To sharpen or not to sharpen, that is the question

onojoe

onojoe

Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
1,487
I like a sharp knife. That's the point of having a knife isn't it.

Do you sharpen or re profile a brand new knife before you use it. Or do you use the factory edge until it needs sharpening. I find myself sharpening some and using others. What do you guys do?

This is an example of a brand new knife that I sharpened right away, it came from the factory with a huge burr on it so it really needed it.

MVQGtRZ.jpg


This is one that I haven't sharpened at all yet and I use it quite a bit

s15pIlP.jpg
 
Depends on the edge! And what I will be doing. If the knife needs to be a slicer I will reprofile as most factory edges are way too obtuse especially considering the quality of the steel on some of them. Esee 4 needed a reprofile to cut well. Junglas not so much since I am generally just smashing it through wood or delimbing. It really does depend on a lot of things so I take it on a case by case basis.
 
Yes.. CASE is good for leaving a burr on their new knives!! Some are worse than others.. If there is a burr, I will remove it.. If the edge is fine then I let it alone till it needs touched up!! John:cool:
 
I'm like every body else , I think. It depends on the knife and how it comes from the factory. Spyderco's usually not. Case , usually yes. I reprofile using my Lansky, then the Sharpmaker.
 
Depends on the knife.

I bought my Boker Pipsqueak and didn't need to sharpen it for at least two weeks because of the crazy sharp factory edge.
On the other end of the spectrum, I got a DW Childress custom fixed blade on here that came to me with no microbevel at all, definitely needed to re-profile that one.
I'm not sure if its customary for custom fixed blades to come with an edge that you can profile to your liking or not, but this one seemed that way.
 
WK ONE said:
Depends on the knife.
Click to expand...

This^

As for how I decide, it comes down to its intended usage and how I feel about it once I have it in hand.

I recently acquired a new (to me) knife that looks like it has a factory edge on it. While I am positive that I can improve it, the knife doesn't fit my hand well, and it competes for Pocket space with some Fantastic knives. Due to that, this will keep its edge untouched and will likely be passed along in short order.

Along the same lines, a while back when I bought my first Sodbusters, I Knew they were keepers and users as soon as I had them in hand.
Three BNIT O1 soddies (orange, black and maroon micarta) straight from my vendor of choice went to my stones and received a thinning of the shoulders and convexing.

Still have the orange and micarta, the black was gifted to a Marine friend of mine on his only childs first birthday.
 
I don't care for most of the factory edges that come on my knives, even Spyderco. My Cruwear Military is the exception to this with a 12-13 dps edge from the factory.

Even still, I will typically use the factory edge until it's dull and then reprofile it to a much more acute angle.
 
I just use it and slowly reprofile a degree per side each time I sharpen to not spend too much time at onxe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Depends on what the factory edge is like. If it's sharp enough to push-cut copy paper, I'll use it as-is and just re-sharpen once it can't.
 
I generally like to at least touch up all of my new knives, as they can all be made just a little sharper usually ;)
 
Like everyone else has already said, it obviously depends on the factory edge and also, what your definition of "sharp" is...
 
If it comes from Spyderdco AND is made in Seki City Japan . . . I take the knife out of the box, put it in my pocket and I KNOW I can just use it and the geometry is in the ball park. Quite sharp and "properly beveled" the way I like it. Pretty much everything else is a crap shoot. If it is a Boker I set aside a day and a half for reprofiling and sharpening, if not just boxing up and sending back. If I am in error then I have a party and celebrate. A recent full sized (4 inch blade) they did great).

SAKs same but better than Boker in consistency but I have never understood their obsession with those ultra obtuse grind angles. Cold Steel can get it together pretty often.

I could bang on and on but yes for the most part I do some major work to the edges before I can even put it in my pocket. As I often say : I don't think it is a good idea to let people who drink on the job sharpen the knives.
 
If I try the factory edge and if performs relatively well, I use it as is. At some point it either gets dull, or I want to rebevel it the way i want it. I like to see how the factory edged perform.

Ric
 
If in doubt, strop
Click to expand...

When I got my brand new Manix CPM-S110V it wouldn't bite my nail much at all but seemed like a decent grind angle. I tried it a little and decided to try a bit of stropping on a rough strop with yellow abrasive compound.

It just looked at me with those bleary, swimming, blood shot eyes and said : Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

And didn't change one iota.

I had to take it to the Edge Pro with a 500 Shapton glass stone to W A K E I T U P.

Yesterday I went polished. Got tired of the toothy pretty quick like.
One test for me is if I have one of those little cuticle spikes (not sure what they are called but they are woody) and I push cut it against my finger nail and the thing hangs on, then the edge SUCKS. That was the way toothy was after sharpening. When I push an edge against it and it popes away or just lays there but sliced off . . .
THEN
we got something.

Polished edges only need apply. But no stroppy please.
 
Phydeaux said:
If I try the factory edge and if performs relatively well, I use it as is. At some point it either gets dull, or I want to rebevel it the way i want it. I like to see how the factory edged perform.

Ric
Click to expand...

This explains my stance quite succinctly.
 
Generally speaking, I use the factory edge until it needs re-sharpened. Beckers are an example of knives that I just want a bit sharper than they come from the factory. So, other than a BK-2 which I own and don't care for, I sharpen them almost immediately. So, it depends on the knife.

Plan on getting a Work Sharp so I can convex easily. Sort of looking forward to this purchase when it happens. I'm mostly a bench stone sharpener.
 
I've really only had one I used right out of the box, my Spyderco (the only one so far, a UKPK.) Even then I touched it up after a couple of days and stropped it but mostly just to see if polishing the edge made any difference. It made a little, but it was pretty nice already.

Most others I've corrected the bevel first and then sharpened before carrying. Just how it goes. If you're gonna carry it, it's kind of a ceremony to bring it to it's full potential first. I've always enjoyed doing what they just don't have time for at the factory. Teaches me a little about the steel if nothing else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top