- Joined
- May 19, 2009
- Messages
- 300
I've owned a Howling Rat, Rodent Solution, RMD, and just got a Scrap Yard Sykco 711. The factory edges on all of these aren't good. The best is the RMD; it can shave hair if I push hard near the handle. The edge grinds aren't just wide, they're fairly inconsistent too. IMO the edge angle shouldn't change from 40 degrees at the choil to 60 degrees at the tip.
I just received my 711 today. It's a nice design and I'm sure I'll like it. The only thing is the edge sucks more on this than any other decent knife I've purchased.
Scrap Yard must use a 2" wide belt to sharpen their knives. You can tell because the sharpener is either too inexperienced or didn't care enough to let off the pressure when he got to the choil. This inattention leads to more material being removed 2-3" from the choil. It's a common mistake. If you think about the last 2 inches of edge spends much less time on the belt because you have to stop when you get to the choil/ricasso.
Another thing is the tip. One side spent more time on the grinder and it's skewed.
Knives are tools and they will get dull. At some point I'll give the knives the edges they deserve. Functionally these issues with the edges aren't huge, but if you can buy a $18 machete with a consistent edge then there's no reason Scrap Yard can't do the same.
So...I propose two things:
1 - Scrap Yard and Swamp Rat employees make a conscious effort to sharpen a knife correctly. It shouldn't take any more time to do it right, it just takes a tiny bit more attention.
OR
2 - Sell unsharpened knives for those who want them. How cool would that be? Many people reprofile to their preferred angles anyway; offering unsharpened knives may extend the life of the knife a little bit. I hate grinding away good metal just to even out an edge. Anyone think this will ever happen?
*Disclaimer: I hope this post didn't sound mean. I really like these knives and the edge (which eventually gets corrected anyway) is the only fault.
I just received my 711 today. It's a nice design and I'm sure I'll like it. The only thing is the edge sucks more on this than any other decent knife I've purchased.


Scrap Yard must use a 2" wide belt to sharpen their knives. You can tell because the sharpener is either too inexperienced or didn't care enough to let off the pressure when he got to the choil. This inattention leads to more material being removed 2-3" from the choil. It's a common mistake. If you think about the last 2 inches of edge spends much less time on the belt because you have to stop when you get to the choil/ricasso.
Another thing is the tip. One side spent more time on the grinder and it's skewed.
Knives are tools and they will get dull. At some point I'll give the knives the edges they deserve. Functionally these issues with the edges aren't huge, but if you can buy a $18 machete with a consistent edge then there's no reason Scrap Yard can't do the same.
So...I propose two things:
1 - Scrap Yard and Swamp Rat employees make a conscious effort to sharpen a knife correctly. It shouldn't take any more time to do it right, it just takes a tiny bit more attention.
OR
2 - Sell unsharpened knives for those who want them. How cool would that be? Many people reprofile to their preferred angles anyway; offering unsharpened knives may extend the life of the knife a little bit. I hate grinding away good metal just to even out an edge. Anyone think this will ever happen?
*Disclaimer: I hope this post didn't sound mean. I really like these knives and the edge (which eventually gets corrected anyway) is the only fault.