Factory edge sharpness - who is best?

berthellen said:
My sharpest factory folders have been Shirogorovs hands down, but Shun kitchen knives win all time factory sharpest in my experience.
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You know what, if you include kitchen knives, I'd have to go with Tojiro. Their factory edges are a little uneven but very polished and very sharp.
 
I look at factory knives like unfinished furniture. It's a nice place for me to start.
 
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craytab said:
Seems like we are doing this thread every week or so now. Sharpness out of box only matters if you can't sharpen your knives. If you use your knives they will get dull. I've had dull knives from many companies folks mention as the "sharpest".
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I tend to agree. I've had relatively dull Spydercos and blistering sharp CRKTs.

That said, I was impressed with my Hogue EX01. Quite sharp, but more than that shipped with a polished edge. Pretty unusual to get that level of care at that price point.
 
HwangJino said:
My most expensive blades came the most dull.
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It makes good business sense for the "premium" makers- The sort of people who buy those knives are usually obsessive about bevel angles and edge geometry; better to let them fix it up the way they like it than to take one side on the debate the loose the rest of the crowd.

The guy who is buying a $75 Spyderco is just looking for good quality tool that he can pick up and cut things with - all the other things that make the price of a knife skyrocket from that price point are secondary (or superfluous) to that person.
 
IMO, regardless of price range, any knife SHOULD come sharp out of box. To me, it just shows that the maker cares about all the details. He/she should know what 'sharp' is relative to whatever blade they are making. There really is no good excuse for a dull new blade, especially higher-end. It's like selling someone a new car with the gas tank empty or the tires flat, and expecting him to fill them himself to his liking, because 'he'll have to do it anyway'. The car isn't ready to drive, and the knife isn't ready to cut. Otherwise, the knife should be less expensive due to that much less effort involved in the manufacture.

BTW, I can sharpen my knives. But a knife should already come with a good factory edge.

Probably the sharpest knives I've owned were by Spyderco, Victorinox and Cold Steel.

Jim
 
I agree with james. High price, sharpen the blade or lower the price since you are not a craftsman.
 
James Y said:
Probably the sharpest knives I've owned were by Spyderco, Victorinox and Cold Steel.
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See? the problem is I've had dull knives from all these companies. I have had some ridiculously sharp knives from Cold Steel and Spyderco.

If folks expect "craftsman" level experiences then they need to deal with customs. These are production companies. Sal can't inspect every knife that goes out of all his factories. It would be impossible. Bigger companies all have to rely on individuals. Things fall through the cracks. Not just sharpness of course. If you want perfection you need to have more realistic expectations and be willing to pay for those expectations.
 
craytab said:
Sharpness out of box only matters if you can't sharpen your knives. If you use your knives they will get dull.
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I completely agree with that. However, I will say that a good factory edge angle is far more important than initial sharpness. Older Beckers and newer Kabar knives have probably had the worst examples of that in my experience. Very uneven and usually obtuse. Newer Beckers have fixed the issue, not sure about the Kabars

As far as the most consistent edge angles and the cleanest grinds, newer Emersons and Zero Tolerance knives have been the best for me
 
The answer to this is on a knife by knife basis, not a company or a specific model......
 
I have knives from Benchmade, Spyderco, Victorinox and ZT. They have all come out of the box ready to remove arm hair. Perhaps I've just been very lucky.
 
Sharp is relative but expecting a $300-$500 knife to come only ready for you to customize the edge to your liking is a bit much. Considering that the second you take the factory edge off of it, no vendor would take it back as a return and it also loses value on the secondary market. Most brands are difficult to find in a brick and mortar shop to handle and foregoing the ability to minimally test the edge performance without incurring penalty isn't too much to ask. Maybe knife enthusiasts all have specialty sharpeners but does everyone else?
 
Just received a Spyderco Matriarch 2 today, it is as sharp as it can be, slices and dices a Zigzag Ultralight paper, no rips or tares, just laser smooth cuts. Sharp as an old school Gillette razor straight from the package.
 
I've never owned a Rockstead, or Shiro so all I can say about them is for what you pay they better be sharp. Of normal brands I find spyderco's consistently the sharpest.

Mike
 
Can't speak for some of the really high end knives or customs, but by far the sharpest knives I've gotten out of box were my Mcustas. My Spydercos, CRKTs, Benchmades, and Cold Steels have all been somewhat inconsistent.
 
Spydercos come fairly consistently sharp. The Zero Tolerance knives released this year as well (not so much before this year). Also, MicroTech and William Henry are consistently sharp.
 
Spydercos have a full flat grind (most) so they cut better. The last few I had (Domino, Para 2, Manix 2 S110V) were sharp but not the same sharpness as the VG10 Delicas/Enduras/Lum Chinese I used to own. IMO, the edge finish was of a lower grit and in 2 of them, there was a wire edge. Once sharpened they cut well due to geometry.

My ZTs are also sharp but not quite up there with what Spyderco used to produce especially on their VG10 models.

Shiros are not that sharp - I've handled around 10. They all have that same dullish edge (they'll slice paper and shave but the edge is not crisp - I suspect the belt used to remove the wire edge at the factory rounds the edge too much - the edge is convexed), I'll rank them just behind CRK (same convexed edge).

Some of the knock-off Chinese knives I handle are just sharper than the above.

I don't quite believe that any brand rules them all or is 100% consistent these days.
 
I think Mora is a top runner. Spyderco and Shun as well. Although I am biased on Shun because that's all I use for work at the moment.
 
I agree spyderco comes with the best edges and sharpness. . Leatherman is right there too .. the sharpest blade I have ever seen was my leatherman original super tool surrated blade . And with the funky lock on that tool , that blade got me more than once ..
 
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