my issues with kershaw

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dakota1820

Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Messages
96
I want to like them i really do but every single one I've owned has been a bear to ger razor sharp. I have a s30v kershaw i bought from snap on and it won't get razor sharp. ...my manix2 sharpens good. Every kershaw ive had from Sandvik steel to this have all brrn hard to sharpen. Anyone else have this issue?
 
14c28n seems to get sharpest when it is stropped. Sharpness is 85% technique 14% geometry and 1% steel, or something like that.
 
I have no more trouble sharpening my Kershaw blades than I do sharpening any of my others.
 
The only one I had difficulty sharpening was my composite blade Leek. Then I got some diamond stones, and problem solved. I'd already switches to diamond stones by the time I started getting some of their more wear-resistant blades (S30V, CPM-154, Elmax), and it has worked fine on them all. I do touch-ups on a Sharpmaker, and that has worked well for all the steels I've tried as well, although some steels do take more time.

Worst case, if you can't sharpen them yourself, send them in to their warranty service. Kershaw offers free re-sharpening for all their knives (see http://kershaw.kaiusaltd.com/warranty).
 
My leek gets hair shaving sharp from the 2 standard sharpmaker stones. Medium and fine. I still haven't gotten any knife to "hair popping" sharp but I'm learning as much as I can. I have trouble sharpening some knives of multiple brands on the sharpmaker because they're either too dull or the angle is wrong. I'm going to get some diamond rod stones and hopefully with starting out on them I can conquer the blades I can't get that sharp... Like my tanto kabar. Maybe you should try that as well.
 
I primarily own KAI blades and on the Lansky Diamond kit, I can get them as sharp as my patience will allow. My wife says they'll cut you if you look at them wrong.
 
Never tried to sharpen one aside from a Skyline, and it went OK. The knives feel well made, last a long time, have a great warranty, etc. I just don't like looking at them. The styling on most of them is not my cup, and that's my only issue. :D
 
My biggest issue with my Kershaws is that they don't hold an edge as well as some of my other stuff, so it gets duller by the time I resharpen, so a quick touchup on my Sharpmaker won't work. I have to get out my rougher stones to get it sharp.
 
I have not found it to be true that 1. Kershaw knives are hard to sharpen, nor 2. they will not hold and edge. I find they are easy to sharpen, take the sharpest edge of any knives, and hold it very well. 14C28N will take a very sharp edge and hold it a while (maybe better than S30V), then will loose it and have a less sharp working edge (less than S30V). It is good stuff.
 
I have had great luck sharpening Kershaws. I use a DMT rod, and I can always get my knives sharp quickly. I wil, say that I picked up two Chinese Kershaws this week, and they were less than sharp out of the box. They were the CQC4 KXL and the R.J. Tactical 3.0 (which is not particularly tactical tooling at all.) I was able to early get both very sharp with a few dozen strokes on my rod.
 
Try sharpening CPM-M4 then you can complain to me about not getting a razor sharp edge.
 
DocT said:
I have not found it to be true that 1. Kershaw knives are hard to sharpen, nor 2. they will not hold and edge. I find they are easy to sharpen, take the sharpest edge of any knives, and hold it very well. 14C28N will take a very sharp edge and hold it a while (maybe better than S30V), then will loose it and have a less sharp working edge (less than S30V). It is good stuff.
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The difficulty to sharpen and their ability to hold an edge is going to be completely dependant on the specific knife. The Kershaws that I have, and that I found don't hold an edge for a long time, are both less expensive models. My Cryo and Shuffle are 8Cr13MoV, and my Scallion is 420. None of those are what I would consider exceptional in their ability to stay sharp, nor would you expect them to be.
 
Kershaw's Sandvik steel is my favorite budget steel. No problems getting an edge on my Kershaws. Keep trying, you'll get it.
 
I must be one of the lucky ones. For the last 40 years I use a knife then sharpen it. I worked in a Butcher shop for 22 years and just used stones. Now I have a couple ceramic rods and a set of diamond rods that I place in a base that I made with a variety of pre-set angles. Type of steel doesn't matter as much as geometry does to me. I have a KO Work Sharp but I only use it when my neighbors pile on me. It's all part of the hobby :)


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Krew #30
 
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I have only had one issue with a Kai product in regards to sharpening and that was with elmax. But I dont believe it was an issue with the way they do elmax but rather I had never sharpened elmax before and I simply underestimated the steel and overestimated my ability. Sometimes we simply have to swallow our pride and admit we need some education and practice.
 
PURPLEDC said:
I have only had one issue with a Kai product in regards to sharpening and that was with elmax. But I dont believe it was an issue with the way they do elmax but rather I had never sharpened elmax before and I simply underestimated the steel and overestimated my ability. Sometimes we simply have to swallow our pride and admit we need some education and practice.
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+1....
 
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