General Knife Inquiry for Sharpness and Sheath Storage

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Warhawk5891

Joined
Aug 29, 2025
Messages
4
Hi All,

New here - first post, but I figured if there was anywhere to gather some knowledge of it - it'd be here for sure.

Firstly - I know there are substantially more expensive options out there - however this is what I am working with.

I got sold on a knife at a show (yeap, the pretty design drew me in) - I love it, it's heavy which I don't mind - and it's thick.

I tried to find an alternative I like - but everything else seems to "main stream" and isn't as "one-off" as this for the price.

I am trying to sharpen this - I use a 20 degree angle hoping for a long lasting general purpose edge. It will "Cut" - but when I sharpen knives I can normally get them hair razing sharp (I cheat, I use a Worksharp Ken Onion Edition) - This knife is thick, and is supposedly A2 Steel (per the label, and can sort of confirm because I had to buy the "Grinder" attachment" in order to actually create a burr on this) -

At any rate - it's fairly sharp. I can cut things with it reasonably so, and it can grab "some" arm hair - etc. But unlike my kitchen knives it won't shave off hair patches. I guess for a general EDC and Hunting type knife I probably don't want it that sharp. But the fact I can't get it there is aggravating. I also have a smaller version of this, but with a bigger "Belly" I think it's called on it - same thing with the 20 degree and not shaving sharp.

I am terrified to take this edge down anymore degree - is 20 degree on A2 not "Hair Shaving" sharp, or is it this extreme thickness? I want it to be durable, yet really sharp.

Also - Sheath Questions - it came with this sheath, no secondary fastening (button over pummel area, etc.) - the leather sheath constantly loosens up - I water form it by getting it wet, put the knife in it shape, remove the knife and let it dry (sometimes I put the hair dryer on it for a while)...knife will be solid and secure for a little bit, then it loosens up to where when I crawl under something or sit different and the knife will just fall out. It appears to be a fairly solid sheath - what can I do to remedy that? I'd like to do something aside from vertical carry with it - and even then I don't want it falling out anymore lol.

Is this gun show knife brand worth having - or did I get sold a paperwork better suited to look on a shelf and look pretty?

I just realized - I can't figure out how to upload images here - crud - it says "C.F.K. Cutlery Company" on it, A2 and Handmade Knives.
 
Probably not the best steel, and you will be fighting it trying to get it to take and keep an edge. If the steel is on the soft side, when you sharpen it you may get a butt on the edge. Burrs can be frustrating because they can and do scrape hair a little bit as they are sort of like a micro edge, but when you go to cut, they drag. You'll know if you got one by running your fingernail (carefully) toward the edge from the spine. You'll feel your nail catch if there is a burr. Just remember: from the spine toward the edge, not the other way and really even dragging your thumb across the blade sideways doesnt always detect a burr.

The way I sharpen thick softer steel is to take it to a stone to hone it. Once I get a burr, I use a butcher steel to sort of work it back and forth on the primary edge. After that, I take it to a loaded leather strop. Literally just an old piece of leather like a belt with some polishing compound worked in. With some practice, you'll end up with a convex edge which tends to hold up better on thicker and softer edges.

You might try shimming your sheath. A thin piece of leather glued in on the backside at the throat is sometimes enough to tighten it up a bit. The more material you can get down there, the more secure it tends to be.

Best of luck
 
I find it easy to get a hair whittling edge on properly heat treated A2. There are a few possible explanations for your difficulty.

Poor heat treat
Edge not meeting at the apex
Large burr that is not resolved

If you have a jeweler’s loupe you can examine the edge under magnification to see if you have a good apex. Without that, you are essentially only sharpening one side.
Try a good strop to remove the final burr.

Blade thickness does not change the ability of the edge to take a razor edge. But it will definitely affect how well it cuts. A razor edge on a knife with a thick blade and thick edge bevel will be significantly worse at actually cutting things than a moderately sharp edge on a thin blade with a thin edge bevel. And thick bevels are harder to sharpen because you have to remove more material to get the same results.
 
I am going to say - I did look them up and was a bit mixed about reviews. I even reached out to them and never got any responses.

Probably not the type of knife I am looking for that would last then. I assumed a bad heat treat - as soon as I initially researched the company lol.

I'll see if I can cruise the forums and find a recommendation. I liked how unique it looked - not ready to spend hundreds on a knife lol :). I mean, if I had disposable income like that I certainly would on the right one, but this wasn't worth what I paid for it, sigh.

