Photos Terrible Factory Edges

Aquaholicc

Aquaholicc

Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
1,027
Why is it that these "high quality" knives come to us with such un-even scatchy bevels? If I really think about it from a business stand point ..yes I understand not every production knife has the type of profit margin to have someone spend some time honing a Edge but I mean..I'd at least like to think they spend more than 3 minutes (so it seems) on these bevels ? I don't know maybe I'm just a whiny little girl?
Here are some before and after of a G3 I just recently received. Took 90 mins just to get the edge to my liking..

[URL=http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Aquaholicc/media/IMG_8369_zpsnjaqw5mx.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Aquaholicc/media/IMG_8371_zps4oxryx98.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Good job in making a normal scratched up edge into a decent polished edge. I have gotten other "custom" knives with edges like yours and know how long it takes to polish up the edge.
 
Area FiftyOne said:
Good job in making a normal scratched up edge into a decent polished edge. I have gotten other "custom" knives with edges like yours and know how long it takes to polish up the edge.
Click to expand...
Thanks man..especially such hard steel as M390. She's a pain to work with..but the results are phenomenal!
 
I bought a Condor Kephart blade blank for$20 onAmazon Prime this past week to use as a pattern. It was darn near as thick behind the edge as at the spine and it looked like it had been honed with a fast moving cinder block. :eek: I won't recommending that knife to anyone in the future, even as a low cost option. ;)
 
Aquaholicc said:
Why is it that these "high quality" knives come to us with such un-even scatchy bevels? If I really think about it from a business stand point ..yes I understand not every production knife has the type of profit margin to have someone spend some time honing a Edge but I mean..I'd at least like to think they spend more than 3 minutes (so it seems) on these bevels ? I don't know maybe I'm just a whiny little girl?
Here are some before and after of a G3 I just recently received. Took 90 mins just to get the edge to my liking..
Click to expand...

...and there's your answer.

Companies that sell knives with such high quality steel for such reasonable prices like Bradford and have such minimal staff on hand (Not sure exactly how many employees they have now but from what I remember it is a small family-owned business) cannot afford to have 1 employee spend 90 minutes on 1 blade to get it up to the edge quality that only a select few see as required; the time needed is quite prohibitive as you've acknowledged yourself. 1 employee giving mirror edges to blades like you did, even if they were 50% faster than you, would still only get 8 knives done in a standard workday. This means that at minimum-wage levels (in WA where they are based) each of those mirror edges would cost an extra $11 minimum just from labor costs. This doesn't include the loss of the other meaningful work that employee would be doing instead of making costly fancy edges for a small percentage of their buyers to actually appreciate.

Factory edges are just to make the knife sharp (in Bradford's case, incredibly sharp) without spending too long on any one blade (consider the quantity of knives they put out every day), if anybody wants the knife sharper than what the factory provides they can feel free to do it themselves, like you have done.
 
I understand what your saying. Most of my new knives come with a nice sharp factory edge, but not polished. I doubt factory production knives are hand sharpened. If they paid someone to hand sharpen each and every knife, production would be down and they would have to charge much more for their products. More than likely they are ran through a machine with a guided sharpener to put a decent but rough edge on the blade while maintaining the angles. I know if you send your knife in to Benchmade for their lifesharp service, they hand sharpen it on a Burr King. It comes back sharp, but more than likely your angle will be off.
 
Last edited:
trevitrace said:
So it was evenly ground and sharp but not polished?
Click to expand...
My production knives never come evenly ground lol...because they are in fact done by hand..I'm not sure what systems you guys use but which ever company whether it be Spyderco, Benchmade,ZT, ect...they all come to me at about 20 near the nose and as I get down through the belly it may drop to 18 then near the tang it's 15..it's just inconsistent workmanship in my eyes ..and it's a pain that I pay 200+ bucks for all my knives and I have to spend hours fixing their mistakes ? But the other half of me sees this type of thing as a challenge/learning experience to correct these flaws as I love to sharpen steel..

But hey some are fine with factory edges I just don't think your steel is at it's full potential if your don't have a consistent secondary bevel (whatever it may be) on your knife...not to mention maintenance on a knife that has a very consistent secondary bevel (that is known) is 100x easier.
 
KingMC said:
...and there's your answer.

