too sharp?!!

This is what you do.

person: Can you sharpen this knife for me?
me: sure
*sharpens knife*
person: it's too sharp, can you dull it?
me: sure, try this knife instead
181549.JPG
 
your boss is a moron! a dull knife is a dangerous knife, knifes cut. thats what makes it a knife. Tell your boss to carry around a friggen spoon, a moron like that would probally stab himself with that ha!
 
Confederate said:
Well then why do most knife sharpeners have more than one angle? There is a good point to be made for working edges and razor edges. I prefer razor edges because I like them. People who cut for protracted periods of time might find such edges far too difficult to keep sharp.

Most of my Cold Steel knives come with "bleeding edges," which I love. Their serrated knives cut straight lines in paper and make excellent self defense tools. Their plain edges come very sharp. I've also had similar edges on my Spyderco and Benchmade knives. My Buck 110 Alaskan, however, came with a very decent "working" edge that was not razor sharp, and I don't think it was meant to be.

Buck110Logo_4.jpg


The edge on this Buck was not hair popping sharp.


Knives_2.jpg


CS knives are usually very sharp.


P.S. Richard J: That is a great video. Wish you could teach me to get them that sharp. If you ever make a video on that,
please let me know!
Click to expand...

i agree...although i think there is a difference between a "working edge" and a "dull edge". sure the buck wasnt as sharp as the coldsteels, but im guessing its still would be considered sharp. but youre right...not every knife needs to be hair whittling sharp.

peace.
thomasvsgodzilla.
 
Usually things go the opposite for me. My family LOVES the knives after I sharpen them as they last a but longer and of course my friends do as well as they can show it off and "muck" with it. However, I got to talking with a preacher at a church that I snow plow for, about my passion for knives and learning the skill/art of sharpening them. He allowed me to sharpen his kitchen knives there at the church. Haha, he gave me a call later on and told me his kitchen staff were too scared to dig them out of the draw as they just throw them in there. We laughed a bit and he said told me to just "make them about half sharp if ya don't mind" then chuckled. I got a kick out of this. It's the only time that I've ever heard they were too sharp. At that point I was using a Razor Sharp paper wheel system.
 
tenille said:
of course. everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

there aint no right, there aint no wrong, only pleasure and pain.
Click to expand...

The pleasure of being able to run your finger up and down the blade of your Gerber EDC to "feel how sharp it is," then the pain of cutting the heck out of yourself when you do the same to another knife, and remark that it's way too sharp for your purposes--which include spreading butter and rubbing the sharp edge of a knife to make sure it's not dangerously sharp.
 
A razor sharp edge isn't always the best edge for the intended use of a knife. I can easily put a hair shaving edge on a knife in a couple of minutes with my 1 inch wide cardboard wheel system. With that noted I prefer an edge for most of my working knives to have a bit of micro serration to them so I usually only use the 600 grit wheel or a fast pass on a diamond flat lap.
 
Years ago, when my wife and I were newly weds, it took her and adjustment time to having sharp kitchen knives. I don't keep them scary sharp, but adequate for kitchen duty. The first couple of years she would nick her self once in a while. Then she started complaining... when the knives were a little bit dull. Her favorite knife is still an inexpensive Victronix red handled paring knife, it has a thin blade and nice cutting geometry.

Ric
 
My stock answer to this question is another question:
"Would you wear a watch that couldn't tell time accurately, or use a pen that wouldn't write properly? What if your car would only go 25 MPH?"
 
Last thursday I was chatting with a cooworker who is also a hiker. Soon the conversation turned about folding knives and such. He told me he had two cheapo knives completly dull. Today he brought both to the office and I took them home to sharpen them. I took the first one to my Sharpmaker and got at it. You know how it works, grey corners, grey flats (shaving sharp by now), white corners and white flats. And, of course, stropping with leather and green compound. Being a cheapo the steel was fairly soft so it didn't take that long. I also made it pointy again (it was dulled).

This afternoon (only a few hours after he gave them to me) I gave him this one back. Before giving it back I showed him how it was shaving sharp. Then I handed it to him and I told him not to let it snap shut and to be carefull with it. A few seconds later he was testing the edge running his finger across the edge. Luckily he didn't do it ALONG THE EDGE! WTF? Why do people perform such stupid acts? If you want to see if it cuts... well, cut something! Or try to shave with it just like I showed you. If you are a knife nut and know what a burr is... maybe you are checking for it but this guy is no knife nut and he has no idea what a burr is. Amazing.

Mikel

PD: The cooworker sitting by me right now doesn't touch any of my blades after getting cut by one of them (can't remember if it was an Opinel or a Spyderco Centofante III).
 
I think you will find that people who think a knife is "to sharp" is because the only time they have experienced a sharp knife is when they buy a new one. Once its dull they continue to use it and forget about how sharp it was. They will continue down this path and develop bad cutting habits associated with a dull knife ie, excessive force applied to the object being cut or cutting twords you for more leverage etc.
Once these habits are second nature to them and a sharp knife is put in their hand an accident is going to happen because they are still using the knife as if it were dull.
 
Last edited:
I sharpened up an ooooold SAK for a guy I work with. I gave it a scalpel sharp edge. When I gave it back to him he said, "awesome"!

