Follow up poll if you care about the factory edge of a knife

After a new knife purchase, do you immediately sharpen it yourself?

  • Total voters
    68
N

nevertakeadayoff

Joined
Dec 10, 2021
Messages
445
Followup for the people who sharpen their knives and care about how sharp it arrives from the manufacturer.

Thanks guys, this is fun : )

Dull knife from the factory poll

Someone brought this up in another forum... Oh, it was in the General Knife Discussion forum.... this one lol I'M NOT TRYING TO PROVE A POINT! I JUST THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A FUN POLL : )
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I always hope for a nice factory edge and am really disappointed if it's super obtuse or otherwise crappy. I don't have time to reprofile all my knives so having a nice factory edge that I can strop and hone on some fine stones as needed is super appreciated by me.
 
Factory production knife edges are simply a starting point, with focus on cost and warranty liability minimization. Many times they are ok for some tasks, but are typically severely wanting from a performance perspective (thick BTE, etc.). Factory edges are left intact until a decision to keep and use, because the vast majority of online community seems to believe factory edges increase second-hand value and corrective sharpening (fixing factory grinds) typically does not payback investment value. After a knife is chosen to be kept, carried, used, geometry is adjusted based on application. Knives with poor primary grinds are returned or offed as time investment is rarely worth the effort, and can confuse future sharpening's.
 
I like to see how the factory edge performs when I get a new knife. If it is reasonably sharp, I'll use it for a while before i sharpen it to my liking. I have no expectations for factory edges, I'd rather see good fit and finish... I can easily take care of the edge.
 
I use it until it needs sharpened. I never require more then a “ working edge”. Never worried about it really. Sharp enough is sharp enough.
 
I expect a knife to be decently sharp out of the box. It's a knife. It's supposed be sharp.

However, that expectation does not prevent me from almost immediately putting my own edge on a new blade as a standard practice. Not possible for me to get a feel for the performance until I put my own edge on it.
 
I voted "no" because "rarely" wasn't an option. I'll only do it if the factory edge is truly horrible but I really like the knife or have some other reason to not just return it.

I feel like getting a dull knife new from the box used to be more common with budget knives. Now it seems more a question of "how sharp" or if it was sharpened badly. Either way, factory edges are rarely great. The angle is often wider than it needs to be. The steel is often a little fatigued. Things will improve with sharpening but I'll get to it as needed.
 
I do not know how to sharpen a knife. It must have factory edge because once it's dull I go buy a new knife.

I'm just kidding but not about not knowing how to sharpen. It's next on my todo eventually list..learn how.
 
I don’t always sharpen a new knife especially if it’s decently sharp from the factory but I do always strop a new blade to get the max sharpness from the factory edge.
 
Thanks, we gathered some good data : )

I expected the last option to have more votes based on the posts I've seen from others around here, but not everyone will see this thread or care to vote. The people who keep their edge like you see in Booba1000's avatar probably rebevel the apex.
 
I like for my factory blades to be sharp, but if they aren't, I can make them sharp. So no big deal either way for me.
 
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