 'blunt' and therefore does not have a live cutting edge.