My brother in law was over a couple of weeks ago to pick up a Surefire I ordered for him. I told him if he wanted to get a knife to ask me and I would help him make a good choice. My wife said, with a smirk, "show him some of Your knives". So, I pulled out a few and handed him them one at a time telling him about them. With each hand-off I would tell him " now dude, this is Really sharp o.k." , and would shave a little hair off my forearm. He handled them well until I gave him my Sebenza, which I had recently honed, Very sharp.
Maybe it was because the Seb isn't very big, but for some reason he did a stupid thing, like putting his thumb on the edge. My eyes must have been as big as dinner plates and I'm sure I gasped. I don't know how, but he managed to not cut the tip of his thumb off.
After he left I said to my wife "I was sure your brother was going to cut his thumb off". She said "me too".

I think I'm going to buy him an Endura for Christmas, and teach him proper safe knife handling.


For me, all knives must be shaving sharp. Whether it's a 300 grit or a 2000 grit edge, they all shave, some just smoother than others. When it stops taking the hair off my arm it gets a touch up. Only takes 3 minutes anyhow.
 
Last edited:
My F-i-L has an old SAK. He was using it for something, and I asked to see it. It was a dull as wet toast. The spine and the edge were practically indistinguishable.

I put it on my belt grinder and brought it back to life. When I gave it back to him I told him it was now very sharp, please, please, becareful!

He promptly ran his thumb LENGTHWISE along the blade and cut his thumb.

Andy
 
I have sharpened hundreds of knives for coworkers over the years. I am a cop and have seen coworker's knives run the gamut from cheap .50 cent folders to high quality slippies. I wore out a Lansky kit before buying a Sharpmaker.

I learned early on to verbally warn them that the blades were very sharp now, probably more keen than they ever were in the past. Even that strong warning has not kept some of them from promptly slicing into their own flesh.

I carry plenty of bandages in my first aid kit in the cruiser trunk for such needs. They all come back to me though and get me to hone their EDCs for them after they have dulled them again.

There is no telling how many seat belts and car body parts have been cut with my "edges" over the years here. I keep my knife kit in the cruiser and usually get three to five blades a week to "touch up". I never have charged anyone but they usually get lunch the next time we eat which is a nice gesture.

The worst person I ever sharpened a knife for was my step-father. It was a sure bet that if he handed me his carbon steel Old Timer for a sharpening a hospital trip was in his near future. One time I had just finished up on an ultra fine black stone and gave it back to him. He was in the process of re-wiring some old junky car he had bought for a hundred bucks. Some wiring in the trunk area was where he was working at and had the large blade of the stockman open. So he goes to slam the trunk lid down and forgot that he had that blade open and sliced the tip of his thumb CLEAN OFF. Blood shot everywhere.

Funny thing was he felt no pain, said the cut didn't hurt a bit but his digit was quite a bit shorter than it was. We found the nub and took it along with him to the ER but they tossed it in the med waste tub and stitched him up.

After that, he would still get me to sharpen his knife but he would immediately take it and run the edge into a 2x4 or some other wood to "dull" it so he could use it. :D
 
about a month ago I was hunting with my father, and had sharpened his older convex edges Spydie Moran for him. While cleaning a caribou he commented that the knife was too sharp, and I was kinda inclined to agree.

After dragging my Boo out of freezing belly deep water, up onto a hill, slogging through the same water a couple hundred feet back and forth to get saws, game bags, etc. I was field dressing him, and was flat freakin' tired. using that sharp of a knife while shaky and out of breath was a little nerve racking. It also got away and poked things a little too easily while cutting membrane.

All things told, I guess I wouldn't change things too much personally, but I certainly do respect my father's opinion in how he likes his knife. (basically sharp enough to shave, but not split hairs) Maybe this winter I can use a tread mill more often instead of settling for a duller knife.:D

my pet peeve with co-workers is the "here throw a quick edge on this one for me" thing. I don't "throw" an edge onto any darn thing, I work my butt off to properly apply it. I did have a couple complain that I'd gotten thier knives too sharp. I made a note in my little black book to ensure they never again experience that concern again due to me...:D
 
I sharpened a Gerber Paraframe for a kid at work and the next day he came back and said that his mom didn't like me sharpening his knives for him :)
 
Gespenst said:
During a conference call at work I noticed my boss toying with a small lock back knife. After the call, I asked him about his knife and he handed it to me. Looked to be a cheapie Gerber with the original edge (obvious by the grind marks). I handed my EDC to him and he remarked that it was too sharp for him. He liked his dull (by my standards), cheap knife because it suited his needs as is. Has anyone else encountered people who felt their knives were "too sharp"?
Click to expand...

Yes, people like this are about as sharp as a bowling ball. That's why they want knives that are the same way. The idea that it is alright and they should be allowed to love their knives the way they are is not a good idea. It is unprofessional. A knife should be very sharp or you are disrespecting yourself to have it. Is it alright for a surgeon to cut you with a dull knife? Come on, being critical of people is a way to keep yourself as sharp as a knife. I don't want to be ordinary. I want to be very squared away at all times. I want to come out on top. Live and let live. Bullshit! The reason knives had only thumb nicks to open them is that a real fighter knows who is friend and who is foe. That way he can strike his opponent first. And keep on striking until the job is done. Never give someone a chance to hurt you.
 
Wow this thread really took off! It is funny that so many others have had similar encounters with lovers of dull blades.
To clarify the knife being discussed in my original post, the blade length was no more than 2.5 inches and a narrow grind. The EDC that I had at the time was a Kershaw Vapor which was shaving sharp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top