The sharpest of the sharp?

Cold Steel has been the sharpest for me. Frighteningly sharp fixed blades.
Busse Combat also sends their knives super sharp.
My Sebenza needed touch-up, but my Chris Reeve Nkonka came very sharp.
Spyderco has always been great, but my experience is only with their serrated blades. I still keep a stainless scaled Cricket - I love that little design.
 
Easily my spyderco native III CPMS30V. hair popping sharp and suuuuper smooooooth :D Probably the only knife I haven't had to sharpen as soon as I got it :)
 
For production knives, I'll reiterate what's come before:

Sharpest:
Chris Reeve (very polished, refined convex final on a hollow)
Busse (convex or partly so, depending on knife)

Very sharp (these tend to be toothy and flat bevels, but very sharp):
Microtech
Spyderco
Kershaw
Cold Steel

The old BlackJack's were very sharp, true convex outta the box. I lost track of them though.
 
I've found Spyderco, Victorinox and Kershaw to consistantly produce an excellent factory sharpened edge.
 
The sharpest knife I have gotten out of the box would be the Buck/Mayo 172.
 
The one that arrived the keenest to my doorstep was a Moki with VG10 blade, should have kept that one! very sweet.

But it's always good to know how to place an edge on about any knife otherwise you'll be stuck...pardon the pun, within a few weeks of buying that Scary sharp blade. One big factor, for me at least, is to make sure as I sharpen, that there isn't a shoulder at the top of the bevel, that's it's radius, convexed, so when you push cut through material, there is little resistance to overcome your edge profile.

The mouse pad/sand paper trick is probably the best method to produce this type of edge, great care is needed to not screw up the main section of the blade and you'll end up with a knife that will scare about anyone! ;)

I'll second other makers listed above as well,
Kershaw knows sharp!
Spyderco also each one was razor keen
The NEW style Benchmades have about the best edge profile out there, thanks to a new sharpening machine at the factory, outstanding edges are placed on their knives now, push cutting through a stack of leather is child's play with their knives!


G2
 
Originally posted by Gary W. Graley
But it's always good to know how to place an edge on about any knife otherwise you'll be stuck...G2
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Yup...good point Gary, and yes.., that CATRA machine Benchmade is using does put a nice edge on knives one the learning curve is over. Pro-Tech uses the same machine.
 
I think it's hard to beat the CRK factory edge. Both of my small Sebbies came hair popping sharp right out of the box.
 
Out of box Sharpest: Sebenza, Spyderco convex bladed Moran, Spyderco PE Calypso, Spyderco BF Native and all Marttiini carbonsteel puukkos.

Pleasantly sharp (out of box): all other Spydercos, Microtechs, Kershaws and Puukkos (and other Scandinavian knives)

Sharpest that I have now: a carbonsteel Japanese vegetable knife that cut me yeasterday.
 
Sharpest NIB are the Olfa blades, significantly sharper than Spyderco, Cold Steel, Reeve etc., very consistent behavior as well, tight QC on sharpness.

Worse I have seen was Ontario for knives, and Cold Steel for Tomahawks. The latter doesn't even have the edge bevels meeting let alone sharpened.

-Cliff
 
i don't know about you guys, but the MoDs and emerson production knives i've seen were all sharp, but not sharp
cold steel in general comes very nicely sharpened
i'd second kershaw as having the sharpest knives out of box
 
The most curious thing to me is that people view initial sharpness as an indicator of quality. Edges, after all, are transitory things that need to be restored and maintained regularly. How they come from the factory is of no importance to me since I grind them the way I want them before I ever use them.

The sharpest and dullest I've emcoutered are both kitchen knives. Most of the chisel ground Japanese yanagiba slicers I've encountered would be sharpest (nothing like a 9 degree bevel is there?) The dullest are any of the ceramic bladed knives because they are too delicate to take an acute angle so they get obtuse ones.
 
I agree with Knife Outlet wholeheartedly, but that isn't the question of this thread.

Out of the box, the sharpest knife I ever purchased was a new Strider AR, uneven bevel and all. Now that the bevel is even, the thing is spooky even with a toothy edge. I polished it to a mirror finish once and it cut newspaper without pressure and SILENTLY.

The sharpest knife AFTER SHARPENING was a 154-CM Microtech USSOCOM Tanto fresh off of the Edge-Pro. This thing sliced more people unawares than any knife I have ever owned. No one remembers the cut, only that 'feathery' feeling.

The dullest knife *period* is a Benchmade titanium 970ST. Both of mine arrived dull and they defied sharpening with any number grit.
 
CRK Sebenzas, and Spydercos. Single sharpest, out of the box, was my BM 710HS.
The worst I've had were Busses, which have been consistantly horrible for me, the edges being both extremely thick and dull.
Schrade and Opinel also come with pitiful edges.
 

As for fixed blades I would have to say again my CS master hunter in Carbon V. That thing has been through the wringer and still takes and holds probably the sharpest edge I have yet to put on a fixed blade. Next would be the Puuko and Leuko I rec. from Ragnar. [/B]
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I have to agree based on experience with my CS Master Hunter. Ditto on ANY of the Scandinavian knives I own by several makers from several countries.
 
Originally posted by Morgoth412


Dullest: Victorinox... I own two, and they both came with reasonably sharp edges...but not shaving sharp. I love V'nox knives but I find it annoying that the seconed you open one out of the box you have to sharpen it yourself to gain a good edge. (In a knifenuts oppinion)

-Kevin
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Sometimes true (tho' I have gotten them very sharp, when new) , but the nice thing is that it takes less than one or two minutes to make them shaving sharp (I'm talking about Victorinox only. I'm not a Wenger fan). Oh, the dullest I've ever seen (new) is my Schrade Middle man, that I bought in the heat of the whittling/carving thread a few months ago. I'm about to give that thing to someone I don't like.
 
V'nox's do only take a minute or too to get sharp. One of the benifits of lower end steels. They actually hold the edge for a decent period of time. Could be much worse.
-Kevin
 
I have to add that the absolute dullest knives, from a "quality" maker was the old Case "Sodbuster". Single blade, black plastic handles. Came in several different sizes. About 20 years ago, or so, I got a "good" deal on three of them in three different sizes. Worst, the WORST, knives I've ever owned. Wouldn't take a good edge and wouldn't even keep the lousy one that it would take. Because of those three knives, I have never bought another Case knife.
 
Sharpest out of box:

FRN Delica in VG-10
921 Switchback in S30V
FRN Native in S30V

For some reason, VG-10 seems sharper than S30V even though it's easier for me to sharpen S30V.
 
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