Dullest Out of the Box

I admit to being quite surprised at many responses. :eek: Except for Cold Steel and queen (one always sharp the other always dull), it seems there is a great inconsistency in sharpness (or the perception thereof) in most knives whether custom or production. o_O I personally have found some companies mentioned as sharp or dull to be the opposite in the ones I own. :confused::confused:
 
Queen cutlery. They taught me to drop ship all my knives for reprofiling and to have the edge set properly. The only knives I've found almost perfect out of the box every time are Victorinox and I have quite a few. Routinely only need a quick strop to be hair popping.
 
katanas said:
I admit to being quite surprised at many responses. :eek: Except for Cold Steel and queen (one always sharp the other always dull), it seems there is a great inconsistency in sharpness (or the perception thereof) in most knives whether custom or production. o_O I personally have found some companies mentioned as sharp or dull to be the opposite in the ones I own. :confused::confused:
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It's a little surprising, but at the same time this thread is fairly subjective. I'm sure our biases and preferences are showing. I'm a fan of Benchmade, and I know I'm willing to overlook an uneven edge once in a while (I'm going to reprofile it anyway, right?), but I'm probably a little more critical of other brands' knives. It's probably similar for others and their preferred brands, whether we want to admit it or not.

I'm most surprised about the number of people who have mentioned Chris Reeve Knives in this thread. I haven't handled one, so I can't give my own opinion, but I've heard nothing but praise for them otherwise.
 
My Schrade SCHF18. I like the handle, looks and sheath. The edge or what I'll call the edge needed some ( okay a lot ) of TLC. I got it, new, at a gunshow.
 
Strider Hissatsu. Not sure if they really tried to sharpen the forward edge though since I didn't hear of any that came sharp. Mine wouldn't cut paper.
 
bobobama said:
Almost all the lower cost, but reputable, machetes (you know who you are).
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Every factory machete I have ever purchased, with two exceptions, has been so dull that I could press my palm into the edge hard and not suffer any consequences. For those that car, the exceptions are TOPS and ESEE. Nothing I have ever owned has ever been duller.
 
It is like opening a box of cracker jacks, remember those ? :) and seeing what toy they threw in there as much as seeing what edge arrives on your knife.

Dullest would probably echo the Queen brand as well, many moons ago, I was naïve enough to email them about a particularly poor grind and thick edged folder, "thinking" they would say 'Gee Mr Graley that's terrible, please send it back and we will make that right for you straight away!' of course they must not have monitored their email, or have a content catcher for those with complaints as I never did get a reply...

Seeing all the CRK's mentioned, I remember emailing to Anne also many many moons ago, that the last couple of Sebenza's I had gotten the edges were quite thick and not very sharp. Unlike Queen, she, being gracious as always, more Queen like than Queen? :) she did respond right away and took that under advisement and at least made me feel that someone really cared about their quality and edges. Being that they produce a great number of knives, it is probably hard to not let a few slip through.

Now, Cold Steel, while Mr LT stirs up a lot of commentary on his sales pitch, you can not deny that the man has passion for knives! I do not recall ever getting a Cold Steel that was not sharp out of the box, I have had a few with thick edges, but those were on large knives, recently a TrailMaster which I returned as it was much too thick behind the edge for my tastes, BUT, even thick, it was very sharp.

Spyderco is also one that I feel arrives with excellent edges, always keen and well done.

as a few have mentioned, a knife arriving dull is a Debbie-Downer but like all knives you will eventually need to sharpen them after using. BUT it's those that did not set the bevels evenly that really irritate me the most as now you have to CORRECT and set those initial bevels and that takes a lot of time and work to get done, not to mention the edge you are now shortening the life of...ugh boy that does bug me :)

G2
 
I'll get flamed for this but all my earlier Emerson's were the dullest I've ever had. And had the poorest linerlocks ever.

RJ Martin's blades will cut you if you look at them. TK Steingass also grinds them razor sharp.
 
OilMan said:
Strider Hissatsu. Not sure if they really tried to sharpen the forward edge though since I didn't hear of any that came sharp. Mine wouldn't cut paper.
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My Strider BT was about as sharp as a butter knife when I got it lol
 
91bravo said:
Busse and kin usually come with really obtuse edge grinds, but nothing a little reprofiling can't fix. Once that is done, they are excellent cutters!
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I think they are left that way on purpose...in order that the "customer" can set it up to his unique purpose. But yes, they sharpen up just fine to your choice of included edge-angle and stay that way for a long time. I got a Whisky Warden once that was pretty sharp, perhaps by accident. :)
My all-time favorite fixed blade.
 
