Too Sharp?

The Fort

The Fort

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Aug 11, 2012
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I'm just curious, when do you consider your blades to be a perfect sharpness for your edc? Isn't it true that if you refine your edge too much, that it will not cut certain things as well as a slightly toothy edge? The edges that many of you are capable of putting on your knives are quite impressive, but are they practical? It seems that after a certain point, it may just become "more show than go". I'm not looking to stir up any controversy, more so just looking for some realistic views and opinions.
 
[video=youtube;9PeqaanBNmg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PeqaanBNmg[/video]
 
Amoo, I appreciate you sharing that video. That was pretty amazing! Is that you?
 
no, check smokeater908 and modifiedz on youtube for all kinds of sharpness tests and rumor dispelling...etc.
 
It's funny. I bought soooo many stones because I wanted to rep a 24/7 mirror polish, and I bought Edge Pro strops and compounds for ultimate refinement and now I never take a knife past 5k grit, and usually roll EDC at 600-1000.

Refined edges are badass, and I'll put one on my knife every once in a while, but it's more for show, and to admire an edge so keenly refined, but I find 1000 grit to be awesome for cutting, as well as lightning fast to achieve on consistent angle sharpener. I usually just bust out a 400 then jump to 1000


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factory edges are known to be toothy. The question asked was about toothy vs mirror polished.

I have a few knives I've been taking to mirror including my edc, but I microbevel everything so I get pretty good edge retention. Either way as I said, check vids from those two, they do all kinds of tests with mirror edges just to dispell rumors. IF Razor-Edge-Knife drops in, he could probably tell you a lot of the same things, but I don't want to speak for him or make any assumptions, but he would be a current sharpener you could ask.
 
Its been my experience polished edges are for phone book paper. Toothy edges are good for cutting cardboard and fibrous materials. Even when i do a mirror edge somtimes i will do a pass on a ceramic at a different angle just to give the edge some bite. Polished edges look amazing but i dont like the cutting performance in most cases.
 
[video]https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=HgwtFyF9RqQ[/video] I like this video.

I think in a lot of cases the polished edge will loose its bite and proceed to give you soapy cut, where as the toothy edge when it deteriorates keeps making the knife still usable. All about materials ofcourse you are cutting and finding balance but a tomato is not a challenge for a proper toothy edge.
 
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I like mine about 600-1000. If it shaves hair with the slightest pressure and is sharp and toothy enough to cut free hanging TP without breaking the square off. The industrial TP works best, the cheap stuff. That is my test.
 
When I first got my EP I bought the Chosera 3k 5k 10k stones and would polish all the way to 10,000.
Since then I got the Shapton glass 200,320,500,1k, 2k, 4k. 4k is where I stop now and go to a 1 micron diamond paste strop to finish.
If my polished edge gets dull I run it across my Spyderco ultra fine bench stone(3 micron) and strop,takes a minute or so.
Sharp is as sharp does.LOL
 
One should try both and find balance and what makes them feel good. Sharpening is like meditation
 
polished edge have more precision, cleaner cuts, less retention,

toothy edges have more retention, more aggressive cuts, less finesse.

the goal is to find a balance of polish and toothy based on use and preference of the user but sometime the steel dictates what that will be.

people get confused by toothy edges because they rely on higher grit to reduce burr and even out their bevel.

you can fully refine the apex at coarse grit then polish the teeth with a strop which can give you the a nice polished-toothy.
 
A lot of people make the mistake with toothy edges of thinking that it's okay to leave them ragged when the apex still needs to be even and true, without burrs. Unless your coarse stones are slow-cutting and/or the steel is very hard, you'll want to finish with stropping. When trying to produce a toothy edge I like to just strop on bare wood.
 
No such thing as too sharp. However, there does come a point when further edge refinement is no longer worth the investment in time and effort for me.
 
No

I've gone toothy now and again but found my way back to civilization (thank Bob) . . . for most all the cutting I do Mirror-Hair-Whittling is EXACTLY what I want ! ! ! !

I cut soft rubber goods with oil on the blade to prevent grabbing of the material on the side of the knife.
I cut tough plastic packaging.
I cut cloth reinforced rubber sheet.
I cut hard rubber block to take off areas around the edges.
I cut food ("they" say toothy is good for food prep) I like polished better. :grumpy:
I trim wood (mirror is especially desirable for wood carving etc.)

even trimming my fingernails it is BETTER.
Ha, ha . . . the other day I had to cut the equivalent of a seat belt but the belt was way thicker . . . can only be done with a serrated blade right (or so all the hype would make you think) . . . my mirror edged Gayle Bradley hissed through it and said "What ? ? ? were we cutting something ? ? ? That went by so fast I hardly noticed.

That leaves old dirty rope. I've heard toothy is good for cutting old dirty rope . . . I pretty much never cut old dirty rope. Yah . . . I'm a city slicker candyass.

I keep a toothy around just in case though. A guy ought to have two of everything. :)
Meet the twins.
IDENTICAL except one is toothy one is polished.
 
For any normal use of a knife, I don't think it really matters. People who do heavy cutting probably pay attention to this, but I don't do heavy cutting, and on the occasions I do I touch my blade up on stones at the end of the day anyhow. Otherwise I just strop and maintain my desired sharpness when I use the knife.

Now, from non-knife-nuts, I hear "that's too sharp," usually because people are flabberghasted that my knives push-cut receipt paper and shave as well as a razor, and they're afraid to cut themselves. But I think that's a different story.
 
I also tend to sit in the 400-1k seat on the bus, often on the lower end of the scale.

Most of my usage is smooth food grade plastic, pallet wrap, zip ties, cardboard, and other areas where a toothy edge biting will be a benefit.
 
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