Fine or Coarse Edge for a Chopper

[Unbreakable]

So here is my thought... It's my natural process to keep all of my knives razor sharp... However I've been rethinking that a little. For my large choppers I find that they lose their fine razors edge rather quickly when exposed to heavy chopping. They still stay workably sharp but that fine edge doesn't last long. However if I leave them with a coarse edge (Short of shaving but sharp nontheless) I find they stay that way for a long time even through hours and hours of work. So my question is this... is it really all that important for a chopper to be able to push cut paper or should it have a more rugged edge that lends itself to the more power inclined chores a chopper faces. My field knives 4" to 6" blades stay razor sharp and I find that works best for their chores... but I'm rethinking the razor edge ideal for my larger blades.

 

[shecky]

Sharp is sharp. Sharp can be either coarse or polished. I find that polished is rarely necessary, but I do it anyway because I'm nutty that way.

 

[Unbreakable]

Sharp is sharp. Sharp can be either coarse or polished. I find that polished is rarely necessary, but I do it anyway because I'm nutty that way.

You don't notice that a really fine edge goes stops biting faster than a coarser one in hard woods?

 

[Vivi]

I haven't, and I can't think of any scientific reason why that should occur. What knives are you using? I mostly chop with my Fiskars axe and hatchet, and my arm gets tired long before their edges stop biting.

 

[beckerhead]

I don't go overly acute, but I do go full polish. I view a chopper as a highly motivated push cutter, and a fine edge excels in that application. My little Gerber pack axe got 2 weeks of pretty heavy use at deer camp, and while it won't shave at this point, it will still cleanly slice paper. Just my .02

Beckerhead

 

[shecky]

I haven't found polished edges to really enhance chopping. Such fine tuning seems lost on that particular activity. Interestingly, I find that chopping wood isn't as hard on an edge as might seem obvious.

But like I said, sharp is sharp. Coarse, hair splitting edges are just as good for most purposes as polished hairsplitting edges.

 

[Billy516]

What about grind type? I see most choppers seem to have convex edges. Is that pretty much the norm/standard or is there a school of thought that favors a micro bevel on big choppers? I would think the durability of a convex edge with plenty of steel right behind the cutting edge would be more favorable for chopping.

 

[hlee]

Polished edges for chopping for me. My feeling is that toothy edges are easier to roll and break in chopping activities than very polished edges. I could be wrong.

 

[waterdogs]

Polished edges are great for razor blades and impressing friends by making the hair jump off your arm, but IMHO, a working blade with just a wee bit of tooth (as provided by my DMT diamond-impregnated steel) does a better job in most circumstances.