HELP. Newbie Question

C

clockwurk

Joined
Apr 20, 2012
Messages
6
Hi guys, I'm new to knives and this forum. I just started collecting about a month ago. I currently own two knives. One Spyderco Endura and a Ka-bar Tanto 1245.

My question is, I received the Ka-bar Tanto 1245 yesterday as a gift but after opening it, I noticed that its significantly less sharp than my Spyderco Endura. With the Spyderco, I can cut hair on my arm, slice paper, and cut paracord with downward pressure ( without sawing back and forth ).

So I went to a local outdoor shop and I paid them to sharpen it for me. When it was done, I didn't see much of a different from before. The person then told me that, this knife because its large ( 7" blade ) should never be razor sharp and that it will never be as sharp as a folder, because its was made that way. He said my knife is like an axe, intended for blunt force to cut through something like wood. And that sharpening it to a razor point would only dull it faster.

Is this correct? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question... but I don't know if he was telling me the truth or just wanted me to go away.

Below is the spec of the knife if it helps.

http://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/12

Thank you in advance.
 
clockwurk said:
Hi guys, I'm new to knives and this forum. I just started collecting about a month ago. I currently own two knives. One Spyderco Endura and a Ka-bar Tanto 1245.

My question is, I received the Ka-bar Tanto 1245 yesterday as a gift but after opening it, I noticed that its significantly less sharp than my Spyderco Endura. With the Spyderco, I can cut hair on my arm, slice paper, and cut paracord with downward pressure ( without sawing back and forth ).

So I went to a local outdoor shop and I paid them to sharpen it for me. When it was done, I didn't see much of a different from before. The person then told me that, this knife because its large ( 7" blade ) should never be razor sharp and that it will never be as sharp as a folder, because its was made that way. He said my knife is like an axe, intended for blunt force to cut through something like wood. And that sharpening it to a razor point would only dull it faster.

Is this correct? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question... but I don't know if he was telling me the truth or just wanted me to go away.

Below is the spec of the knife if it helps.

http://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/12

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

No it isn't. Sounds like you got jipped. I guess he was just too lazy to completely reprofile it. Or he used some machine and didn't know anything about knives.

My Recon Scout in 5/16th thick blade will whittle hair


I'd say it is time to buy some stones and look up some youtube videos on how to sharpen
 
clockwurk said:
So I went to a local outdoor shop and I paid them to sharpen it for me. When it was done, I didn't see much of a different from before. The person then told me that, this knife because its large ( 7" blade ) should never be razor sharp and that it will never be as sharp as a folder, because its was made that way. He said my knife is like an axe, intended for blunt force to cut through something like wood. And that sharpening it to a razor point would only dull it faster..
Click to expand...

Yikes. The outdoor shop guy's a moron. Nothing he said was right.

res1cue is right. Learn to sharpen. That blade, even if it came sharp, wasn't going to stay sharp forever. Read around here, hang out in the maintenance subforum...you'll learn to sharpen. If I can do it, anybody can.
 
Thx res1cue, marcinek!

Yeah I figured. I was just afraid to sharpen myself. Everyone kept telling me that I shouldn't cause it will ruin the blade, but then again, they are are not knife experts.

I did watch a couple of videos on how to do it. It doesn't look terribly difficult. I was thinking of practicing with a really cheap knife and see how that goes. ANd keep doing my research.

Thanks again. I'm glad I signed up here!
 
clockwurk said:
I was thinking of practicing with a really cheap knife and see how that goes. ANd keep doing my research.
Click to expand...

Phenomenal idea. I suggest an Old Hickory kitchen knife. They are inexpensive, easy to sharpen, great to learn on and mess with. And, they are very good knives!
 
clockwurk said:
Yeah I figured. I was just afraid to sharpen myself. Everyone kept telling me that I shouldn't cause it will ruin the blade, but then again, they are are not knife experts.
Click to expand...

Wow. That might be the silliest thing I ever heard. So if you don't sharpen it and use it and make it even duller, what would they tell you to do then?

Good idea on the practicing on a cheap knife. I recommend the sharpie technique, where you black out the entire edge with a sharpie. When you start grinding, you should see all of the sharpie disappear
 
clockwurk said:
Hi guys, I'm new to knives and this forum. I just started collecting about a month ago. I currently own two knives. One Spyderco Endura and a Ka-bar Tanto 1245.

My question is, I received the Ka-bar Tanto 1245 yesterday as a gift but after opening it, I noticed that its significantly less sharp than my Spyderco Endura. With the Spyderco, I can cut hair on my arm, slice paper, and cut paracord with downward pressure ( without sawing back and forth ).

So I went to a local outdoor shop and I paid them to sharpen it for me. When it was done, I didn't see much of a different from before. The person then told me that, this knife because its large ( 7" blade ) should never be razor sharp and that it will never be as sharp as a folder, because its was made that way. He said my knife is like an axe, intended for blunt force to cut through something like wood. And that sharpening it to a razor point would only dull it faster.

Is this correct? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question... but I don't know if he was telling me the truth or just wanted me to go away.

Below is the spec of the knife if it helps.

http://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/12

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Ka-Bar USMC type knives are kinda annoying to sharpen right out of the box. Seems like they don't take an edge very easily, but once you get a better angle profile, I'm sure it'll be much easier.
 
Thx again guys,

marcinek, I just ordered the Old Hickory kitchen knife lol.

res1cue, I saw a video on this in Youtube. Some guy named "BLUNTRUTH4U". His sharpening video was 4 videos long. I think he was the best one I found so far. But if you have other recommendations, send a link my way!
 
Good choices for 1st knives! I learned to sharpen knives using my terrific $8 Ozark trails knives(3). I also practiced dremmeling jimping (fail) on my Wally world knives. In my experiance MOST sports store employees are not true knife/gun people. Especially big well known companies/chains. It's just another low paying job to most employees. I would seek out someone in your area with an excellent reputation for knife sharpening skills. There will probably only be a few. Live and learn.
 
res1cue, thx for the link. Gonna watch it now.

mwhich50, thats exactly where I went. Never again. Lesson learned for sure!

Just an update. I found a place locally while driving around, and the guy there was really helpful. I told him my situation and he was kind enough to fix my knife for free. He said one of his pet peeves was a dull knife lol. Now its shaving the hair off my arm and cutting paper no problem. He also recommended me to learn to sharpen my own knives.

I have to tell you all, being really new to the hobby, its really great to know theres a ton of people willing to help. Its really a great community. Im glad I joined.
 
The Endura will slice better than the Ka-bar because it's a thinner grind... You generally have to balance a tradeoff between slicing ability and durability, and those two knives are each built with different goals in mind. So the Endura may always seem sharper when doing something like a paper cut test, even if both of them have the same sharpness.

It shouldn't be too hard to sharpen a Ka-bar, though. I'd echo the others in recommending that you learn to sharpen yourself. If you get something like a Spyderco Sharpmaker, it will do everything you need to do and eventually save you a lot of money because you won't have to keep paying someone to sharpen. Plus, the edge you can put on a knife with a system like that by hand will always be better than the factory edge to the edge you can get by sending the knife back to be sharpened by the manufacturer.
 
Thanks for the info Tsujigiri :)

I'm defiantely gonna learn to sharpen myself. I just ordered some japanese water stones. Hopefully it will get here soon.
 
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