To sharpen a knife out of the box from factory edge or not?

I try to minimize the abrasion of material so I tend to refine the the existing edge on new knives unless it is a jacked up job. I buy a lot in the secondary market, mostly light to moderate usage, and I reprofile and/or sharpen about half of those as soon as I get them.
 
You know why I have lots of knives? Because I like to sharpen. That said, I am now getting a lot better at stretching out my edges, between sharpening. I am now using more strops/ceramic rods, and xxf diamonds.

What kills me with a new knife, is an uneven bevel. Most have them, although they are sharp, but they make my ocd act up. That makes me need to put the treatment on them. YMMV
 
I seldom leave a factory edge on a knife. On "normally priced", mass produced knives, even the good ones, the edges are not given a great deal of attention. I suspect they do the fingernail trick and if the knife doesn't slide off of the fingernail from either side in, it's sharp enough to ship. I say this because I saw a very good video of factory kitchen knife manufacture and that's exactly how it was done. And if we think about it, it doesn't really make a lot of economic sense to do otherwise. If hours were lavished on the finished edge, the darn thing is just gonna get dull anyway...if not quite as quickly. At that point, that effort is a wash. So in order to be able to make knives that folks can afford to buy, they grind a quick 40 degree inclusive edge on the thing and ship 'er.

Midtech and custom knive are going to be different although even with the mid-techs, the kind of folks who shell out that sort of cash may want to do the edge their way on their equally expensive set of water stones or whatever.

Fear not the whet stone!
 
For me I use the knife for a little bit until I figure what im going to be using it for , all of my knives are task specifically sharpened. If I know ill put that edge on it right out of the box. Otherwise I use it for a bit then put whatever edge it needs on it.

My question is what brand stones are you using.
 
I'll inspect it first, if its reasonably sharp - and most aren't - I'll use it for a while and then put it to the stones. Its enough work to correct the uneven factory bevels, let alone correct uneven factory bevels on a dull knife. Pretty rare for me to leave the factory edge for more than a few applications - maybe a day or three at most before I just can't take it anymore. Kinda like wearing bluejeans that haven't gone through the laundry, it just doesn't feel right.
 
HeavyHanded said:
I'll inspect it first, if its reasonably sharp - and most aren't - I'll use it for a while and then put it to the stones. Its enough work to correct the uneven factory bevels, let alone correct uneven factory bevels on a dull knife. Pretty rare for me to leave the factory edge for more than a few applications - maybe a day or three at most before I just can't take it anymore. Kinda like wearing bluejeans that haven't gone through the laundry, it just doesn't feel right.
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You have OCD too I see. You are wearing stiff jeans, with dull knives in them. You pretty well suck man, get it together already.
 
L2bravo said:
You have OCD too I see. You are wearing stiff jeans, with dull knives in them. You pretty well suck man, get it together already.
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You got that right - might as well wake up to find no coffee in the house and the only clean socks have holes in 'em...
 
Its better to touch up than to sharpen a dull blade in the long run.

that and I like extreme sharpness, factory edge never satisfies me.
 
I usually sharpen right out of the box on my user knives. Recently bought a 100th anniversary Buck 112 and intend to keep it as a "looky see" and the factory edge was even and sharp. Took it out of the display box and ran it on my slotted paper wheel (basically a strop) and tuned it up to near wicked edge sharp. Can't tell it was touched from looking at it, but it is much sharper now. I like my users to be mine with my edge on them.

Blessings,

Omar
 
HeavyHanded said:
might as well wake up to find no coffee in the house
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*shudder*...

(time lapses)

Okay, now that my nerves have calmed down...

Typically, on users, I find knives from the big companies to be sharp enough to use for a week or so.

What makes me break out the sharpening kit is that the companies have a far too obtuse bevel. The knife that got closest to proper geometry for the steel was Cold Steel with their mini tuff lite. IIRC it was less than 30º inclusive. Rare on a production knife.

Southard had a decent edge but still too obtuse given the steel.

Okay, I'm going to go make some coffee. :)
 
Factory edges usually have very obtuse angles and are not up to my standards of sharpness. In most cases I can surpass factory sharpness with a coarse stone and I usually need a bit more than a coarse stone to be satisfied ;)

Factory edges don't last long on my knives.
 
FordFan said:
I sharpened/stropped my new CRK 25 (really just a touch up) within two weeks of getting it. While sharp from the factory it was not as sharp as my Large Insingo thus I touched it up. I am glad I did. If it's a knife you plan to "collect" and potentially resell I agree with Jeff that it is better to have the factory edge. My 25 is a user.
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My 25 also came with an edge that wasn't exactly tree-topping sharp...
 
entropy1049 said:
My 25 also came with an edge that wasn't exactly tree-topping sharp...
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I bought a new Large Insingo this year as well and it seemed to have a little better edge than the my 25 if I remember right. However, I touched it up as well. Both are now very sharp.
 
With few exceptions, I am not satisfied with out of the box edges.

Even my magnificent Bob Dozier knives, although very sharp, had a rough, crude toothy edge on them. I always refine them before first use.
 
It seems that it all depends on your own idea of sharp. Maybe ive been unlucky but ive never got a knife out of tje box that I was 100% happy with the edge. Some might require just a little love, most get stuck on a course diamond stone right out the gates for a re-do. That being said, im not much into collecting knives and keeping them in pristine shape. Ive never even once bothered to tape up a nice new knife before sharpening. As to whomever stated that most new knives will push cut newsprint, where do you buy your knives? I want to start getting my new blades there!!! :)
 
I do not consider myself obsessive over sharpness perfection. My tools for general touchups are a ceramic rod and envelopes for strops.

That being said, I keep hearing stories about knives being "razor sharp" out of the box and that is rarely the case for me. I hardly get knives that will easily slice paper and even fewer that'll shave arm hair.

So, I either have terrible luck or a different definition of what sharp is.
 
About 50% of my new knives have shaved hair , and my armhair is hard to shave.
 
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