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How to properly test the sharpness of a knife?

Is My Knife Sharp? How to Perform a Test That Will Give Me the Answer?

Thanks to sharpening and polishing the blade on both sides, the knife you might be holding in your hand right now is sharp. These two actions taper the blade nicely, and the result is noticeable in its sharpness. The tapering on each side of the blade meets and intersects at the finest point. A successfully sharpened knife is one where even the finest edge is sharp like a razor and can easily and accurately cut through your material.

There are many methods you can use to test the sharpness of a knife’s edge. Most people prefer to simply test the blade on a typical cutting material – like a tomato. If your cut requires a lot of pressure and it's not easy to slice through the object, or there’s a risk of damaging the blade, the knife needs sharpening. Also, there shouldn’t be moments when you're sawing more than cutting with the knife! Other popular methods to test knife sharpness include the paper test and the hair-shaving test.

Paper Test

Hold a piece of paper in front of you, place the knife at a slight angle, and with light pressure, move the blade downward, cutting away from you. If the knife catches and starts tearing the paper, it’s not sharp. If the blade continues a clean cut without tearing the paper, congratulations – you have a sharp knife.

Shaving Test

This method requires extra caution. While it's a very telling and useful test, safety should always come first. Many people prefer this test because a well-sharpened knife will shave off any hair in its path. In this case, you can say that the knife is razor-sharp. A dull knife will glide over the hairs or pull them without removing much, if any, hair.

If you want to achieve excellent sharpening results that allow your blade to shave hairs on your arms and cut through paper or other materials effortlessly, the key lies in how you approach the sharpening process itself.

Work Sharp offers various sharpeners that provide quick and repeatable results – regardless of your sharpening skills. Trust the quality of our products, and you won’t regret it.

Interested in knife sharpening? We have everything you need. Browse our product catalog. If you need any advice, we're here to help.