best and worst to sharpen

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audiopile

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Nov 2, 2007
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Over the 50 years or so I've been using knives - I've had some that were easy to sharpen and some that were -well- useful hammers.
My best recent knives in the dead easy to re-sharpen area have been a G&G Hawk MUDD and a Kershaw Boa. The worst of all time is one of my most treasured knives - a Cattargus Navy FB that my Uncle picked up in the Philippines towards the end of WW-II - favourite camping knife for years - but never have been able to get a good edge on it. Current won't get sharp champion is a CRKT Lake P.A.L. - for reasons I don't understand -this one defies taking a edge worth using.
What have your best/worst been?
 
my worst by far is a 154cm cuda edc! i can not seem to get this knife sharp. :mad: my easiest is a zt 650st. :)
 
Easiest to sharpen would be a Victorinox Spartan. Hardest to sharpen would be a Spyderco Dodo.
 
The easiest knife I've ever owned to sharpen was an old Camillus 67 Stockman. It has some sort of carbon steel blades that will take an edge that's about a dozen notches beyond scary sharp. I've been around sharp knives for most of my life, and I can honestly say that I'm very careful when using that knife.

Spyderco's VG-10 is another that I find very easy to sharpen, and their s30v is nice too.

Hardest to sharpen? I don't really know.

My Benchmade 710 is difficult to sharpen. Not because of the recurve... it just takes some work at getting a good edge on it. The heat treat seems fine (the old 154cm version), and it held up to over three years of EDC and hard use... so I don't know.

I enjoy sharpening, so really none of my knives are hard to sharpen and none of them are a chore to sharpen.
 
Easiest would be a cheap Cabelas sawtooth, but the edge disapears a soon as it sees a cutting job
followed closely by my old CRKT M21-04
Hardest easily my BM 710 D2, it takes some work to get a burr but it holds the edge like no other I have had
 
I don't really find any of mine hard to sharpen, although it took me a minute to figure out the Case hawkbill I have. Figured out that some fine sandpaper wrapped around a pencil works great. Poor man's sharpmaker. :cool: :D
 
Easiest is my spydie BG42 milli -- I can turn it into a foldingh straight razor.

Hardest has been my benchmade 710 D2. I just can't get it *really* sharp. It has a nice working edge but I want it to be more so.
 
While I've had issues in the past with Spyderco's 440V blades, that's something I've overcome and not really an issue as I don't EDC them anymore. But the hardest knife to sharpen that I currently EDC is by far the S30V Sebenza. Hands down. The thing came from Idaho with such a steep edge angle it was almost a gas station knife edge. I had to re-profile it on a DMT hone. I had to pay special attention to the tip end as they had REALLY left a steep angle on it. Finally got it honed down to something resembling a 30 degree edge and whipped out the Sharpmaker to develop a 40 degree edge. This is when I found out that CRK doesn't heat treat their S30V anywhere NEAR as good as Spyderco does. Total edge rolling. Very frustrating. Wire edge or whatever you want to call it. I overcame it by giving the last few strokes on the white stones a kid glove treatment. Very light pressure. Once sharpened (without that darned wire edge) the Seb stays sharp and cuts really good. But avoiding that wire edge is a burden that shouldn't have to be bourne by a fellow that spent four bills on a knife. Spyderco blows CRK away on heat treatment of S30V. Dont let anyone tell you different. ;)

Simplest EDC knife to sharpen that I currently carry? Simple. The burgundy Calypso Junior lightweight sprint run knife in sandwiched ZDP-189. Couple hundred strokes on the white stones and you are dealing with a surgical instrument. Holds the edge for a good while but when it's dull, it's dull dull. I was amazed at this. When it loses it's edge it's totally gone. No grab. No cutting power. Nothing. It spreads peanut butter but does little else in the knife realm. A hundred strokes on the corners of the whites followed by a hundred on the flats and the thing is dangerous again. ZDP impresses me. Continually.
 
i don't have any difficulty sharpening any of my knives...recurves are not at all an issue, you just have to be deliberate in your motions...and serrations just take more time...

i suspect many need to keep things as simple as possible in their lives, so the straighter the blade shape the easier and faster it is to do the task of sharpening...
 
The Best - Anything but...

.....The Worst - This:
maritimemachete014.jpg


I've never had or made a recurve blade before this one and I'm now having a bitch of a time getting that perfect wire edge to form on the inside of the sharp recurve section.

What was I thinking???
 
For me the easiest is any Swiss Army followed close by Kershaw's 13C26. D2 is the hardest but its not bad at all as long as you stay on it!
 
i have a boker ceramic that came to me so dull you couldnt cut yourself if you tried. i put a working edge on it so far with a medium diamond disc but have yet to try the fine grit. i dont have any trouble sharpening any kind or shape of knife if it is made from good steel with the proper heat treat.
 
Harry Callahan said:
. But the hardest knife to sharpen that I currently EDC is by far the S30V Sebenza....snip... edge. This is when I found out that CRK doesn't heat treat their S30V anywhere NEAR as good as Spyderco does. ...snip....0the Seb stays sharp and cuts really good. But avoiding that wire edge is a burden that shouldn't have to be bourne by a fellow that spent four bills on a knife. Spyderco blows CRK away on heat treatment of S30V. .
Click to expand...
If it stays sharp and cuts well , sounds more like sharpening technique issues than heat treatment.
 
The hardest knife I've ever tried to sharpen was a new Pakistani straight razor. I tried for several weeks using hones, 2000 grit paper and leather strops, but couldn't get it to pop a single hair off my arm.

It may be me, but I've restored about 2 dozen antique razors over the years without any hiccups... it is the only 'blade' that I've ever given-up on.
 
clw, is the razor carbon steel or stainless? if its stainless you can forget about getting it sharp. if its carbon you might have a chance.
 
Superdave1 said:
If it stays sharp and cuts well , sounds more like sharpening technique issues than heat treatment.
Click to expand...

I think what he is getting at is that he has to fight a burr constantly on his CRK to get a sharp, long lasting edge, where his Spydercos in S30V don't burr badly. I could be misreading that though. I know in my experience the hardest to sharpen blades I've dealt with form large, hard to remove burrs. CRKT's AUS-8 has done this to me. Steels I consider very easy to sharpen would be Spyderco's CPM D2, M4, and ZDP-189. In spite of their high hardness and wear resistance I find those steels extremely easy to sharpen due to their lack of burring when sharpening.

Mike
 
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