Perfect the enemy of good enough?

If my working blades can cleanly slice thin catalog paper , I'm happy . Often , I'm probably not even to that level .

I go more by how the blade is working for me . If I notice it at all , then time to at least touch-up .

I advocate frequent touch up , light sharpening / honing on working / utility blades while they are still somewhat sharp but not working their best .

This takes very little time or effort and keeps your edge good enough to be efficient and effective .

Unless I have a damaged or well worn edge , like on one of my machete type tools , I usually just use a diamond oval stick with a light touch .
 
My edc's are all hair popping tree topping sharp and I maintain them. They do degrade to a working edge depending on the steel. I like getting them that sharp for specific tasks that are not hard on the edge. There is no wrong answer and my dad asks me not to get his knife "stupid sharp" but I shave hair with my Huntsmans Axe so I am overly obsessive.
 
If I put too much time and effort into perfection , sharpening or otherwise , then I'm loath to actually use the blade .

Maybe OK for collector / safe queens , but I'm mostly past that , thankfully .

For users , I just want quick and easy , getter done and good to go !

I can be totally perfectionist and OCD , but it just doesn't serve well for working tools , IMO . ;)
 
The final grit depends on the use of the knife (wood carving, EDC, kitchen, and so on). In general, if I can shave arm hair, push cut paper and cut curls into it I am happy.
 
Because so many factors will play into that equation, such as the material being cut, geometry and hardness of the blade, even the final edge finish, I tend to get the blade as sharp as I can, within a reasonable tolerance of not putting a finer total bevel on the blade than the steel can handle, and ensuring that I have not wire-edged the blade. Any micro bevel comes from a paddle strop and green compound. Seems to work well enough for me for most of my knives. Perfection is the enemy of the good in many cases, though if you are trying to hit a known goal, then set up for that goal. When it comes to EDC or work tools, its not likely that you can predict all of what the blade will encounter (for me recently I cut some 20mm woven fiberglass furnace door seal rope, that knocked the edge off my Surge pretty damn well) So for me, having a quick method to restore an edge without too much faff is what I'm going for. What I do would not work for some people, and doesn't work for all of my knives, but I currently focus on the normal carry ones, and will improve my methods for the more specialty stuff as time allows.
 
My daily/ most used carry is some iteration of the Delica.
I sharpen mine till they shave hair/ push cut notebook paper at the end of the day.
During the day, I use my knife till it becomes noticeably annoying to do regular things like open packages,
split a piece of pipe insulation, cut a piece of string, cut a piece of flexible conduit etc.
I'm fine with a working edge, but I don't like having to push or pull on my knife very hard to make a cut.
I'd grossly, wildly estimate a push/ pull force of more than 5lbs being my irritation threshold.
Having to use a sawing motion is annoying too. One clean swipe is what I prefer for cuts.
When these things occur I touch up/ rub my edge on a coarse diamond stone till I get a working edge back if my blade has multiple chips.
If the edge is just slightly dulled and I'm bored during a lunch break I'll do maybe 20 passes per side broken into 5 passes per side (4X5)

TDLDR: A working edge is fine, but sharpening to a hair popping edge at the end of the day seems to keep a working edge longer ;)
 
I don't obsess over hair popping and I certainly don't chase the mirror finish. I go more for a working edge.
 
alongoria said:
Hello all. What are your thoughts on keeping a fresh, keen edge or going longer with a good "working edge"?
I admit I love a really thin, keen, "hair popping" edge. But, in reality I don't need that level of "sharpness" for probably 95+% of my cutting usage.
Thanks for your thoughts and God bless. Regards, Adam
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"Good enough to cleanly slice paper" is plenty great for me. If it snags or even rips a bit, it needs more sharpening. Serves well for most mundane cutting tasks. For kitchen use, I usually want a sharper edge.
 
The Meat man said:
I love having a super sharp, hair-popping edge. Unfortunately it never stays that way for long, so most of the time my EDC is somewhere between shaving sharp and paper-slicing sharp.
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It's kind of like owning a black car (or truck). When they're clean: nothing looks better!
(But they never stay that way for more than about 7 seconds)
 
Hello all. Thank you for your thoughts and comments.
I'm a big Murray Carter fan and not quoting exactly, he describes a "cut you throw away and a cut you keep". My examples would be open box, cut down cardboard, etc (throw away) and maybe some food prep, cutting a material to exact fine dimensions, some wood carving, etc (cut you keep).
I've also learned the easiest way to sharpen a knife is to not let it get dull.
Regardless, I know I go to higher sharpness than almost always actually needed.
One thing I've considered recently is conserving the blade steel. Sharpening, honing, stropping unnecessarily removes metal. Spending x amount of money on a knife can maybe motivate to not "unnecessarily" remove blade steel?
Thanks and God bless.
 
I only have a couple of untouched collectors.
(My pride & Joy is a 1953 Schrade Stockman in it's original box.)
Everything else gets used, abused, mis-used, and sgarpened.
 
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