Knife Company Expectations of Their Customers

[midnight flyer]

Agreed, but most of us buy some of our knives as toys.
Even if you go chopping wood in the forest it's REALLY a toy in most cases. Unless you live in the woods, you're going there to play. Toys for bigger boys.
To be serious, I don't NEED a Clax in my daily life, but damn it's fun to go play with it out in the woods!

OK... now I am really surprised that no one howled over that. Most seem to think they need the survival edge at all times that a piece of ground heavy bar stock sharpened until it will shave hair can provide. I carry the knives I want because I like them, and don't feel I need to justify them to anyone.

I needed my Benchmade Apparition and my Kershaw Shallot in S110V like I needed a hole in my head. I sure like 'em, though.

I am in construction, and I try not to abuse my knives, but it happens. Most are tools for me. I keep my best knives at home and only use them as knives. My work knives are pretty good slicers, and I hit them with a diamond rod every few days. But they are called to duty when I need to perform a task that would make me wince if I had to pull out my JYDII combo edge. For example, my RAT 1 worker also has the benefit of a sharp 90 back/spine, so I sharpen that as well to maintain the 90 degree edge as a scraper. Works like a champ.

The only knives I have that have that literally have a stropped edge are the three peanuts I have. The large blades are stropped to be sharp enough to slice and dig out a splinter or piece of metal out of skin. The smaller blade is for a traditional "V" cut in my cigars.

Most guys > I < know don't like to get their knives dirty, especially if they pay more than $35 or so for them. They buff them out, lament scratches, and are crushed if they get even the tiniest of chips that will be gone in 4-5 sharpenings. But they don't know how to sharpen either, as was brought up before. I keep just about all the hunting knives in shape for my buddies.

I get a kick out of the guys around that are just the opposite and want to stain their blades to make them look like they are well used. Just the opposite of the guys in my circle that beat the hell out of their knives and have me buff them out and sharpen them up to keep them looking new.

FWIW, I completely agree with your original post.

But I must say I don't know about the sharpening protocols by the makers. I have bought three Queens over the last year, all smaller folders. One wasn't sharp at all, one was OK, and the other had one really sharp blade and one dull one. Even though I reprofiled them, all the Kershaws I bought small and large over the last 3-4 years have all arrived sharp.

In the last 5 years I have found the following in my purchases:

My only Spyderco: really sharp.
Benchmade: not too sharp
Queens: mixed bag
Kershaw (5 purchased): all slicing sharp
Case: mixed bag

Anymore, I just check the knife for fit and finish, opened and closed, and then plan on sharpening as needed. I don't worry about the factory grinds.

Robert

 

[stabman]

Sorry, I did not see what I shared as promoting or denigrating anything. Apologies.

No disrespect intended, but what exactly do you expect us to share here?

Sorry if it seemed I singled you out; it was just the first post I noticed which had that flavour.

I guess I was hoping for people to share their theories as to the differences in knife sharpness/edge angle/secondary bevel/etc. Not to say why one type of use was better or worse or anything of that nature.
BUT, I now see (looking again) that there were certainly other posts I could object to a tad (no one was being a jerk), and it seems there's already pretty much a consensus anyway for the most part.

Thread closed, but not for any bad reason; it seemes to have run its course.