Sharp Out of the Box

I've had razor sharp knives come from Strider, Chris Reeve, BM and Spyderco. Other companies have been hit or miss in my limited experience.
 
Curiously, I ALWAYS get my knives shaving sharp.

From my BK-7 to my Cricket, from my Benchmade to my cheap kitchen knife, all of them shave clean and smooth...

Or perhaps I need to do something with my weak hair :confused:


BETO

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Sorry for my english :o
 
I find that I don't care if the edge is dull, as long as it is an easily sharpened steel. Most of my slipjoints and SAK's have come with less then razor sharp edges on them. However, it takes me only moments to give them that sharp edge, so I am not bothered much.

My Spyderco's on the other hand come VERY sharp from the factory. :cool: Thank god, becuase I would be extremely pi$$ed if I had to sharpen dull S30V or VG10. ;)
-Kevin
 
I have had some Benchmades that were dull out of the box, but for the past few years, I find Benchmade now has among the sharpest out of the box knives I own, in particular my 710SBT, and all the Benchmades that I own in 440C steel). Most of my Spydercos have been extremely sharp, but believe it or not, I've had a few that I really had to work on to get sharp (including a SS Dragonfly, a '98 Endura, and an old AUS-8 Delica). All of the above Spydercos were plain-edged versions, BTW.

Kershaw usually has very good edges.

Cold Steels are usually very sharp but the only fixed blades of theirs i own are a Kobun and a small neck knife.

SOG also normally has excellent edges.

I've had some Buck knives with very sharp edges and some that I had to work a lot on. Off-topic, but I notice that sometimes Buck's 420HC steel rusts more easily than their satin-finished ATS-34, which is strange, since one of 420HC's strengths is supposed to be its corrosion resistance.

I had older Schrades that were very sharp, but most of the more recent ones I've had seem in various degrees of dull (all traditional pocketknives).

I absolutely love Chris Reeve Knives, but I had to reprofile my Sebenza edge a lot in order to get it to cut properly; the out of box edge was way too thick. Now it's no problem and this knife is simply outstanding.
Jim
 
I never used to worry too much about how sharp they were out of the box, as I like to sharpen. But, I gotta admit, it's pretty cool to buy a really sharp knife! :cool:

The sharpest I have bought out of the box were Bark Rivers, Kershaws, and Moras, all plenty sharp (especially the Bark Rivers :eek: ). My Spyderco was bought used, and a bit dull, and the other brands I have have all been hit or miss. Buck and Victorinox are mostly sharp, Gerber and Boker closer to the dull side. I have never seen a Case sharp out of the box, and only a few Schrades have been sharp.
 
Buck Mayo - Sharpest out of the box production knife I've had

Microtechs - A close second especially as few years ago

Spyderco - Recently got a S30V Military also extremly sharp

Kershaw - Got a Vapor from Walmart it was amazingly sharp for $20

Benchmade - Had a 940 that would not slice paper out of the box

Strider SnG - Well duh

GEoff
 
I have 5 different spydies and each came out the box razor sharp. I recently bought a Bulldog Stockman and the blades were almost round :confused: . Took a long time on the sharpmaker to get it sharp.
 
Most production knives that I've bought come "shaving sharp". The one notable exception was my Ontario RAT-7 which arrived quite dull. But I easily put a wicked edge on it with my EdgePro Apex and haven't looked back. Great knife.

Most durable edge: Easily my Swamp Rat Battle Rat. Arrived Shaving sharp and has maintained a great edge with light stropping even after some very rough and extensive chopping.

Sharpest edge: Sent my Buck 110 in for a blade change-out to BG-42. OOOOOOOh, that blade came back "feathery" sharp. Cuts hanging hair, and anything else that happens to get in the way.
 
One of the sharpest knives I've received is my Benchmade 921. I was admiring it when I first got it, and I realized I was bleeding. I barely touched the blade with a knuckle and it cut me good. That sucker is sharp !

Of course I've gotten a fair number that were not nearly that sharp. But that's what sharpeners are for.
 
I have bought or handled plenty of knives made by nearly all the companies listed in this thread. I don't think I have ever been impressed by a single one of them in my life. A fair number were "good enough" that I wouldn't bother sharpening them until after I'd used 'em, but 95% of the factory made knives I've ever bought required a proper sharpening straight out of the box.

For this reason, I never understand why people complain that their new knives aren't sharp. What, did you actually expect it to be?? I sure don't.

