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polished or toothey for a bushcrafter/hunter/skinner

B

baliodude

Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Messages
219
Hi
For a do it all knife?
What edge is best for hunting/ skinning/field dressing/wood carver?

?
 
Is this a serious question?
For a one-fits-all blade a plain edge is the best way.
Kept sharp it will do all jobs.
 
Uh, with all due respect, I think he was referring to how the blade is sharpened. He was asking whether people prefer a "toothier" edge produced by a grittier stone, or a "polished" edge produced by a very fine stone and a strop.

For me, it depends on what kind of cutting I'm doing. For some things, the toothier edge is all that's needed. For some others, a scary sharp polished edge is nice. Having said that, most of my edges have been stropped to really sharp and polished. Not because they have to be for every task, but because I have fun doing it, and I have way too much time on my hands right now.
 
I don't have nearly the experience as others here, but for me I like a more polished edge on my folders, however this edge requires more touch ups. On my heavier use ( fixed)blades I like a more toothy edge. just my opinion.
 
I think it depends on the type of steel.

O1 polished

A2 Polished

D2 Toothy

3V I like to polish and then just drag the edge slightly over a diamond stone or 600 grit

Seems like most of the newer stainless steels won't shave unless you go toothy also.
 
I might mention that I do something similar to what hollowdweller is talking about by dragging the polished edge over some crocus cloth. It seems to give the knife a slightly more aggressive edge.
 
I'm somewhere in the mix with dawnsonbob and hollowdweller.

Since the question was asked specifically about "hunting/ skinning/field dressing/wood carver" I think just a touch toothy is a good thing. I have found in my experience that a slightly toothy edge left by a 600 grit (maybe lightly stropped) is the best for me.

The toothy edge give me better feel in flesh, and seems to be more controllable. My overall camp knife is sharpened to 600 grit and it is my favorite kind of overall edge texture.

But since I never carry just one knife, each knife I have sharpened differently for their assigned tasks.

Robert
 
Polished every time. A good polished edge is less fragile and will hold longer. Toothy might feel initially like it has more bite, especially on pig and eels, but those little teeth are very fragile meaning that you'll need to sharpen it more often. There is simply less material on a feather edge.- no way out of that. One sees professional people working knives on tissue and often they are just whacking on a quick grabbing edge, but note how often they have to scuff their blades up a steel. Crude.

I'd rather have a proper edge that does most things brilliantly most of the time that a scratchy toothy edge for a tiny amount of time that is useful and constant sharpening.
 
Why does everyone treat this as an "either/or" question? I like to have some of both types of edge on my knives. Where and how much of each type edge decided by how I think I'll be using that particular knife.

As an example, for the knife I think your talking about and the use I think you have in mind, I would polish the edge near the handle and from about the front third of the belly to the tip and go toothy for the section in between. Just an example, lots of variations- why limit yourself?
 
MVF said:
Why does everyone treat this as an "either/or" question? I like to have some of both types of edge on my knives. Where and how much of each type edge decided by how I think I'll be using that particular knife.

As an example, for the knife I think your talking about and the use I think you have in mind, I would polish the edge near the handle and from about the front third of the belly to the tip and go toothy for the section in between. Just an example, lots of variations- why limit yourself?
Click to expand...

I suppose you could do a differential sharpening on a blade, but I'd just prefer to carry two or three different blades (as I usually do) with differently sharpened edges.
 
For the tasks you mentioned I would probably go with a polished edge. I don't think you would gain much from a toothy edge but, I can see where you would lose something in the bushcrafting dept. with a toothy edge.

Just a thought!
 
Dunno about everyone else but for my part the reason is that there can only be one right answer. It cannot be both.

There is no portion of a blade of this type where I would voluntarily surrender to microserrations of this type. It makes for a less tough edge and one that is less wear resistant. I don't want that on any portion of it no matter how it is arrived at.
 
dawsonbob said:
I suppose you could do a differential sharpening on a blade, but I'd just prefer to carry two or three different blades (as I usually do) with differently sharpened edges.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. If I am going out hiking/hunting/camping, I never have just one blade. Embarrassingly, I may have three if I have my day pack with me.

All are sharpened differently. One may even have a 600g "crude" edge on it!

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
I'm with you. If I am going out hiking/hunting/camping, I never have just one blade. Embarrassingly, I may have three if I have my day pack with me.

All are sharpened differently. One may even have a 600g "crude" edge on it!

Robert
Click to expand...

Not only that, but some of mine are convex and some are V-grind; some are smooth, some are rougher, but I don't have a single blade that incorporates all of the above (not deliberately, anyway), but they all do their assigned tasks very well.
 
I think polished is better for everything. It just cuts better. When it dulls, it gets toothier anyway. I don't agree that D2 should be left toothy. Polish that sucker! It loves it!
 
I'm for polished blades since I always give my "go-to" knives some time on the strop. I think a properly polished blade edge just stays sharper longer.

Then again I prefer traditional tool steels over wonder steels or stainless.
 
I use the same knife for all the tasks listed by the OP and I like a highly polished edge on it.



Kind regards
Mick
 
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