newbie question: sharpening knives what's the big deal?

J

jebib

Joined
Apr 21, 2011
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It appears that sharpening knives is a big deal. I have noticed that in many for sale posts while many times you will find it stated "not sharpened", I've never seen it said, "sharpened regularly". Now I understand that this may be a forum that caters to collectors, but beyond the NIB disclosure just what is being said? That I've used it but I'll leave it to you to screw up? Knives are pretty durable aren't they? Let me be clear, I'm not being sarcastic. It just seems to me that in some cases sharpening a knife ought to improve its value, no? Just wondering?
 
I guess what the seller is saying is that his knife is almost unused. So that might qualify the knife as like new in box. A knife that has been sharpened several times or a lot of times is a user knife.
 
For me its all about how I want to sharpen it. These sharpmakers and such can reprofile and sometimes that isn't the way I want it since I free hand sharpen most of the time. Goes both ways tho some people aren't interested in some of my stuff because of the way I would sharpen it isn't how they want it. Then if course there are the collectors that want stuff factory fresh.
 
singularity35 said:
I guess what the seller is saying is that his knife is almost unused.
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clich said:
For me its all about how I want to sharpen it. These sharpmakers and such can reprofile and sometimes that isn't the way I want it since I free hand sharpen most of the time. Goes both ways tho some people aren't interested in some of my stuff because of the way I would sharpen it isn't how they want it. Then if course there are the collectors that want stuff factory fresh.
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These replies nailed it. :thumbup:
 
I would think advertising a Benchmade as being unsharpened might not be the thing to mention.
 
Yes they are basically saying I haven't screwed it up with a hack sharpening job. Also you can choose many angles or methods so one person may like something another person doesn't.
 
jebib said:
It appears that sharpening knives is a big deal. I have noticed that in many for sale posts while many times you will find it stated "not sharpened", I've never seen it said, "sharpened regularly". Now I understand that this may be a forum that caters to collectors, but beyond the NIB disclosure just what is being said? That I've used it but I'll leave it to you to screw up? Knives are pretty durable aren't they? Let me be clear, I'm not being sarcastic. It just seems to me that in some cases sharpening a knife ought to improve its value, no? Just wondering?
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Beyond the NIB statement, nothing is being said. Many people who collect knives want them in new condition. To them, a blade that has been sharpened decreases the value of the knife.

To the rest of us it doesn't mean anything aside from the fact that the knife hasn't been used.
 
One of the real reasons, is used or not, most prefer an edge that is "unmolested"

I don't care if some one has sharpened a user, as long as they know what they are doing, and I get a good look at the edge on both sides through pictures to base my decision on.

People can really screw up an edge if they don't know how to sharpen (especially if a belt sander.............or heaven forbid grinding wheel is used.........not that you can't sharpen properly with a belt sander, or wheel, or paper wheels, but friction can burn an edge very quickly, and ruin the temper).
 
Same thing comes to mind when buying a car. When you look through the adds and see "garage kept, adult owned, and all receipts for maintenance" VS. "I do burnouts all the time, new tires, runs good"...Which are you moar likely to buy?





"Enter obligatory movie quote here"
 
I would think for most it does not matter the quality of the sharpening job. If someone sharpened the knife on an Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, Edge Pal, etc to a perfectly even, highly polished bevel, it would still decrease collector value. It needs to be in factory condition, even if the factory edge is actually kinda crappy. The knife does not need to be a user to be sharpened. If someone got a knife in, sharpened it immediately, oiled the pivot, tightened the screws to proper tension, centered the blade, gave it all a coat of the highest quality protectant, and stuck it right back in the box, it doesn't increase the value.
 
This is a great question. There are many reasons, but I think it falls under the same phenomenon that modified cars sell for less than unmodified ones. People just want to do things their own way. And with a knife, to sharpen is to remove metal. To sharpen poorly is to remove even more metal and potentially ruin the blade. Additionally, there are an infinite amount of questions that could be asked when someone vaguely says "used and sharpened":

-What was it used for?
-What tools were used to sharpen it?
-Who sharpened it?
-How much experience sharpening do they have?
-What angle was the edge brought to?
-Was the angle even considered?
-Have they ever dropped the knife?
-Have they ever lent the knife to anyone?
-Are there any tiny chips on the edge?
-How much metal was removed in sharpening? A lot? A little? Can't tell?
-Are there any scratches on the blade?


It's much easier to just see "unused and unsharpened" and understand implicitly what that entails.

hardheart said:
I would think for most it does not matter the quality of the sharpening job. If someone sharpened the knife on an Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, Edge Pal, etc to a perfectly even, highly polished bevel, it would still decrease collector value. It needs to be in factory condition, even if the factory edge is actually kinda crappy. The knife does not need to be a user to be sharpened. If someone got a knife in, sharpened it immediately, oiled the pivot, tightened the screws to proper tension, centered the blade, gave it all a coat of the highest quality protectant, and stuck it right back in the box, it doesn't increase the value.
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This is also true, and applies to any number of non-knife collectibles. Original factory condition is a big deal to a lot of collectors.
 
matt1987 said:
I use it as a gauge for how much the knife was used.
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This is it. Any knife can be re-sharpen to a different bevel andgle or type. When you sharpen the knife you are removing metal. The more you sharpen your knife the more use has seen...
 
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