Buying/Selling Sharpened Knives

I'm constantly buying/selling/trading and I just got a Wicked Edge so this is good to know.

And I just bought a Sage 1(wow) at a user price because the tip was slightly rounded off from sharpening. Everything else was flawless. I intend to give it a hair popping mirror edge once I pound out a few practice edges on some old user griptilians and get comfortable. But no way I'll dump this thing. Might just buy a BNIB one to have as a fresh one. :p
 
If I am buying a knife as a user, then I do not mind. However if it is to collect then yes I would prefer a the edge untouched. Overall, I do not mind as I can just sharpen it up myself.
 
In the eyes of most, a sharpened knife will have some impact on resale value.

Depending from whom I buy the (generic) knife, it either matters to some small degree or doesnt matter a great deal to me - though I of course expect the resale price to reflect, that it has been sharpened, but that is a given and most often doesnt need to be discussed, as most feel that way.

I would prefer, that a knife has not been sharpened and as has been mentioned in a post above, would rather buy a knife, that has been used and retains its (now dull) factory edge, that a knife, which has had put on an edge by a seller/owner whose knife sharpening ability, I dont know.

Most often though, it doesnt matter; if the knife ad pics dont show a grossly abused edge, I just put on an edge after receiving it - 'problem' solved.

Im not a knife collector per se - I just have a bunch of knives and swords, that I find interesting - so valuable vintage and custom knives are exempt from the above.
For those blades other factors enter the equation and a sharpened knife can mean a world of difference and have huge impact on resale value. On 'user' knives not so much.
 
Bob W said:
For me, it's the same as buying used.
And I don't buy used knives.
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You are missing out:D
IMG_2214.jpg

Na, just kidding. Your dough, your decision. To each his own:)
 
Glad to hear everyones view on this gives us all something to think. I would think a knife sharpened extensively would be worth less for sure. For all of you that say it hurts the value by how much? Say a person had a knife . that had only been skinned with not a single mark on that knife other than sharp edge. What percentage of value should be deducted? Sorry for errors in post I'm at work and can't edit this from my phone.
 
I don't buy used knives because I don't know what the last person did to it. For all I know the person used a belt grinder and burned the heat treat out.
 
I don't care because whether new or used, the first thing that I do is reprofile the edge.

I wouldn't want a sharpened knife it had been reprofiled a bunch of times, though.
 
I dont have a problem buying a sharpened knife as everyone else has said if the seller knows what he's doing, I recently put a southard flipper up for sale and had a potential buyer, I put in the thread the knife was butter knife dull out of box, so as a favor to the next owner I put it on the edge pro , marked the bevel with sharpie and hit the bevel with the 2,000 grit polished tapes only , just to get the knife sharp. You would of thought I went out and beat the hell out of the knife, buyer said he no longer wanted it , that it wasn't BNIB anymore and the deal was off. I was like ok but you realize I basically just stropped your blade right, hardly if any metal was removed at 2,000 grits, Didn't matter he said it wasn't BNIB anymore and he didn't want it aggravated the you know what out of me,
 
Everything I buy will become a user, so as long as the sharpening job is done properly it's ok. Need good pictures and descriptions to verify the 'ok'-part, though. But I'll reprofile and tune the edge to my liking anyway as soon as I have the knife so why sweat it too much. Investment-grade collectables are another matter but they're not my thing in the first place.
 
I have no problems with buying a properly sharpened knife. Mirror edge or not.
The grind must be properly done however, if not then it does hurt it's value because that's steel that needs to removed to fix the uneven or crooked grind.

To be honest factory grinds are far from perfect, the geometry isn't perfect and you often get different angles on each side.

That's with:
ZT
Benchmade (most even, but still not perfect)
Buck
CRK (yes Chris Reeve Knives)
CRKT
Cold steel
SOG
ESEE
Bark River
Hell if I can remember the other brands
 
Unless it was a discontinued model, I can't imagine buying a used factory knife so can't comment there. I would and have purchased custom knives that have been sharpened by the previous owner but would expect a significant price reduction over one that was "fresh from the maker".
 
i think it's like anything else, pogs,baseball cards ect, if it's something your going to use no biggie, and actually a good thing imo given it was done right and not cocked up, otherwise if your "collecting it" keep it in teh box and stick it a time capsule for safe keeping, haha...i think sharpening it or using it it anyway kills the resale value on the collector level, but i do see where a member here has a shop that will sharpen ka-bars and the like before they ship, i see that as a bonus if they do it right, saves me time and effort!
 
IF it was sharpened if really dosn't matter unless they had no clue as to what they were doing... If they did a good job I dont see a problem with it... a knife is a tool to be used, and I use every1 of my knives.... and in turn when they need to be sharpened I will sharpen them... then again I have a $300 sharpening system....which I am pretty good with...

The way i figure it is if I am going to spend $500 on a knife I dont want to trust a $10 sharpener... just check peoples feedback and decide on whether they are trustworthy... I guess the worst that can happen is that you have to re-sharpen it incase the previous owner did a shit job...

Goodluck man.
 
I don't really buy used knives. But if I did it wouldn't sway me away from it. That said, if I was a collector I wouldn't buy a knife that was sharpened as I'd want it NIB.
 
Hey guys I've been at work today and haven't had time to respond. Great views for the most part so far. You guys basically understood what I was saying. I should have specified I didn't mean a collectors knife. Allen R FWIW that's some bs your buyer backed out. That was basically what I was saying a knife that was just made sharp cause factory edges to me are like having an unloaded gun. Don't get me wrong I think the knife being sold should be represented correctly always. IMO I don't think say a knife that would typically be valued at 150 bucks should only be worth a 100 because someone put a nice edge on it. Provided the rest of the knife is unharmed also. Thanks again for all your input.
 
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I don't worry about it too much, especially if it is something I have been trying to track down for a long time. That said, If I buy a knife for my collection that I don't intend to carry I don't touch the edge, if it is going to be a user I reprofiled it immediately on the wicked edge.
 
I free hand sharpen and you can't tell I sharpened a knife except that its sharp

When people change the original edge geometry that is when I would have issue unless the reprofile was done by someone known for this
 
JParanee said:
I free hand sharpen and you can't tell I sharpened a knife except that its sharp

When people change the original edge geometry that is when I would have issue unless the reprofile was done by someone known for this
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I freehand sharpen also but you can tell they have been sharpened not only are they much sharpen but the stones I finish on leave them a lot more polished. Anyone know what they sharpen with factory when done by hand that leaves such a course edge?
 
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