What do you Consider Edge Damage??

Cobalt

Cobalt

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I have been wondering about this for sometime. I see so many recent issues with edge damage complaints, damage that Iwould not have considered damage. For example I have had multiple occasions where I could see the roll or chip on the edge, but it was so minor that It would sharpen away in less than 5 minutes on medium and fine grit stones. I do not consider this damage.

I have had edges that I could not sharpen away no matter how hard I sharpen. I literally would have to grind away a good portion of the edge.

My criteria for edge damage is not if I can see it or feel it, because I can see some real small dents, that can be steeled away in minutes. My criteria for edge damage is whether I can sharpen, strop or steel it away with a few minutes, and no more than 5 minutes, never using course grits.

So what do you consider edge damage, pro, novice, custom maker, user, etc??
 
I consider edge damage any damage that affects the way that the blade cuts. If I'm whittling on wood and the blade snags or rips or otherwise "misbehaves", it is both a safety and practicality issue. But minor rolling, or chips so small that they don't affect cutting and can be sharpened out are not a big deal in my book.
 
Any visiible irregularities, any edges you can see or feel are burred, folded, or dull, and uneven sharpening angles.
 
For me, edge damage is when something other than becoming dull from use stops the edge from doing the job I want it to do, that I can’t fix in less than ten minutes with a strop, steel, or fine and medium stones.
 
Any inconsistency seen under a microscope. :D
 
Cobalt said:
So what do you consider edge damage, pro, novice, custom maker, user, etc??
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At a fundamental level, all blunting is damage to the steel, either by wear, fracture, deformatin or corrosion. However I would separate damage from blunting by calling damage anything which is significantly more than expected wear and tear and thus shortens the lifetime of the blade. In short, it makes you sharpen much more than you need to in order to restore the bulk of the edge.

-Cliff
 
I guess I am different- I consider damage to be something that renders the knife not usable. This is primarily cracks and divots taken from the edge as other forms are repairable
 
yes, all edge deterioration is damage, but at what point do you call it damage beyond the point that you could fix and would want something done about it.

That is what I mean, normal wear and tear edge damage is not considered. I am talking about damage that it would take you or some skilled knife guy quite sometime to fix it. For me, that is the point where I am removing so much metal that the blade reduces in size in order for the chips to go away.

Cliff, for example, at what point did you consider that the Fehrman was damaged beyond repair. What about the Strider and the Mad Dog. The edges failed and you considered this failure of the knife and made a call. That is what I am talking about. Anything less you woul have fixed yourself.

I recently had someone call me and tell me that they had chipped their knife and were thinking of sending it ack to the maker to fix as they had hardly done anything with the blade to cause such damage. When they told me how large the chip was I just about fell over laughing. The chip was small enough that it would have taken me just minutes to sharpen it away, but they were going to call for such an insignificant issue.
 
Cobalt said:
... at what point did you consider that the Fehrman was damaged beyond repair.
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When the primary grind failed, no way to repair that without a completel heat treatment of the blade. The Strider and the two TUSK's suffered gross failure and ither cracked in half or lost a significant fraction of an inch of steel. There is no way to repair that type of damage, at most you can regrind the knife into a smaller blade.

I recently had someone call me and tell me that they had chipped their knife and were thinking of sending it ack to the maker to fix as they had hardly done anything with the blade to cause such damage. When they told me how large the chip was I just about fell over laughing. The chip was small enough that it would have taken me just minutes to sharpen it away, but they were going to call for such an insignificant issue.
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That is fairly common, as a lot of people don't sharpen knives so they can't repair it, no different really than people who have a professional sew on a button, fix a zipper, change a tire, etc. .

-Cliff
 
If Hillary Clinton looks at my knife I consider that edge and knife abuse.

If I hit concrete with it and divot the blade and cannot fix it myself then that is edge damage. I hope I never see either the first nor second case!
 
Do you find yourself having edge problems with a new blade more so than the used blades.
 
I agree with 2 previous posters. If I can't bring it right back after normal usage, I consider it damage. E.G., If it has a chip, roll, dent, etc. I consider it damage.
 
Ok, I have been very unclear in this. I guess what I am asking is

"at what point does the edge damage cause you to be unhappy about your knife?"
 
Cobalt said:
Ok, I have been very unclear in this. I guess what I am asking is

"at what point does the edge damage cause you to be unhappy about your knife?"
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I become unhappy with the knife when the damage is the result of a useage which should routinely result in no damage.

For instance, I am still very happy with my Spyderco Native, even though one of the serrations has a chip from the time I opened a can of beans with it. My choice to do so, my fault, no fault of the knife or the maker, the chip does not impact the effectiveness of the serrations, so how can I be unhappy with it? It opened the beans.
 
Cobalt said:
Do you find yourself having edge problems with a new blade more so than the used blades.
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Yes, new edges are usually fairly low performance. This is one of the sources of hype/misinformation about geometries as individuals change the edge angle/curvature and then assume this change caused the increase in durability when in fact it was just the removal of the existing damaged steel.

MikeH said:
I become unhappy with the knife when the damage is the result of a useage which should routinely result in no damage.
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Exactly right.

-Cliff
 
MikeH said:
I become unhappy with the knife when the damage is the result of a useage which should routinely result in no damage.
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This sums it up.

So when has this happened.

Cliff, when did you experience this. Do you think the Fehrman qualified here or was what you did more than should have been expected of the Fehrman or most knives, after all you did hack on 100 frozen logs with it before it succumbed?

what about the rest of you?

Also does prcie factor in? Should the edge of your $800 custom be able to take ore than your $100 production?
 
Traditionally, I expect to pay more to get more. Better edge geometry, attention to detail, blade construction/materials, handle material. Ability to handle sustained periods of heavy use (not abuse) without failure or requiring reprofiling or major sharpening.

Makes no difference if its production grade (my Fallkniven TK1 in 3G) or custom (my Phil Wilson Silver Peak in CPM 10V) ... I expect to get more for my buck.

What "more" is, varies from individual to individual. Each needs to ask themselves what those expectations are before their purchase and make sure they're realistic and within the capabilities of the product and manufacturer. Ask questions first ... :D
 
Cobalt said:
Cliff, when did you experience this.
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The primary grind buckled when I was splitting a thick knot. At the time that was the thinnest edge I had used for such work so I was not sure if it was a steel or simply a cross section problem. Since then I have used several knives which were thinner with no problems so now I would look upon it as sub-par performance. This isn't the only time I have seen, or heard or problems with strength with the CPM steels and again I would really like to know the structure of the steels in the cases where there are problems.

-Cliff
 
My reasoning for asking this is to see where people stack up when it comes to crying over spilled milk. So the factors that I see are:

1- The users overall knowledge of how to repair small minute damage.
2- The maker having knowledge of his steel helps as well. Knowng at what point the edge will roll, dent, chip, wrinkle is good to know and you would expect that the maker using the steel would know that, Like Phil Wilsons studies on cpm steel at different hardness.
 
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