Now, on the other hand, there is one or perhaps two companies that consistently impress me with their edges- the old Blackjack Knives, (made in Effingham, Illinois) and the new line of Marble's knives. (at least the first production stuff. Now that they've switched steels, etc., I don't have an opinion.)
 
After reading this for a bit I've come to the conclusion that everyone probably has their own idea of what is "sharp".

Wild generalisations follow:

One guy can stab his knife through the side of a cardboard box so he thinks it's pretty sharp.

One guy can't split a hair into three parts lengthways so his knife is so dull all it's fit for is spreading butter.


It occured to me that there should be some sort of sharpness standard or something like that. Something you could do and determine that your knife is, say, 6 on the sharpness scale.
 
I have not been collecting for nearly as long as many of you, but I have had mostly positive experiences so far. Most of the knives I have purchased have had a sharp edge out of the box.

My definition of sharp was redefined recently after I purchased a Gerber Profile at Wal-Mart for $20. Despite what some say about Gerber, the knife is incredibly sharp. It has a razor edge that would literally shave one's face with ease. I believe the definition of razor-sharp should be: can easily, and without effort, shave the hide of a herd of buffalo and then carve Michelangelo's David from a grain of salt without the slightest stropping.

The only problem is I look funny with no hair on my left arm. :D
 
the single sharpest knife out of the box i've ever held is my Spyderco Calypso Jr... i test sharpness by cutting a little notch on my arm or my leg with different parts of the blade... if it's easy, it's sharp, if it's not, it could use some work...

for most of my knives, i prefer that they're not sharp enough to shave hair off my arm, but a few like my Calypso Jr, Cuda Jr, and Nimravus all do it quite easily... so i've had good experiences with Spyderco, Camillus, and Benchmade.
 
Interestingly enough, the new Blade Maganzine I just received in the mail has listed Spyderco as one of the sharpest "out of the box" knife companies.

In fact, the article says, "The sharpest out of the box tend to be first and foremost Spyderco, mostly from the standpoint that they do far more research and development on all aspects of their knives......."

I must admit that a knife, to me, does not have to be razor sharp to be a good usable blade. I fall into a trap of thinking, sometimes, that I need to be able to shave hair to proove that a knife has a good edge. That is not always a good test. Quite often the sharpest knives have the most fragile edges (as far a chipping goes).
 
jayharley said:
I must admit that a knife, to me, does not have to be razor sharp to be a good usable blade. I fall into a trap of thinking, sometimes, that I need to be able to shave hair to proove that a knife has a good edge. That is not always a good test. Quite often the sharpest knives have the most fragile edges (as far a chipping goes).
Click to expand...

To prove that you have a polished edge the hair shaving test works good.

If you don't use a polished edge, then you are right. The shaving test wouldn't make sense. To prove you have a good utility edge you do two tests. The first is dragging the blade across a nail. If it leaves a deep line thats visible its sharp for a utility edge. (By comparison if you do this with a razor sharp blade their will be a thin shallow line barely visible) The next step is to take a pencil/pen and make sure the edge doesn't have any flat spots by holding the pen at a 45* angle and dragging the blade across it. It should be able to go all the way across the blade without sliding down.

Thinner edges can be more fragile, but it depends on what steel you are using. 440V is alot more likely to chip then 440C.
-Kevin
 
SIFU1A said:
have to say the sharpest probably is Microtech, they are uniformly sharp in my experience.
greg
Click to expand...


I agree with Greg. The absolute sharpest knife out of the box for me was a Microtech Dragonfly. A welcome suprise was a Camillus heat I bought recently which was also exceptionally sharp out of the box.

I would add that in my over 50 years of knife using experience, factory knives have improved greatly in out of the box sharpness.
 
All Spydies come sharp, but I got a Calypso Jr. that's so sharp out of the box my eyes bleed when I look at the blade. :eek: And it really holds it's edge well.
Also have a SAK blade that can really open you up and you won't even know it happened...trust me on that. :rolleyes:
 
I don't really care about out-of-the-box sharpness for several reasons. For one, it's a pretty good bet I'll want to modify the factory profile anyway. For another, factory knives are so often delivered with a wire edge or burnt/damaged steel, edge retention will be poor until they've been "scrubbed in" to get down to good steel. And, finally, I'm going to have to sharpen it eventually when it dulls, so what's one more sharpening, over the entire useful life of a knife?

Dave
 
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