For a hunting skinning knife, polished or toothy edge?

Polished for everything from my hatchets to my SAK .Some beveled some convex it all depends on my mood when I first sharpen them.
 
There will be many answers, they will all depend on what the user wants.

I find about 2 micron edges to be pretty good for just about everything, that's about 5,000 grit for Japanese stones.

I think edge geometry is more important, but a highly polished edge is less likely to chip and roll.
 
I've found polished edges slide off to easily. Remember, just because the edge doesn't shave hair, does not mean it isn't sharp.
Scott
 
I like a very slightly toothy edge, but a very sharp edge feels that way to me anyway.

Here's a kicker. I have 3 knives from the same maker, all of forged 5160 steel. On two of them they perform exceptionaly well with a polished edge. On the one it doesn't perform as well if use more than the fine ceramic on my DC4 hone.

Most everything else I own is polished to a point, once it shaves I leave it alone.
 
I like a toothy edge for some tasks,


...but I think a polished edge stays sharp longer.



Big Mike
 
for meat processing i like a bit of tooth, if it makes the ribbon sound, that is where i like my hunting knives.
 
Try both. If you dont like it, you can always go up or down in grit and change it. I prefer polished edges, Spyderco Fine ceramic or such. FWIW, polished and hair shaving don't always go together. I can get an arm hair shaving edge with a file if the steel is soft enough to cut with the file. Yet another reason to like Old Hickory.:D
 
i dunno.....i have seen some of the old timers sharpen their knives on godawful hardware stones, and yet their blades are deadly sharp........

I have sharpened my blades on ceramic stones to 8000 grit, then polished them on compound and they still are not sharp like the old timer's knives.....
 
I like polished for push cuts and toothy for draw cuts, but it really doesn't make much difference if the blade is sharp. What's important is consistency: a consistent, identical angle on each side that meets evenly along the length of the blade.
 
And yet, Fallkniven makes knives like the H-1 specifically for this -- with polished convex edges.
 
Ask a sushi chef why he uses such a sharp knife.

Do you want your doctor to use a dull scalpel?

Ever been cut by a razor?
 
I've read where people who process a lot of fish prefer a toothy edge and only touch them up on a super course diamond hone !
 
Esav Benyamin said:
And yet, Fallkniven makes knives like the H-1 specifically for this -- with polished convex edges.
Click to expand...

Actually the edge on fallkniven are neither convex nor polished, they come with a V micro bevel (About 0,5 mm give or take) its just the bevels that is convex.:cool:
And thinking back the edge did not seem all that polished either, but I could be wrong on that one. :confused:

I don't hunt so I can't comment on how well the H1 preform as a hunting knife :o
 
I hunt a lot, I just sharpen my knives till they cut hair and go to work. I use a spyderco double stuff pocket stone most of the time, I do take breaks to touch up my edge if needed, hogs will really dull an edge.

Not much knife work skinning, so I don't think it much matters, you are mostly pulling the hide off and only use your knife on the tight spots, small game you make a few initial cuts then pull the hide off. Most of the knife work is in butchering afterwords, I use a butcher knife and a steel to keep the edge right. Birds are even easier, a pair of game shears works better than a knife for them. Chris
 
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