mark76 wrote:


hey guys - sorry for the slow reply. Been helping at WE this week and it has stretched my time to the limits - trying to catch up on everything today.

The rust eraser is similar to what Mark sells on CKTG - his is made by Idahone specifically for cleaning their ceramics. The one is sell is a different company but works the same - it is a rubber eraser with an abrasive embedded into the rubber which just makes it work faster than a regular eraser would - and it works great, so I'm told, for removing rust spots from firearms too, though I've never had to try that yet. For rust and tarnish on blades I've found that some blades it will get back to shiny without a ton of work, some take quite a bit of scrubbing followed by some type of polish like flitz.

The edge tester was invented by John Juranitch and he references it in his book "Razor Edge Sharpening" It is much like the bic pen test, or using your thumb nail, but the plastic is much harder. He came up with it for a consistent edge testing/comparison in meat processing environments. It is pen sized - hang it in your pocket or brief case and it is always along. They outline 4 tests with increasing sensitivity (thanks CBW for putting up the instructions, saved me from turning my set into an image file) -
1. lean the tester over and check that the edge catches - dull edges just skate off. - they specify 45 degrees, but if you have been testing on your finger nail or a pen you know you can lay it over much farther than that and get a tight angle to catch. (this is like using an onion too, dull blade just slides off the onion skin) Not much of a revelation here as you can just do this with your thumb nail - but if you are testing a lot you end up with grooves in your thumbnail so deep that will catch your alignment guide
2. is laying the tester flat and slicing the blade along the edge and feeling roughness - again just like you can do on your thumbnail
3 and 4 use the cone shaped plastic on either end. First pulling it down the edge, then pushing it down the edge.
I find tests 1 and 4 to be the most useful - I use these when someone hands me their knife and just skip the others. 1 lets you test the bite of the edge along the full blade length and get a feel for the angle on the knife. 4 really lets you feel the little tiny chips or catches in the blade, little ones you can't even see with 45x loupe (or feel with your thumb nail or earlier tests) will catch on it and stop the tester. Rough factory edges feel like you are shoving it down a saw blade, fine edges on the WE do actually cut way into the plastic conical ends and feel like you are pushing it on ice.
When I'm done sharpening on WE I use only test 4.
Let someone try these tests before and after you sharpen - it keeps them from cutting their fingers and give them a comparison they can see and feel.

For me, I find it accentuates my OCD a little too much at times!