Mike Brubacher invented the BESS Sharpness Tester. BESS is an acronym for Brubacher Edge Sharpness Scale. In simple terms, the tester is like a kitchen scale, and measures the amount of downforce (in grams) to cut the BESS Certified Test Media, which is about the diameter of a 6 pound nylon fishing line.
Obviously, the lower the BESS number, the sharper the cutting edge. The gallery has a picture of the BESS sharpness chart. Here are some landmark BESS values:
50 – double edge razor blade
80-120 – what BeSharp sharpens to
130 – shaving straight razor
160 – X-Acto hobby knife
175 – Canadian Tire construction utility knife
200 – new high end cutlery, e.g. Global, Miyabi, Shun
300-400 – factory new kitchen knives
500-600 – upper limit for slicing newsprint
As you can see, slicing newsprint is no big deal. That’s why I test all Japanese knives on my BESS Sharpness Tester.