Sharpening a factory new edge

V

vinnier6

Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
326
Do I need to reprofile a brand new edge like on my 0801, or since it's still brand new, can I just use a fine belt like the x4 on my wsko to clean up the toothyness?
 
I'd just use the knife for a while, to become familiar (very) with how it cuts. A majority of factory edges are too conservatively thick (wide edge angle), and almost always would benefit from thinning the edge grind a bit. Sometimes you get lucky with a factory edge though, and it's best to use it for a while, so you'll develop a clearer idea of how (or if) you'd like to improve it. Jumping right into thinning a new edge, without first knowing how it'll change in performance, can sometimes be counterproductive. Having a clear picture (goal) of how you'd like to 'fix' it, based on what you've learned is lacking in it, usually produces better results in the end.

I also wouldn't necessarily take too much of the toothiness out of the new edge, until you see it's effect on what you're cutting. If done 'right' (fully apexed and burr-free), even very toothy edges can cut like demons; sometimes it's good to take advantage of it. In many of my own knives, I'm starting to put some bigger 'teeth' back into edges that I'd previously kept at pretty high polish. If you use your knife for cutting tough, fibrous materials (rope, carpet, heavy fabric, etc), a toothy edge can help with that. If most of your cutting tasks involve push-cutting (whittling/carving, slow & controlled cuts in materials that 'pinch' the blade and bind it), then a more polished finish will reduce friction and lend greater control with a lighter touch.

So, in a nutshell, don't rush into changing your new edge until you're convinced it needs it. At some point, you likely WILL change it (it's what knife nuts do, after all :D), but there's no reason not to see what it's capable of, beforehand.

If you touch it up at all, the one thing that many factory edges have is a slightly less-than-complete apex. It never hurts to examine the edge under magnification, to see if the factory stopped shy of fully apexing it, or worse, if they actually rounded off the apex in finishing it up. If so, it'll ALWAYS be improved by finishing what the factory didn't get done, and putting a crisp apex on it. Just doing that by itself will noticeably improve how it cuts.


David
 
Being a "knife nut" I reprofile all new knives right out of the box. I have my own preferred angles, depending on the knife and its' uses so I don't waste time screwing around with the factory angle.

If you free hand sharpen you can always take the "toothiness" off the edge and finish it on a strop until you decide whether or not you want to keep its' factory angle or your own.
 
I have a wsko, I was just thinking I would run it through the x4 belt a few passes each side
 
Maybe I've just been lucky but almost every knife I've ever bought minus 2 (Gerber and cheap sog) have had excellent razor sharp factory edges. See how easily it cuts paper, if it goes through effortlessly leave it alone. The only issue that is even nitpicking at this point is factory edges, while sharp and well polished, have left behind rough scratch patterns due to what I'm guessing is buffing a coarsely ground edge to polished sharpness. This usually depends on the brand. Cold steel looks like they ran the whole gamut of progression right down to ultra fine stropping. The most I'd do (or have done) in that case is polished with an 8k stone and then stropped. I didn't notice any real improvement. I generally don't reprofile my knives either, as the majority of them already have 15-22° per side as standard, which seems the best for their purposes.
 
I'm with OWE. Use it for a while and get used to the knife, the blade steel & geometry, and see where you might want to improve the edge for the stuff you intend to cut. Personally, I like toothy edges. Most of what I cut is synthetic industrial material. The toothy edges cut a lot easier and faster than polished edges.
 
It's definatley razor sharp out of the box, but like most factory edges, it's a toothy edge...I will probably leave it, but still courious, can I just maintain it with the wsko? Or does any knife I do on the worksharp have to go through the reprofile process
 
Lots of people have given advice here and some of it is good I think. But I'll answer your question directly:

Yes, you can easily polish the edge bevel on your new knife using the X4 belt. Depending upon how coarsely the edge is finished, you might have more work to do than the X4 can do in a reasonable amount of time. It *will* polish the edge. It's just a matter of how polished it can get it.

For example, if it's like a lot of blades I've seen, it will have ~320 grit grind lines on the edge bevel, and then at the *very* edge of the edge it'll have a finely polished hair thin line. That's where they used a buffer to remove the burr. To grind out the 320 grit marks, you'll probably need something like the X22 belt, and then follow up with the X4. It all depends on exactly how the factory finished the blade.

Brian.
 
If I am going to use it I sharpen it. I like my knives to scare hair off my arm and I have yet to find a factory edge that will do that.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
I'd just use the knife for a while, to become familiar (very) with how it cuts. A majority of factory edges are too conservatively thick (wide edge angle), and almost always would benefit from thinning the edge grind a bit. Sometimes you get lucky with a factory edge though, and it's best to use it for a while, so you'll develop a clearer idea of how (or if) you'd like to improve it. Jumping right into thinning a new edge, without first knowing how it'll change in performance, can sometimes be counterproductive. Having a clear picture (goal) of how you'd like to 'fix' it, based on what you've learned is lacking in it, usually produces better results in the end.

I also wouldn't necessarily take too much of the toothiness out of the new edge, until you see it's effect on what you're cutting. If done 'right' (fully apexed and burr-free), even very toothy edges can cut like demons; sometimes it's good to take advantage of it. In many of my own knives, I'm starting to put some bigger 'teeth' back into edges that I'd previously kept at pretty high polish. If you use your knife for cutting tough, fibrous materials (rope, carpet, heavy fabric, etc), a toothy edge can help with that. If most of your cutting tasks involve push-cutting (whittling/carving, slow & controlled cuts in materials that 'pinch' the blade and bind it), then a more polished finish will reduce friction and lend greater control with a lighter touch.

So, in a nutshell, don't rush into changing your new edge until you're convinced it needs it. At some point, you likely WILL change it (it's what knife nuts do, after all :D), but there's no reason not to see what it's capable of, beforehand.

If you touch it up at all, the one thing that many factory edges have is a slightly less-than-complete apex. It never hurts to examine the edge under magnification, to see if the factory stopped shy of fully apexing it, or worse, if they actually rounded off the apex in finishing it up. If so, it'll ALWAYS be improved by finishing what the factory didn't get done, and putting a crisp apex on it. Just doing that by itself will noticeably improve how it cuts.


David
Click to expand...

I had a Benchmade Rift that came with a decent edge. It was super coarse though, even after I cleaned up the factory burr. I carried it a couple of days and quickly decided that I don't like coarse edges. Reprofiled and refined it on Norton India. Much better. To the person who started the thread, if you don't like the edge, you can try to refine it. Listen to bgentry though.
 
Squashfan said:
I had a Benchmade Rift that came with a decent edge. It was super coarse though, even after I cleaned up the factory burr. I carried it a couple of days and quickly decided that I don't like coarse edges. Reprofiled and refined it on Norton India. Much better. To the person who started the thread, if you don't like the edge, you can try to refine it. Listen to bgentry though.
Click to expand...

The one thing that'd make me quickly reprofile a factory edge, is thick geometry. Most factory edges will be be conservatively wide in angle (40° inclusive or more), and thinning that will make a huge difference, regardless of which finish it's left with. This is what I'm noticing lately, in re-bevelling some of my previously higher-polished edges, and leaving them at thinner geometry (25° or so, and sometimes maybe lower) and with a coarser finish; I'm really starting to like anything between a DMT Coarse (325) and Fine (600) in finish, so long as the geometry's good and the apex is crisp and burr-free.


David
 
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