Do you sharpen your knife as soon as you get it?

Many years ago, when I only owned a small handful of knives, I became discouraged with the dull, irregular factory edges on them. It particularly bugged me that there was such wide variation in the factory bevels on them, even among similar/same models from one manufacturer. For a while, I just kept buying new knives, hoping to find THE ONE PERFECT KNIFE with THE PERFECT EDGE, that would really knock my socks off, and would bring my quest to an end. No such luck (yet).

I've now acquainted myself with the beautiful art of sharpening knives, and I look forward to finding out if I can improve upon whatever factory edge/bevel comes on each new knife I buy. In fact, I now enjoy buying old beaters from eBay or wherever, just so I can give 'em some new life with an edge that's probably sharper than anything it originally came with. There's great satisfaction in that. And with each one, I continue to learn more and more and improve my methods and technique. I've begun sharpening knives for a friend of mine, just for the sake of practice. And the positive feedback I've received for it is gratifying. He's never seen his knives this sharp, even when they were brand new. It's one thing to tell myself that I'm doing it right, it's a whole new thing to hear it from someone else who's seen the result of my efforts.

The only new knives I haven't messed with yet, aside from frequent, careful stropping, are from makers who're already doing a great job with their factory edges (namely Spyderco Military/Paramilitary S30V, Paramilitary D2, Manix2 in S90V, and my Chris Reeve Sebenzas). There may come a day when I become confident and ambitious enough to see if I can fine-tune one of those, but I don't see the need for it yet. Almost anything else I buy nowadays is going to get reprofiled, sooner or later, whether I use 'em or not. I know I can make 'em sharper.
 
I always sharpen a new knife before it goes into service. I can improve on the edges from the factory, and often modify the geometry to suit my needs/preferences. Sharpening the knife helps to "make it mine."
 
I have bought some knives that arrived 'scary sharp' and I have since tested them out with some real world usage that showed me their edges were easily up to the task!

Knives that I liked the factory edge on:
BK-7
BK-9
Spydie Endura 4
One of my 4 Opinels.
One of my 2 Moras

But there are a whole bunch that I have not been happy with. For those I usually just sharpen.
The 3 Opinels I wasn't happy with took very little work to be 'scary sharp'. The thin blade with FFG is VERY easy to get sharp enough.

Then there have been a small number that I just couldn't get sharp enough to be happy with. For these it has been out with the XXC or XC diamond hones for a regrind of the bevel.
I just couldn't get an edge I was happy with on my Leatherman K502x so I reprofiled the bevel for a sharper angle - now it is sharp and I am happy. Since it is 154CM I knew it should be capable of much better then I was getting.
 
tnt-user said:
I reprofiled my benchmade 940 to 5 degrees per side. The factory edge stinks:thumbdn:.
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The edge that came on my 940 stunk too!:thumbdn: It's pretty sad that a $35 Spyderco Tenacious came with a killer edge, and a $130 Benchmade came looking and cutting like it was sharpened by a 7 year old. Benchmade needs to learn how to sharpen their knives!

5 degrees huh? I reprofiled mine to 30 with diamond pads then put it on my Sharpmaker, could not get it that sharp until I put a 40 degree micro bevel on it. I'm very green when it comes to sharpening but I've been reading up a lot lately and it looks like I'm going to have to invest in another sharpening system pretty quick. Looks like the majority prefers the Edge Pro system.
 
By the way, my Spyderco mule came in very dull
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My new mule slipped out of my hands (I had coated the G-10 in mineral oil to blacken it) bounced butt first on the carpet and shot through my slipper and stuck in my foot, a bloody mess! I won't be sharpening that sucker!

The edge that came on my both of my 940's was extremely abrupt but it came to such an even grind (I guess you'd call it) that they shave hair. I bet they're every bit of 45 - 50 dgrees but still that tiny edge/bevel? is scary sharp.

I usually dull my knives when I sharpen them, but I'm getting better...very slowly. :)
 
Depends on how the edge is out of box, or, for me, how the previous person took care of the knife. If the edge is nice, sharp, and even, I'll usually carry it a bit and see how it works. If necessary, I'll strop it and use it till it needs to be sharpened on a stone.
 
cziv said:
My new mule slipped out of my hands (I had coated the G-10 in mineral oil to blacken it) bounced butt first on the carpet and shot through my slipper and stuck in my foot, a bloody mess! I won't be sharpening that sucker!