And to point - getting it take and keep the edge has been a royal pain - I do get it sharp - but it Dulls INSANELY fast. Granted I am not the greatest sharpener - my kitchen knives which see a ton of use do stay sharp substantially longer (and they are cheap knives at that lol). I would also check the burr and edge with a lighted magnifier as well to make sure it was catching and taking it, and used sharpie methods as well. I've gone through diamond sharpening stones, through a regular worksharp and finally the bench grinder - and all have the same results. It's a fairly straight forward knife with minimal belly - the belly one was a learning curve lol.

Ok - that more or less confirms my finding of stop wasting time on this one - slap it on a shelf and keep it as a paper-weight :)

If anyone wants to voice a recommendation on a multi-carry knife (Sheath that can scout, horizontal or vertical) around 3-4inch blade length that has a nice grip, decent weight (not feather light!), maybe throwable, choppable etc. I'd very much research it :).
 
To be fair - I didn't search CFK on the forum - I was just sick of google searching it, and said I bet I can get some information here.

Posted while I was starting work lol. Didn't have time to dig around, my apologies ya'll :).

Ok - I'll research a couple of other brands this weekend on the forums. Jeeeesh I did not know knives got so expensive in the every day world...
 
Completely agree with what lambertiana mentioned earlier about thick blades. Especially if that thickness continues all the way down to just behind the edge. Even at equivalent apex angles, a grind that's very thick just behind the edge will never cut as well in deeper materials as a thinner-ground edge at the same apex angle. Every thick-edged blade I've ever tried to sharpen always needed a lot more thinning behind the edge to get it cutting as well as my thinner-ground blades.

Whether other issues like steel quality or purity, or heat treat and hardness are affecting poor results, the thickness of the grind behind the edge has always made the bigger difference in ease of sharpening for me, in my experience.

And with some inexpensively made knives, another factor to consider is whether there's heat-damaged steel at the edge from careless factory grinding or sharpening. This is one area where it can make a big difference in edge stability. Such knives sometimes need to have a lot of weakened steel near the edge removed by repeated resharpening until the edge becomes more stable. Some of my knives with these issues sometimes didn't start cutting well for weeks or months after repeated resetting of the edge.
 
Thanks for everyone's information. Deeply appreciated.

While I have learned tons about some knife steels, methods, heat treats etc. I can only hobby so much at once lol!

I think I'll take a look at something like a Kizer or see if I can find another equivalent.

If anyone has a suggestion I'm definitely all ears :).
 
Brother if you like it use it and as mentioned above use it to practice some sharpening on. May have a burned edge or something and after several sharpening cycles maybe you will get lucky and it will hold an edge a little better. (Thats highly unlikely but heck im talking unicorns and rainbows for ya haha)


You bought it because you liked it, may as well get some use out of it. Weve all had crappy knives and great knives. Consider it a beater and go with it.

When you wet form that sheath use a wooden dowel and really work into the blade shape. Leave the knife in for a while instead of immediately taking it out. Gives it more time to actually form.
 
Most of us started with, or ended up with less than stellar knives. It is what it is. Use it, enjoy it, Learn what you like and don't like about it and what you want another knife to be like. It might be able to take a sharper edge over time if the heat treat on the edge was damaged when they sharpened it with a belt grinder and it got too hot. It might take a few sharpenings to wear that softened metal away and get to something that is hopefully correctly heat treated and not damaged.

For the sheath, oil or wax the blade heavily, and wrap it in a plastic bag or maybe Saran Wrap or other plastic film that will keep out moisture. Use hot water, not quite boiling as that will shrink and harden it too much, but just pure hot tap water (if your water heater is set to only like 120 or below, you'll need to heat the water higher) and then wet form the sheath to the knife using a rounded piece of wood to get the corners closer. Leave it in for a couple hours. Some people have used a vacuum sealer to really get it formed, leaving it in the sealed bag for a few hours, but that can be too much. Remove the knife and let it dry in a warm place. You could try hotter water, but be careful. They aren't using the highest quality leather so it will likely always end up getting soft and stretching out. Leather in general does this and the lower grades can do this much more quickly.
 
If it is, as alleged in some of the threads here, a Pakistani knife-shaped object, any time you put into it is wasted time, that could be spend improving and learning skills on a real knife.
 
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