how important is it for a knife being sold to never have been sharpened?

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If it is a collectable knife, the factory edge is preferred. Otherwise, if the sharpening is done at a professional level, meaning no messup, I'll be willing to pay as if it were with the factory edge, maybe even more.
 
It definitely detracts from the value imo. Not always because it was a bad sharpening job necessarily, it just means that the knife has more than likely been used, and used knives, in most cases, have to be cheaper than a new equivalent.

That being said, I have never had any issues selling knives that have been sharpened even 10+ times, but I also have the knives priced accordingly.

Plus, as you would expect, people buying here on BF (knife people) are probably going to be more particular, on average, than say some unknown person buying on Ebay..
 
When you buy used: you pay, and hope for the best...
If you can't accept that: then you only buy new...
 
jc57 jc57 Very kind of you to say so and for collectors I would hazard that an unsharpened blade does hold more value. Recently I had the GEC 88 and both blades could have used some sharpening but as it was a catch and release for me, I wanted to list it as mint in tube as someone might want to just collect it. Or they might prefer their own method of sharpening, which then they could maintain it with what they are currently using.

G2
 
If I was looking at a knife, and the factory edge was asymmetrical, I wouldn’t pay full price. I’d haggle a discount because it is more work to get the edge where it needs to be. If the seller was a craftsman and offered to fix it at no charge then I’d be happy to pay asking price.

I use my knives. They need to be sharp.

So no, it doesn’t matter to me.
 
For me, new is new, and used is used. Meaning, If I'm buying a new knife, it should have the factory edge. If used, having been resharpened and other things as well should decrease it's value.

I will say this; I'd like to see more lightly used nice knives for sale. Almost all of the ones I have are basically new, and pricey, (for me), and I'd feel bad boogering them up. Some people sell "used" knives that hardly look it, at nice discounts. Those ads are the sweet spot.
 
If it was sharpened it would depend on how much it was sharpened and with what.

Couple sharpenings with a good guided sharpener or freehand by somebody that knows what they are doing? Nice, great, perfect
Sharpened every few days for a couple months by somebody using a cheap pull through sharpener? Had the bench grinder or belt sander special and is now all kinds of colours? GTFO.
That is why a lot of people prefer unsharpened or as close to factory as they can get, maybe 2-5 sharpenings in to be considered right past the "bunt" edge and ready for prime usage. Another reason is the less it has been sharpened the more life it has left in it. That is all of course for user knives, the collector market is a different beast where a sharpened knife could be a fraction of the value of an unsharpened one.
 
A knife that has never been sharpened (NIB) is like a brand new tire.
A knife that has been sharpened by an owner is like a tire with X miles on it.
 
If it's a knife I plan on using, it depends on how and how well it's sharpened (and the rest of its condition) as well as how much I'm willing to spend for it. I'm not much of a collector; more an accumulator and user, so it's less important that it has the factory edge, so long as I'm not paying factory edge prices for something that needs work and thus has less overall life left in it.
 
I don’t care as much but I think it just boils down to I don’t know you or how well you sharpen.

And as I write this I realize it’s a terrible argument because most knives don’t start to really show what they’re made of until they have been sharpened a few times.
 
On Feb 17th of this year, I turned 70 years old.
For close to 60 of those years, I smoked at least a pack of Newports a day and I've quaffed a small lake of beer - ending up now with COPD and on oxygen 7X24 and morbidly obese && on more than a few medications.

I believe when I go back to the doctor around my 71st birthday - I might discuss with him what effects the medications are having on me. It's either them or the several billion brain cells the Pabst Blue Ribbon had killed that::

Looked at the title of this thread and wondered, "Who in their right mind would buy a knife that wasn't finished? Was this some new thing? You bought a knife blank and finished it yourself? Was this something caused by COVID & the shortage of labor - where they couldn't get people at the factory to finish the knives?".

Then I realized it wasn't new from the factory knives being talked about.

Excuse me for now - I go sit back in my corner and watch myself drool. ;)
 
I am confused. Why does one sharpen a new in the box knife that came from the seller with the edge already sharpened? What are you trying to accomplish by resharpening and already sharpened knife? I don't get it.
 
GatorFlash1 said:
I am confused. Why does one sharpen a new in the box knife that came from the seller with the edge already sharpened? What are you trying to accomplish by resharpening and already sharpened knife? I don't get it.
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I don’t think it’s any surprise that blades from manufacturers or resellers sometimes get out the door dull or sharpened poorly.
 
Depends I guess on how it was sharpened, if it was dull to begin with etc.etc. Not a deal killer especially with middle of the road knives.
 
If I'm buying a knife that is still available retail: unsharpened, new condition should be more expensive than a used/sharpened/modified example of the same model.

If I'm buying a knife that hasn't been available on the retail market in years: comparing a LNIB unsharpened, copy to an used/sharpened/modified blade of the same model. I expect the LNIB example to be worth more than the user.

However, if I'm buying a desirable blade that is no longer produced then I expect both the new, unsharpened blade and the user blade may both be considerably higher in value than the original sticker price when sold at retail.
 
There's really nothing further to say on the matter. A full and accurate description in the sale post...and the market will decide if the price asked is fair.

Then you have the choice of adjusting the price, taking it off the market or selling elsewhere.

I think we're done here.
 
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