Do you need a bragging edge on your EDC?

It's much more important to be able to brag. It gives me a warm feeling when that arm or leg hair pops off.
 
Speaking for the Calypso jr., I like to have it bragging sharp (aka sharpened at 30°, finished on the white flats of the 204 Sharpmaker). Also, my PE knives usually have a hair popping edge.
Yet, my EDC is a SE Delica, and unfortunately I still didn't learn to sharpen those serrations so I restore the factory sharpness. :(
 
I've had rather good luck with using a barbers strap. A lot of people like the steel, but I think that the strap while knocking off the burrs still has a very fine sharpening action.
 
Bragging sharp! Or rather, I usually like to have at least one knife that's bragging sharp (e.g., Calypso Jr.). I have other knives, like my used and abused 710, that don't always get the sharpening attention they could use, and often have more of a working edge.
 
How about a practical answer (almost a year after the last post)

I feel that me EDC should be sharp/durable enough to cut someone out of a seat belt in an emergency.
 
I do have one on me at all times that is 'lethal sharp'. So sharp that if you dropped it on your foot it would slice your shoe or your foot. I mean pop hairs off the arm one at a time by choice sharp. I never loan this one. It is mine for my use only. Mainly I don't loan it because I don't want it dulled or abused but also from experience I may as well hand the person I loan it to a band aid as well as the knife because there is about a 50% chance he/she will cut himself/herself with it using it or closing it.

I loan out my SAK blade or my Swiss tool Serratted edge, never my single blade EDC. It is too much like a pocket razor for most people to handle I think. I guess you could call that one my 'bragging sharp' knife but no one else ever sees it except when it is in my hand being used. So it would be a bit hard to brag about it really.
 
Lately I have been carring a BM Doug Ritter Grip as my EDC. I keep what I would call a conservative edge on it. I know I could make it sharper and thin it out more, but I want it to be able to stand up to some hard use and still be functional. However, I feel the edge I regularly keep on it is still far sharper than most people are used to and I would be able to brag about it if I felt the need. I rarely ever brag about how sharp my knives are or demonstrate how sharp they are, except on these forums of course! :P
 
Bragging is definitely the way I go with my two EDC's.

I did recently back off from going with full 30 degree angles and put a little bit of 40 on the edge now. It lasts much longer and after stropping still grabs and cuts hair above the skin. Even my D2 and S30V blades are now compound beveled then stropped.

Chris
 
This is slightly OT, but wouldn't it be great to have a kind of Beaufort scale for knife sharpness? Look at all the posts in this thread that could have used one--"Sharp 4 is fine by me." "Not me, Sharp 7 is my minimum." "Sharp 5 for my worker and 10 for my bragger." I leave it to you adepts to work out the details. I'm lucky to get up around a 5 on my best days (whatever that turns out to mean).
 
It's best not to brag but if you are going to there are alot more important things than a knife edge, IMHO. I brag about my kids, wife's good looks, my smart Golden Retriever (really she is!).
 
This is a perfect excuse for a three bladed stockman or whittler. You have three different blades in one knife body that can be sharpened and polished to different levels. I always open my knife before I let someone use it, so I can control which blade they use. And yes, I do have any number of knives that I don't offer to let other people use. :)
 
I've found that if I put a multi-bevel edge on my knives, they can honed to incredible sharpness and still last a very long time. It's a bit time consuming and more difficult to touch up but I think it's worth it.
 
Laceration said:
I've found that if I put a multi-bevel edge on my knives, they can honed to incredible sharpness and still last a very long time. It's a bit time consuming and more difficult to touch up but I think it's worth it.
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That is known as the 'poor man's convex'... Why do you not try a real convex on one of your cheaper knives and see how easy it is to maintain?
 
For me it MUST shave hair before it leaves my garage/shop. I wouldn't feel staisfied otherwise.

Mike Coughlin
 
I am the only guy in the neighborhood who can leave a blank piece of paper with about 40 or 50 slices in it as a note and they know its me. :cool:
 
I live on a farm, and a lot of the stuff I cut around the place is hard on edges. I’ve long since decided on an efficient edge on my EDC, because a bragging edge just doesn’t last long enough—and repairing it takes too long.
 
jmknife said:
This is a perfect excuse for a three bladed stockman or whittler. You have three different blades in one knife body that can be sharpened and polished to different levels. I always open my knife before I let someone use it, so I can control which blade they use.
Click to expand...

This is what I do but for slightly different reasons. Let's face it, some people are just awkward with knives. I prefer to open the knife and hand it to them and then I often hear "how do you close this"? I prefer to say "I'll show you" and take the knife. Sure it may hurt their pride a bit, not being able to do it themselves. But people have cut themselves with my knives so I'm careful. My edges aren't usually bragging sharp but often sharper than the factory edge. As a result many people aren't familiar with such a sharp blade.

Also when I see someone having trouble with the knife I don't hesitate to give them a tip. "Cut away from you, choke up and put your thumb on the back" are some common pieces of advice. It amazes me to see so many people use a knife in an unsafe manner.
 
I like working sharp on most everything. Brag sharp is nice on a single blade of a multiblade, but not useful on a working knife.
 
I don't sharpen to a bragging edge per se. The thing is, outside of Bladeforums, the vast majority of people don't carry knives, much less know how to sharpen one. So even though I don't go for ultimate sharpness, more often than not I have a knife that is sharper that a lot of people have seen.

Case in point, I was eating breakfast one time and a friend saw how easily my Laguiole cut through my bagel. She asked to see my knife and then asked if she could continue cutting up the bagel. How could I refuse a woman offering to serve me breakfast? When she was done she told me that my Laguiole was the sharpest knife she's ever used.
 
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