Factory edge sharpness - who is best?

Spyderco is number one for sure in sharpness out of the box. The second most consistently sharp out of the box for me has been Cold Steel. Mora would be up there with CS as well.
 
Spyderco. Love the 30° inclusive from the factory.

Rockstead goes above and beyond. In sharpness and price haha.

Moras are great. The apex has no micro bevel and is very clean. They have the mass production of sharp down to science.
 
I Find that spyderco and Coldsteel come with the best edge. The Benchmade the I received out of box was trash, but thats just my opinion.
 
Opinel, Rough Rider (traditional slip joints and lock backs, I have not tried one of their fixed blades yet) and Buck are consistently shaving sharp out of the box.
 
This is a tough question to answer simply.

So many different kinds of edges.

V and convex edges have a different feel. Polished or toothy. Push cut or draw cut.

What material. The same edge that excels at one task may not be best at another. Tree topping hair? For how long do you need the sharp factory edge to last?

I have had shockingly sharp edges from Cold Steel.

One of the bite-e-ist edges came from Spiderco, though that was from a mean wire edge. Kind of wobbly and rolled and chipped pretty easy, but with a few passes on a stone then a ceramic stick it was fantastic.
 
Sharpest from the box is by far the Spyderco Nilakka. So sharp that if you watched it for too long your eyes would bleed.
 
I feel like this topic has alot to do with blade geometry as a lot of knives I have bought I thought were very sharp at the time.

Since being into knives I have to say that Spyderco has had the sharpest knives "out of the box"
 
For me it varies by knife more than by company. Sharpest knives I've gotten out of box:

Cold Steel tuff lite
Spyderco manix s30v
Cold Steel voyager
spyderco dragonfly(vg10)

I've had other knives from both these companies that weren't close to as sharp as these. YMMV
 
Sharpest edge I've ever taken out of a box was an Ontario Blackbird. Shocked me as I have customs and other production knives as well.
 
Spyderco just like everyone else has said. The dullest knife I ever purchased was a Benchmade Mel Pardue 3550, I think it must have slipped thru and didn't get an edge at all. It was like a trainer.
 
My Flexcut beats anything else I've seen by a country mile. But that's probably because they make wood carving tools instead of regular knives.
 
The term "sharp" can be a very relative thing. What I thought was sharp years ago, is very different now that I have some hours under my belt with multiple sharpening systems. So for me it's consistency and even/balanced final grinds that is important. I've had both sharp and not-so from everything cheap to expensive....ZT or Benchmade range, all the way down to Rough Riders. I should mention that blade steel and geometry really make a difference also. A "pretty sharp" ZT in 204P/M390 is not comparable to a "really sharp" Rough Rider. The high end steel will hold that average edge for quite some time, while the mystery stainless RR that is super sharp, may only be so for minutes of use.

So it all depends on what "sharp" means to you, and what you plan on doing with that edge. I do have dozens of RR's I would consider fairly sharp out of the box...for what my usage intentions are. But the cheap knives tend to be all over the board with consistency.

As other have mentioned, I would consider Spyderco to be VERY consistent (of course, I'm speaking my samples only), with both final grind, sharpness, and evenness. ZT's have really improved their game on recent releases. Older models may have some variance. But overall quality allows for a little tweaking and good to go for years.

My Kershaws have been all over the map. But one standout I've seen, of the half dozen Blur's I've purchased, they have been some of the sharpest out of the box of just about any of my collection, and even grinds to boot.

So for me now, I simply look for a nice even final grind on every knife I buy (if possible). If it's razor sharp, great, I'll get some use out of it before putting a stone to it. But if not, It's pretty easy and quick to make that way with an even edge. I just hate edges that wave all over the place. Sharp of not, they will soon need a full reprofile, and I shouldn't have to do that on something right out of the box.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top