Production edge fail. Do they even try or leave it for you?

G

gsx-rboy750

Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
357
Hello,
Recently joined and find all you very informational and I have learned alot. Bla bla anyway. I recently in the past 2 years purchased 4 production knifes. Two of them came with very sharp edges and the other to could not cut very well from the factory.

I will start with the two good edges. I bought a Ken Onion and a Mora Bushcraft that were razor sharp from the factory. Very nice profile and have not changed much.

The other two that were very dull and had (wait make that 3 one was broken and returned after 5days use) un craftsmanship edges.
I bought a SK5 which was kinda of sharp but had variations in the blade profile. I ended up breaking it battoning it and returned it.
I replaced it with a Esee LS which I love but it came with a super dull edge. I spent 45mins sharpening it to cut hair. The other day I bought a CRKT MK6 which I also love but the blade profile looked to be made by a 5 year old.
I guess my question or point is do they leave it this way to allow you to put your desired edge or is it just the way production is going nowadays?

PS/BTW my next purchase will be from the custom section. ALL YOU GUYS make product which make me whish I would have waited and bought from you guys.
Sorry if my post is somewhat scatter. I drove 750 miles thru canada today.
 
I think a new knife should be sharp from the factory, period. Generally speaking, the only knives I have purchased that I have been dissatisfied with the factory edge were made by Queen and to some degree Great Eastern Cutlery(GEC). I love GEC slip joints by the way and I am not putting them down. I just think they should have a good sharp factory edge when you get it. "Kinda sharp" is generally fine with me as I'll sharpen them anyway. Butter knife sharp really is the pits.
 
I remember buying knives in the 80's that were not what I'd consider sharp out of the package, all the knives I've bought in the last decade have been not just sharp but shaving sharp out of the box. I have only bought US made knives in the last 10 years, so my observation might be skewed slightly, but in general I'd say that knives are sharper today than they were in the past. I haven't been terribly impressed with CRKT in the last several years and I'm not terribly surprised that a budget priced knife had fit and finish in line with the price point, I've read a lot of praise about Esee though, I'm surprised your LS didn't come sharp.
 
Queen has been notorious for sending out dull blades. Rough Rider sends out sharp knives, GEC the only one I have came shaving sharp. Wenger Patriot I received was too dull to spread butter. Victorinox has always sent me sharp knives. Kershaw has always been decently sharp. 2 Spyderco Mule Team 18's (s110v) and they came decently sharp. Colt slip joints, same story as Rough Rider and I think they come from the same factory.

Get good at sharpening/reprofiling knives as it will make your life easier in this hobby and will allow you to bring out the best performance out of your knives.
 
The only knives I've bought that were consistently sharp out of the box were from Victorinox. Every other company has been hit or miss. Few would shave hair with little force. Reprofiling is a pain and I don't like having to do it on a new knife, but it seems like that's what I have to do almost every time. Lots of people say Rough Riders come sharp. I've purchased 6. None were sharp. I could drag them across my skin without fear of cutting. YMMV
 
I really don't care if isn't sharp. What really makes me mad is when the edge angle is inconsistent. Then I have to tediously reprofile the cutting edge to make a consistent edge profile.
 
It doesn't bother me too much if a knife doesn't come shaving sharp. I like to set the angle myself anyway. If a knife does come with a crazy sharp edge it's certainly a bonus, though that rarely happens. The only production knives I've purchased with a truly impressive edge were my PM2, MCusta Katana, and Protech half-breed.
 
Proper sharpening costs money. So if you buy bottom end knives, there is a good chance they come with a bad edge. It doesn't bother me.
 
mtangent said:
Proper sharpening costs money. So if you buy bottom end knives, there is a good chance they come with a bad edge. It doesn't bother me.
Click to expand...

I've had $30-$40 crkt, boker, and kershaws come extremely sharp, and ~$200 benchmades come dull
 
I generally receive reasonably sharp factory edges with my high end production knives. Sometimes I get the pleasant surprise of having a hair splitting edge. Ultimately, I just hope for even, decent edge bevels around 30 degrees; with that, I can sharpen it to polished quickly with a great edge of my own. The only time I'm truly disappointed is if I have to reprofile a new edge.
 
monger4142 said:
I've had $30-$40 crkt, boker, and kershaws come extremely sharp, and ~$200 benchmades come dull
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Yea, I have too. All I can suggest is, some manufacturers don't put sharpening on their list, some do. I think it is ridiculous in the $200 range.

To be honest, I enjoy touching up the edge of a new knife. Shouldn't take much though.
 
mtangent said:
Proper sharpening costs money. So if you buy bottom end knives, there is a good chance they come with a bad edge. It doesn't bother me.
Click to expand...

Not true IMO... It all comes down to the skill level of the person running the belt sander putting the final edge on (unless it's an automated sharpening process which is few and far between.)

monger4142 said:
I've had $30-$40 crkt, boker, and kershaws come extremely sharp, and ~$200 benchmades come dull
Click to expand...


This ^^^ I've had Mora's ($16 laminated blade) arrive that were almost hairsplitting, and one out of three Benchmade 581 Barrage's that were sort of sharp. The other had crazy obtuse edge angles and weren't sharp at all.
 
Realistically, if you're buying a production knife, it's some guy/machine that swipes the edge a few times on a belt sander, that's it. You aren't paying for a knife with a mirror polished 30 degree inclusive edge, that's a "hands on" job, and a production knife is not a handmade knife.

We're you expecting them to sit there for an hour to reprofile to exact degrees and strop with diamond paste? Not gonna happen in any production knife.