The edge that came on my both of my 940's was extremely abrupt but it came to such an even grind (I guess you'd call it) that they shave hair. I bet they're every bit of 45 - 50 dgrees but still that tiny edge/bevel? is scary sharp.

I usually dull my knives when I sharpen them, but I'm getting better...very slowly. :)
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Mine wouldn't shave, in fact it would not even cut paper very clean. I tried it on the Sharpmaker and you are right, I had to tilt it beyond the 40 degrees quite a bit to get it to take the edge off, using the magic marker method.
 
Colorado Fatboy said:
The edge that came on my 940 stunk too!:thumbdn: It's pretty sad that a $35 Spyderco Tenacious came with a killer edge, and a $130 Benchmade came looking and cutting like it was sharpened by a 7 year old. Benchmade needs to learn how to sharpen their knives!

5 degrees huh? I reprofiled mine to 30 with diamond pads then put it on my Sharpmaker, could not get it that sharp until I put a 40 degree micro bevel on it. I'm very green when it comes to sharpening but I've been reading up a lot lately and it looks like I'm going to have to invest in another sharpening system pretty quick. Looks like the majority prefers the Edge Pro system.
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I find anything over 15 not offering any benifit. I don't like anything over 20 degrees inclusive but love the 10 degree inclusive benchmade.
 
if the knife is sharp out of the box, i'll use it as is until it needs a touch-up. my Leatherman came wicked sharp.

if it's blunt out of the box, i'll sharpen it and fire off an e-mail to the company.
 
only good factory edges I have found;
Bark river- awesome edges
spyderco- good great with a strop
benchmade- mostly have huge burrs but some are as good or better than spyderco when they get it right


EDIT; yay 600 posts
 
ukknifer said:
Hello,

Every knife I get , I must sharpen or I don't feel its mine. BUT.

As I have many knives know, I wish I left some of them alone.


Do you have this as well?
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Generally no. On new knives, I don't touch the edge at all until I'm ready to use them. But if I pick up a used knife that's dull, I'll usually sharpen it.
 
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I only buy users but I only sharpen them if they really need it, just as soon save the steel.
 
Some of my friends are doctors, and when they found out my obsession with knives they wanted to bring out some scalpels. This, of course, was after I cut down a bunch of pizza boxes with such minimal effort that they all wanted to try some cuts - needless to say they were impressed.

I was looking at some scalpels, and one think I noticed was that they were all chisel ground. I estimated that they were probably ground with something like a 20 degree angle, possibly a bit less. They were sharp...but my knife was sharper. I could see with the unaided eye the ridges left by whatever they used to sharpen the edge. If you take a close look at factory edges you can see the small ridges left behind by the sharpener.

When I get a new knife, I like to re-bevel it to about 20 degrees inclusive so that I can have a 30 degree inclusive microbevel. I use a course diamond stone, then a fine diamond stone. I then move to successively finer grits, the sharpmaker course/fine/ultrafine. Even without lapping tape, I've found that I can get a mirror polish on the back bevel. In my opinion, the uniformity of the surface of the back bevel really aides in reducing the amount of friction when cutting things. The actual edge itself should be smooth enough that you don't get that "gritty" feeling when you run your fingernail down the edge. That's when I think an knife is sharp. YMMV
 
Dorito Monk said:
If a knife is dull, I'll sharpen it.

So, if it's dull out of the box, you bet it gets sharpened. If it's sharp out of the box, I'll wait until it needs a touch up before giving it a touch up.

If it ain't broke...
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+1

Some of the new blades I've gotten of late are sharpened quite well, so no sense in messing with them. Others definitely need a good sharpening, from touch ups to serious reprofiling. Sometimes the worst sharpened blades are on the custom knives I've received. :eek: Sad but true.

-Mark
 
I wait until the knife needs to be sharpened. If I trade or buy a used model, I will often sharpen it when it gets to me unless it is in good shape.
 
230grains said:
I've never come across a remotely satisfactory factory edge.
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lulz,looks like you have never owned a knife that didn't come out of a gumball machine.:jerkit:

SPC12[large].jpg


sharp enuf 4 ya??:D:D:D
 
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