Companies that sell knives with such high quality steel for such reasonable prices like Bradford and have such minimal staff on hand (Not sure exactly how many employees they have now but from what I remember it is a small family-owned business) cannot afford to have 1 employee spend 90 minutes on 1 blade to get it up to the edge quality that only a select few see as required; the time needed is quite prohibitive as you've acknowledged yourself. 1 employee giving mirror edges to blades like you did, even if they were 50% faster than you, would still only get 8 knives done in a standard workday. This means that at minimum-wage levels (in WA where they are based) each of those mirror edges would cost an extra $11 minimum just from labor costs. This doesn't include the loss of the other meaningful work that employee would be doing instead of making costly fancy edges for a small percentage of their buyers to actually appreciate.

Factory edges are just to make the knife sharp (in Bradford's case, incredibly sharp) without spending too long on any one blade (consider the quantity of knives they put out every day), if anybody wants the knife sharper than what the factory provides they can feel free to do it themselves, like you have done.
Click to expand...
I despise how correct you are sir..lol
Guess it comes down to a mean of values.
 
Aquaholicc said:
I despise how correct you are sir..lol
Guess it comes down to a mean of values.
Click to expand...

Yep, for me Bradford knives aren't priced high enough to stand out as having sub-par edges, I'd only expect more polished edges from knives that are over $300.
 
Great job with that rough edge, I can't believe they would leave such an edge on their blades when Victorinox can put out a 12$ knife with a 5x better edge.
Vic blades are real thin though, so maybe they can just start with a finer grit, and are also mostly ground by robots.
 
Many people prefer a toothy edge as it is anyway. Most people who prefer polished edges know how to get a polished edge themselves.
 
What I'm more concerned about than the factory bevel is the sharpening choil. They usually don't exist or totally suck. Filing a good sharpening choil in a highly wear resistant steel is annoying.
 
KingMC said:
.
Factory edges are just to make the knife sharp (in Bradford's case, incredibly sharp) without spending too long on any one blade (consider the quantity of knives they put out every day), if anybody wants the knife sharper than what the factory provides they can feel free to do it themselves, like you have done.
Click to expand...

Perfectly said. I've had four Bradford G3's in 3V and in M390, and one G3F folder in M390. All had an edge likely done at perhaps 600 grit...pretty common, and all would push-cut newsprint. If you want a factory mirrored edge, you pay 600 bucks and up...some pretty nice ones "out there" if you want to pay for it.
Bradford knives are much sharper than 90% of other new knives that I buy, and I'm perfectly content with his great knives.
 
Sonnydaze said:
Perfectly said. I've had four Bradford G3's in 3V and in M390, and one G3F folder in M390. All had an edge likely done at perhaps 600 grit...pretty common, and all would push-cut newsprint. If you want a factory mirrored edge, you pay 600 bucks and up...some pretty nice ones "out there" if you want to pay for it.
Bradford knives are much sharper than 90% of other new knives that I buy, and I'm perfectly content with his great knives.
Click to expand...
Hmm it just seems odd to me that these "high quality" production companies don't offer a option to have someone actually take their time and give you something better than just slop..lol? You guess they finish on 600 grit but it looks absolutely nothing like my 600 grit bevel lol. All I use is the Edge Pro with the standard stones that came with 120grit-1000grit and I'm getting these results? I guess it's just skill and time sadly..
 
I believe the edge is also a part of the look and identity of the knife. I won't consider getting a mirror edge on a SMF or Umnumzaan. On the other hand, I love it on Sebenzas and I'm considering it on my Chaves 228.
 
Aquaholicc said:
Hmm it just seems odd to me that these "high quality" production companies don't offer a option to have someone actually take their time and give you something better than just slop..lol? You guess they finish on 600 grit but it looks absolutely nothing like my 600 grit bevel lol. All I use is the Edge Pro with the standard stones that came with 120grit-1000grit and I'm getting these results? I guess it's just skill and time sadly..
Click to expand...

The best factory edge I've ever found came on my Guardian3, their edges are most definitely not 'slop'. Also, Bradford knives are under $200 new, that is the same money that one would conceivably spend on a ZT, ESEE, or Benchmade, and all of those companies have the same quality factory edges or worse.
 
You can set a "rough' edge on a belt and then go to another machine like a Tormek and do polished edge with their 4000 grit Japanese wheel and/or their leather wheel and I suspect that it wouldn't take an hour per blade to do it. i would suspect that even a CATRA machine would leave a better finish than some that I have seen. IMO, there is no excuse for a "washboard" edge on any knife.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top