For this reason I bought paper wheels, because every knife I buy, I reprofile it. I've never had a knife come as sharp as I can get them on my wheels, they hardly shave after leaving the factory.

This is no different than buying a knife with a gritty pivot and having to take it apart to clean and polish the washers. Annoying? Yes... Worth complaining about? No.. It's an easy fix.
 
gsx-rboy750 said:
Hello,
Recently joined and find all you very informational and I have learned alot. Bla bla anyway. I recently in the past 2 years purchased 4 production knifes. Two of them came with very sharp edges and the other to could not cut very well from the factory.

I will start with the two good edges. I bought a Ken Onion and a Mora Bushcraft that were razor sharp from the factory. Very nice profile and have not changed much.

The other two that were very dull and had (wait make that 3 one was broken and returned after 5days use) un craftsmanship edges.
I bought a SK5 which was kinda of sharp but had variations in the blade profile. I ended up breaking it battoning it and returned it.
I replaced it with a Esee LS which I love but it came with a super dull edge. I spent 45mins sharpening it to cut hair. The other day I bought a CRKT MK6 which I also love but the blade profile looked to be made by a 5 year old.
I guess my question or point is do they leave it this way to allow you to put your desired edge or is it just the way production is going nowadays?

PS/BTW my next purchase will be from the custom section. ALL YOU GUYS make product which make me whish I would have waited and bought from you guys.
Sorry if my post is somewhat scatter. I drove 750 miles thru canada today.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming when you say you bought a Ken Onion, you mean a Kershaw, ZT, or CRKT and not one of his custom knives. I've had 3 of his Kershaws (Blur, Leek, Scallion, all given away) and a ZT0350 (sold). They all came very sharp. Of CRKT's I've handled, none of them came very sharp. Benchmade's I've owned have had very average to below average sharpness. I had to sharpen my 530 almost immediately. My orange 585 mini Barrage came pretty sharp. I had a mini grip and grip and they were pretty bad.

On the other hand, I've never had a problem with Spyderco--I own/have owned many and they all came sharp enough to decapitate someone in one stroke. Lionsteel/dpx has been the same. I've heard mixed reviews on ESEE, but my Izula and 5 came very sharp. ZT0801 is average.

Sometimes I guess with the bigger companies there is so much demand that QC is compromised. Being that Spyderco has factories in Colorado, Japan, Taiwan, and China instead of one or two big factories, they can concentrate more on QC. Just my .02 and experence.
 
K.O.D. said:
I'm assuming when you say you bought a Ken Onion, you mean a Kershaw, ZT, or CRKT and not one of his custom knives. I've had 3 of his Kershaws (Blur, Leek, Scallion, all given away) and a ZT0350 (sold). They all came very sharp. Of CRKT's I've handled, none of them came very sharp. Benchmade's I've owned have had very average to below average sharpness. I had to sharpen my 530 almost immediately. My orange 585 mini Barrage came pretty sharp. I had a mini grip and grip and they were pretty bad.

On the other hand, I've never had a problem with Spyderco--I own/have owned many and they all came sharp enough to decapitate someone in one stroke. Lionsteel/dpx has been the same. I've heard mixed reviews on ESEE, but my Izula and 5 came very sharp. ZT0801 is average.

Sometimes I guess with the bigger companies there is so much demand that QC is compromised. Being that Spyderco has factories in Colorado, Japan, Taiwan, and China instead of one or two big factories, they can concentrate more on QC. Just my .02 and experence.
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I've found quite the opposite with spyderco, while they are sharper than most factory edges, they still suck IMHO. My Gayle Bradley sucked, my manix was dull, southard was crap. Even the cruwear manix sprint run I got the other day had an edge that hardly shaved hair.

I guess we all have our definition of "sharp", but I've never had a factory edge that was "good enough" for me. Every knife I get sits in its box until I get around to my paper wheels.

At this point, when I buy a production knife (from any company) I know I will need to reprofile it.

And don't even get me started on kizer:mad:
 
I just blame it on the new guy at the factory. My zt301 didn't come as sharp as I'd like but it took literally 5 mins to change that but my cheap kershaw clash I could shave with and that's like a 30 dollar knife
 
The worst edges I have seen were Scrapyard and Swamprat. Until I sharpened them you were limited to butter cutting. I only have a Scrapmax, RS, Ratmandeux, Rodent 3, the Scrapyard neck knife and a 5-11. All of the edges were equally dull except the RMD which I bought used so someone else had sharpened it. I live in Canada so returning for sharpening isn't really an option.
 
The only factory edges that I've been satisfied with are from Spyderco and Emerson. Especially Emerson. Everything else gets reprofiled or sharpened immediately.
 
Zidfeldts said:
The worst edges I have seen were Scrapyard and Swamprat. Until I sharpened them you were limited to butter cutting. I only have a Scrapmax, RS, Ratmandeux, Rodent 3, the Scrapyard neck knife and a 5-11. All of the edges were equally dull except the RMD which I bought used so someone else had sharpened it. I live in Canada so returning for sharpening isn't really an option.
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My Scrapmax arrived hair-shaving sharp and thin behind the edge. An HRLM, RS, RMD, R9, & 511 were all shaving sharp on arrival but were so obtuse that it took quite some time to bring the edge-angle down below 20-dps. Bussekin take pride in being very tough knives, so the majority seem to come with very tough (thick, obtuse) edges if you don't specifically request a lower edge-angle in your shop order. *shrug*

Most production knives I've purchased came pretty sharp but the edges collapsed relatively easily, a common problem, easily fixed. A notable exception has been Survive! Knives - each I've owned came shaving sharp (I have video to prove it) and ready to use :thumbup:
 
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