We came across this excellent review/test by Sharpco Knives based in South Korea of the Jende Nanocloth 210x70mm Bench Strops along with our Jende Poly Diamond Emulsions. The Nanocloth Bench strops are 4 micron and 0.5 micron, as well as the 4 micron and 0.5 micron Poly Diamond Emulsions in 50ml (2oz). The video is silent, except for an appropriate choice of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in the background, but the method used to test speaks volumes to the quality of the Jende products, but also to the skill of the Gentleman from Sharpco Knives. The video shows a factory edge was improved with minimal stropping by about 58% from BESS 345 to BESS 145, and when followed by an actual sharpening, the resulting sharpness dipped to a very impressive BESS 90, or a roughly 74% increase in sharpness.
The video begins with an unwrapping, and shows the size measurements of the strop, and compares the color coding of the pink 4 micron and red 0.5 micron strops and emulsions. This is for easy reference, especially if anyone is using several different grit strops. He then proceeds to load the strops and then establishes a baseline sharpness by cutting paper and using the Bess Tester three times to get an average of BESS 345 (the lower the better). That score is basically factory sharp – not great, but acceptable.
He then stropped with the 4 micron Jende Nanocloth loaded with the 4 micron Jende Poly Diamond Emulsion five times on each side, and tested again with paper and three times on the BESS tester, getting an average of BESS 176, which is half the level of the baseline. Very impressive! He then strops 5 times on the 0.5 micron, and gets an average BESS 165, which is only slightly improved. He does five more strokes on the 0.5 micron (totaling 10 strokes) and gets an average of BESS 145 – almost a 20% improvement over the 4 micron in just 10 strokes!
This first part of the test shows how well the strops and emulsions work to tweak an existing edge. The reality is that 5 or 10 strokes is really not enough to undo the factory edge, and this was also recognized by the Sharpco Tester, and he proceeded to use a spyderco UF to sharpen the edge, then retested. Off the 4 micron the average was BESS 105 – WOW! And off the 0.5 micron the average was a very respectable BESS 90, putting the sharpness is the razor blade edge category.
The display of hair whittling and paper cutting in the end as the music climaxed was a fitting celebration of a job well done, and wonderful documentation of the abilities of Sharpco Knives and the products from Jende Industries!