What are your expectations of sharpness?

How sharp do you expect your $100 plus knife to be?

  • Hair Popping Sharp

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hair Shaving Sharp

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Slices paper with ease

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • If it cuts what I want I don't care

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Doesn't matter I am going to put my own edge on it anyway

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
whitty

whitty

Dealer / Materials Provider
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
6,046
There are always plenty of people saying their knife was hair popping sharp or hair shaving sharp right out of the box. We want to know what you expect out of the mid to upper end knives coming straight out of the box? Say $100 plus!
 
Used to be I wanted at least arm hair shaving. Since I've gotten better at my own sharpening I can put my favorite edge angle on just about any knife. And usually do.

Mike
 
I expect it to shave hair with ease out of the box. Better is a plus, less will be sharpened immediately.
 
Agreed, I can put an edge I like on a blade more often then not, unless its one of the real tough exotics, or complete unsharpenable crap. I dont expect much from a <$25 blade out the box, and Normally I'm not real picky about my edc's in use as long as they function, paper cutting sharp, once in a while i'll get em good and proper, normally i maintain em with just a "good" edge.

But to spend top dollar for new quality blade, and not have it at least hair shaving sharp out of the box is a bit disappointing.
 
I expect the knife to be sharp and usable right out of the box. I'm not interested in mirror polished edges taken to .00000000000001 micron anymore with 10 kinds of stones and 15 types of sprays and 9 kinds of strops... I can sharpen a knife fairly well and can bring an edge back from butter knife to razor with minimal effort.
 
Enough to cut paper easily.

Although I do appreciate an edge sharp enough to shave with, I find that that kind of sharpness isn't required for any of my usual EDC tasks. :)
 
As long as the grind is even. That is all I care about. I will use it hard and sharpen it far better asap.
 
Unfortunately I suck at sharpening (although improving). So if I plan on spending a $100 on a knife i defiantly would like it to cut paper with ease.
 
If it won't shave, I won't buy. The good news, is that I have never had a problem with Buck's edges.
 
My daily use of a knife takes the hair-shaving sharpness away pretty quickly, and the paper-slicing sharpness soon after. As long as the grinds and bevels are even, and the edge geometry isn't too obtuse, sharpness out of box isn't really something I'm concerned about.

It is a nice touch, however, to get a knife out of box that can shave hair. That to me demonstrates attention to detail and commitment to quality.
 
If it won't shave I'll be a little disappointed, but that's an easy fix. I have a bigger issue if the bevels are uneven or extremely obtuse. I don't want to have to reprofile a knife right out of the box, but I've had to do it a few times.
 
For 100€ I want it to pass a paper test. Its a knife, if it is not sharp it is just a (expensive) bar of steel,
 
If I am going to buy a knife and spend that kind of money it should be a light saber. There is one company that makes great knives but I have stopped buying them. I am insulted that they could not spend a few minutes and actually do some work to put a decent edge on their knives. So much for American made, they give us a bad name when it comes to finishing. There are many companies out there that are trying to put a good edge on all of their knives and for that kind of money it is reasonable to expect they will not be so slovenly as to leave off this step.
 
I don't shave my arms with knives to test them (because who wants weird bald spots on their arms?), but a knife is sharp enough for me if it easily slices through thin glossy magazine paper.
 
nick21 said:
Enough to cut paper easily.

Although I do appreciate an edge sharp enough to shave with, I find that that kind of sharpness isn't required for any of my usual EDC tasks. :)
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+1

Since I don't shave or do surgery with my knives, extreme sharpness is not necessary for my EDCs. My knives are used to cut paper and cord, open packages, slice fruits and vegetables, and trim loose threads. I can certainly appreciate hair popping sharp but I've never seen a need for it.
 
for me the thing has to shave. I have seen people say they have a "hair poppin sharp" knife and I have seen videos of knives popping hairs. But to this day some 25 years plus of knives I have yet to see one in person so for me an edge like that is a bit of a unicorn. Either way the basic principal of a knife is to cut stuff and to do that it needs to be sharp. And anything less than shaving to me at $100 is an incredible let down.
 
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