Polished vs Toothy

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
32,359
When would you want a polished edge over a toothy edge?

I use a combination of both on my EDCs, I like to keep a small slipjoint polished to a razor sharp edge, really just for slicin' plastic bags, hair off my arm, and openin' mail.

The bigger toothy folders are mainly for boxes, rope, and heavy cuttin' in general.

What's the best use and type knife for each edge?

Cliff any comments?
 
I like polished edges for the edge near the handle and for knives that will see chopping. I use the inch or so of edge right before the handle only for push-cutting, so a polished edge would outperform a toothy one. Because choppers are essentially push-cutting wood, I also polish their edges so they cut more deeply and easily.

I keep a toothy edge at the belly of my folders and small knives because I know I'll use them in a slicing motion. Kitchen knives are an interesting exception; I'd like to hear what people use for them.
 
For kitchen knives, it's an easy choice. My wife likes a toothy edge for cubing semi-thawed meat. I feel a toothy edge also helps 'grab' wet vegetables.

I mirror polished all of my Microtechs when they were my EDCs. I found that they 'slid' of that shiny postal tape on boxes.

My first Strider arrived with a toothy edge, and boy did it grab and cut. I monkeyed around with different grit levels and stropping techniques until I could duplicate this edge on my Edge-Pro.

I still mirror polish knives for precise cutting, like those doing the chores of an Xacto-knife. My neck knife, a Culloden, is mirror polished for piercing. I don't know if that's correct yet, and I hope I never have find out.
 
For press cuts with no slice. I use them on all chopping knives, blades for fine paper cutting, and for most kitchen work, soft fruits and vegetables require some tooth.

Getting specific :

I have a Japanese utility knife which I have tried at various different grits in the kitchen, unless highly polished (CrO), it is easy to notice cuts are not as smooth when dicing vegetables and such. I have a cheap utility knife that I leave very coarse (butcher steel) for soft vegetables like day old tomatoes and such.

For light paper cuting and such, I generally use a push cut, with no slice to cut long strips. Any tooth here just makes the cuts more ragged. I usually do this with a small knife like the Sub-Sniper.

The large blades I chop with, currently the custom by Parrell, I hone with waterstones and finish with a light stropping on CrO. If you do a lot of cutting of lighter vegetation, a more coarse finish may be of benefit depending on the technique and exact nature of the plants.

More coarse edges really shine when heavy draws come into cuts, rope and other similar materials, heavy fabrics and synthetics can then have reveal performance increases many times to one in edge retention and cutting ability when a optimal coarse grit is chosen.

Joe's dual edge profile (coarse near the choil, polished near the tip), shines when you only carry one blade. Multi-blade patterns are lovely as you can have different tip and edge geometries and of course various grit finishes.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp,

I'm going to try that new edge on my SnG when it needs sharpening again.

In my case, I'm going to leave the front half toothy, to grip with the initial cut, and the back half polished for a smooth push cut.

That's a great idea this guy had. I'm sorry I didn't think of it myself. Thanks for the in-put!:D
 
Thanks guys I don't know why I didn't think of using both on an edge I guess I'll have to pull out the EdgePro and try it.
 
Just curious, when using the white stones on the sharpmaker, does that produce a polished edge, or sort of in-between?
 
The white stones on the sharpmaker put on a more polished edge, the coarser stones put on a nice toothy edge.
 
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