Do you find your EKI's hold an edge as long as your other knives ?

C

chipdouglas

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Nov 26, 2009
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I've been EDCing a Super CQC7 for a while a though I find it to be easy to resharpen, It seems it doesn't hold a sharp edge for that long, even doing mundane tasks like cutting through cardboard.

Have this been your observation too ? I thought it might have to do with the type of grind they come in. I've waited for a while before posting this.

Thanks all
 
I was always under the impression that cardboard is an item that will dull a knife fairly quick if you are cutting a lot of it. But....I have found that most Emerson come sharper out of the box than many factory blades and stay sharp just as long. 154CM steel is not a garbage steel by any stretch of the imagination and was pretty much the industry standard high quality stainless for a long time before S30V came along.
 
I do find my CQC8 loses it scary sharpness rather quickly too. I love getting a mirror edge on that knife though.
 
I find it loses its edge fairly quickly aswell but it takes an edge easily and it stays wicked sharp long enough to get the job done. A few passes on the sharpmaker and its better than factory. Cardboard does take the edge off all knife steels fairly fast.
 
Bimmer1 said:
I was always under the impression that cardboard is an item that will dull a knife fairly quick if you are cutting a lot of it. But....I have found that most Emerson come sharper out of the box than many factory blades and stay sharp just as long. 154CM steel is not a garbage steel by any stretch of the imagination and was pretty much the industry standard high quality stainless for a long time before S30V came along.
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Yeah, I totally agree with you with 154CM being excellent steel. S30V is my preferred steel, but it more of a propensity to chip than 154CM if I have my facts straight.
 
roughneckrob said:
I find it loses its edge fairly quickly aswell but it takes an edge easily and it stays wicked sharp long enough to get the job done. A few passes on the sharpmaker and its better than factory. Cardboard does take the edge off all knife steels fairly fast.
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Maybe I'm being too demanding--I mean I'm known to be a man of extremes so...

I agree it takes an edge quite easily, but the downside is that it loses it faster.
 
Cardboard is actually a rather abrasive material and will eat any sort of fine edge in no time at all, regardless of the steel. I persoanlly touch the edges up on my knives quite often, either by stropping or just using a fine ceramic or both. This keeps my Emersons nice and sharp and means I really only need to do a full sharpening to get nicks or small chips out of the egde or when the edge finaly wears out to the extent that stropping or "steeling" won't get the edge back.

The grind doesn't really have much to do with edge retention, that has far more to do with the heat treat, the characteristics of the steel and what you use your knife for.
 
My A100 holds a slightly toothy edge for quite a while, and that chisel edge can take a whoopin! Nicked a nail the other day loooked down expecting a rolled edge but it was fine, pretty neat IMO :)
 
Haze, Lycosa and EricV--thanks, it looks like it's just me demanding too much out of my blade--I mean not being realistic.

I almost wanted to get rid of my EKI's not long ago, but I just couldn't--I like the overall look and sturdiness too much. I like heavy duty stuff. I'll be using my ceramic rod more.
 
i love emersons, but they definitely dont hold an edge as long as other similar knives, at least after general cutting tasks.
 
Cardboard, from large corrugated boxes to cereal boxes, is probably the thing I've cut the most of with my CQC10 and I've found the edge to hold up very well given what that material does to a lot of blades. Like Haze mentioned, I go for more frequent lighter sharpening trying to keep the edge around a certain plateau rather than going from really sharp all the way down to dull. Also, if you need to cut cardboard then going with the grain and angling the blade so it's not perpendicular to the surface, making a beveled cut, can do a lot to reduce the resistance and force needed.
 
chipdouglas said:
I like the overall look and sturdiness too much. I like heavy duty stuff. I'll be using my ceramic rod more.
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Bingo! Like most here, my EKI's do not hold that hair-splitting edge like some of my other folders, but I love 'em just as much! I do believe that is an important design factor that allows Emersons to be easily sharpened in the field.
 
in my experience, they dont hold the shaving sharp edge for too long, but they hold a useable edge for a very long time! and they are easy to resharpen! the chisel grinds can take some abuse!
 
dinozzo said:
in my experience, they dont hold the shaving sharp edge for too long, but they hold a useable edge for a very long time! and they are easy to resharpen! the chisel grinds can take some abuse!
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+1 here, i had the same experience, i think its cause the characteristics of the steel and rc Hardness, i like to sharpen 154 cm much more than cpm s30v and i prefer EKi's 154 anytime over Benchmade's version.

I think this is a point where eki should not change. This steel is just OK for me..
 
chipdouglas said:
Could it be the lower RC ?

Or is the chisel grind being the culprit ?
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Hard to say. The Chisel grind is awesome Mr. Emerson has it down to an absolute science. But I've had to sharpen it up a couple times already with little to no issue. :thumbup:
 
I think Emerson heat treats their steel to around RC 58, which is kinda soft for 154CM. Most Competitors like to treat the steel to a higher level Like 59-60.

Benchmade like to have an RC in that area. It holds an edge longer, but when that edge is gone, it is a bear to get back.
 
I found with my Commander it would loose its shaving edge rather quickly but would outcut most any other knife I had at the time after the edge decreased. Even semi-dull the shape/edge design of this knife would cull like nothing!! I'm thinking though that my 2000 Emerson was ATS34 if I remember correctly.
 
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