My Randall Model 14. Brand new straight from an authorized dealer. Butter knife. Randall knives should be ashamed of themselves.
 
I dont understand how a company (crk) known for insane precision and tolerances cant sharpen a knife. Makes no sense.

Case sends me.some pretty crude edges.

Cold steel wins sharpest by far. Insane consistency too.
 
BenchCo Spydermade said:
I dont understand how a company (crk) known for insane precision and tolerances cant sharpen a knife. Makes no sense.
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While I own 5 CRKs and only the first one actually came dull OOB, IMO, there is a clear reason why many CRKs often come with dull, obtuse edges; it is because they use convex edge bevels. So even though their primary blade grinds are thin (their original hollow grind being very thin), the edges themselves are thickened by the convex grind. It tends to cancel out the benefits of the ultra-thin hollow grind (and even their thicker combination flat/hollow grind on the Inkosi models is pretty thin). Even though 4 of the 5 I own came sharp OOB, they could have come sharper. IMO, if CRK used a consistent V grind of about 18-20 DPS on their edge bevels, every CRK would cut like a laser and much more aggressively OOB, while still having good edge strength.

But then, that's only my opinion, and I'm not a knife maker.

Jim
 
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The worst I've seen personally is my Benchmade mini grip that I got at cabelas. It was my first $50 plus knife. It was horribly dull out of the box, but I've since learned that they are not exactly consistent when it comes to fit and finish.
 
I ordered only 2 BM in my life and both where in 154cm and sharp, the 531 was razor sharp, all saks I owned came scary sharp. Ontario, Ka-Bar, Condor are a kind of "sharpness lottery" I got all kinds of grinds from them. Every Morakniv where extremely sharp. The Kansbol and Robust where absolutely crazy, while the companion and the rest of the Crafline and Bushcraft where good. And also every Henkels, Wusthof and Victorinox where of surgical sharpness on delivery, and I owed a lot of them, in majority Henkels, they are great.
 
I recently got in a knife, sort of semi-custom, the blade was ground down nice and thin but the bevels were not evenly made. The one side was pretty much in the same plane, but the opposite side had dips and wobbles that had to be sharpened out in order to get a full apex made.

I know people when grinding blades will favour one side better than the other, much like being right handed makes your left hand writing look atrocious ;) I guess that translates over to bevel grinding too.

Point is, you are working to sharpen your knife, one side looks great, bevel all nice and flat and even along the edge...the other side as you angle the blade to catch the light, you can see where you have been sharpening hasn't reached some areas since there are wobbles in there, frustrating to see. I hate shortening the life of any blade but, if you don't bring those bevels to an apex, you are not really getting a sharp edge on there.

G2
 
I have only received one new knife that didn't pass the fingernail hang test and that was a Gerber that was gifted to me but that was to be expected coming from Gerber.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
I recently got in a knife, sort of semi-custom, the blade was ground down nice and thin but the bevels were not evenly made. The one side was pretty much in the same plane, but the opposite side had dips and wobbles that had to be sharpened out in order to get a full apex made.

I know people when grinding blades will favour one side better than the other, much like being right handed makes your left hand writing look atrocious ;) I guess that translates over to bevel grinding too.

Point is, you are working to sharpen your knife, one side looks great, bevel all nice and flat and even along the edge...the other side as you angle the blade to catch the light, you can see where you have been sharpening hasn't reached some areas since there are wobbles in there, frustrating to see. I hate shortening the life of any blade but, if you don't bring those bevels to an apex, you are not really getting a sharp edge on there.

G2
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That`s why I believe guys like REK are probably ambidextrous :cool:, My om was like that and everything was always perfect... on both sides.
 
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sXePhenomenal said:
Buck 2018 traditional forum knife. Need to get it sharpened and reprofiled such a chunky edge
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That's too bad!!! I've had several of the sharpest ever edges in 3 decades on a bunch of Buck knives!!!! And I've had a triple handful of high end knives from high value production and customs.

Buck does know how to do it. You would think they would take some extra care with more expensive knives for collectors.....who also spend their time online talking about knives.......





My dullest..... that would be tough to pick just one.

I've had knives where the factory forgot to make the edge bevels even meet in some places!!

Probably a few Queen knives with D2 blades. Even more appalling was they were collaborations with custom makers, and more expensive than the standard Queen folders....

I had to spend hours doing full regrinds on 4 blades.....


Then, after all tha work, the spring on one snapped...



I've had a Busse where the last 4 inches was safe to grab.... but it only too a few strokes on a diamond stone to be shaving, so I think that might have been a bit of wire edge that had been left on the edge.

I usually reprofile their large choppers anyway....
 
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