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What happened to knives coming sharp?

T

ToddM

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
759
It's been a long time since I bought a CRK, but in the last week I picked up two, both new from two different authorized dealers.

Both arrived in a state they would not shave hair, I would call neither of them remotely sharp, one worse than the other. No blade damage or signs of use, just not sharp.

I can sharpen it easily enough of course, but not a very good showing for two $600 knives. If it was just one I could maybe just write it off to bad luck, but two, from two different dealers.

As an aside the micarta was disappointing as well, very slippery, way more than just the plain sandblasted Ti versions. With the 31 being worse than the Inkosi

Sloppy.
 
ToddM said:
I'm sure it could be sent in for a spa treatment and sharpend, heck I have a wicked edge, it's not really that. A knife that expensive, much less two of them, should come sharper than a $70 Civivi. :)
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If you don't tell them , they won't know about the problem. They have always asked that we bring the problem to them 1st, and see if they can solve it
But there have been instances over the years with someone complaining about a knife that wssn't sharpened to their liking. I don't know what caused the problem, but at some point all their sharpeners were the new guy, abd it is unlkely they are as good as those thst have been doing it for 10 yrs.
 
Sorry that was your experience. I got my first Sebenza a little over a month ago and drew my own blood with it in less than 30 minutes of ownership. I'd let them know, even if you don't have them fix yours it may save someone else from your situation in the future.
 
I'll definitely let them know, I have a 25 in with them now being rebladed.
 
I’ve never had a CRK come dull but I completely understand your frustration. It’s one of my pet peeves about this hobby. A brand new knife having to be sharpened right out the box
 
I did hear back from them, basically that the micarta will only get more smooth/slippery with time/wear, and that they don't recommend sand blasting them, and that low grit sandpaper might help for a very short bit, but they do not recommend it (they did not say why). They also apologized the knives didn't come as sharp as I expected and mentioned they sharpen at 18-20deg. I was a bit surprised they didn't ask where they came from, or even mention their sharpening/spa service, but oh well.

The inserts are my fault, I should have handled one with them before purchasing. I'm used to micarta being fairly grippy, but this stuff is clearly polished smooth/slippery. I swear I will never understand this trend of slippery knife scales with no grip.
 
I suppose they have a lot of returns, people buying and being disappointed and changing their minds. Especially with hard to get/expensive knives that most folks will never be able to handle/see prior to purchase.

They also both have very short windows, 48-72 hours for the return from delivery timestamp, again probably trying to discourage someone for using it for a week or two before deciding it's not what they want.

Southern Edges - 48 hours, 17% restocking, no refund for shipping costs, all sales over $750 final, period.
Recon 1 - 72 hours, 15% restocking, no refund for shipping costs

Both have 5% fees just for making and cancelling an order even before its even shipped.

It's been awhile since I felt I had to look at return policies before purchasing, but I'm definitely back in the habit again now. :). I don't mind paying some fee but that's a solid $150 fee to return a $650 knife.

As always, do your research and buyer beware! :)
 
ToddM said:
I suppose they have a lot of returns, people buying and being disappointed and changing their minds. Especially with hard to get/expensive knives that most folks will never be able to handle/see prior to purchase.

They also both have very short windows, 48-72 hours for the return from delivery timestamp, again probably trying to discourage someone for using it for a week or two before deciding it's not what they want.

Southern Edges - 48 hours, 17% restocking, no refund for shipping costs, all sales over $750 final, period.
Recon 1 - 72 hours, 15% restocking, no refund for shipping costs

Both have 5% fees just for making and cancelling an order even before its even shipped.

It's been awhile since I felt I had to look at return policies before purchasing, but I'm definitely back in the habit again now. :). I don't mind paying some fee but that's a solid $150 fee to return a $650 knife.

As always, do your research and buyer beware! :)
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Thanks for sharing that.

Your knives should have arrived perfect. Disappointing as it seems that you are now left to deal with the problem.
 
Meh. Micarta textures vary greatly depending both on the material itself and how it is finished, and factory edges are generally mediocre at best from any and all makers besides full on customs, and sometimes even they leave something to be desired. It's a nice surprise if a knife comes sharp from the factory, but as the owner of a Wicked Edge I can't imagine you unbox many with an edge comparable to what you can do with your own setup. When I buy a production knife I do so knowing that I will have to sharpen it to make it as sharp as I want it.
 
Agreed, but when it won't even think about slicing fairly heavy paper, I'd consider that pretty poor even for a mass produced factory edge. I can say without a doubt that my recent Deka's, AD20.5s, and Spyderco Shaman came significantly sharper. Most of the time if I get a new knife it's at least sharp enough I'll use it a bit before resharpening, won't happen with these.

As sharp as I can get them, absolutely not, but honestly these were dull enough that CRK should have been embarrassed.
 
I've never seen one with a blade in that condition. Something seems really off about that.
 
It's of course possible it was played around with at some point at a dealer etc. it doesn't show any signs of being damaged, or sharpened/used that I can see. One is worse than the other, one of them will think about cutting paper but catch at various points. It's also possible one or both were bought/used/returned and they were used but the shop didn't catch it since they both look unused on the blade/scales. Both are from authorized dealers so I don't doubt the legitimacy of them, packages did not seem tampered with. I haven't thought to check the birthdates to see how old or how far apart they might be.

Actually I just looked for giggles, one is mid oct 24' and one was late July 25', interestingly the Oct. 24' is the sharper one.

Interestingly they also both have very different edges on them. The sharper one has a more toothy edge, almost like you stopped at say 1000 grit or a medium ceramic, the duller one has a very very smooth edge, almost like it's been stropped. I have a high power magnifier I'll have to put them both under and take a look at them.

That's one reason I thought it was so odd, any other CRK I've bought has been more than sharp enough out of the box.

Oh well, nothing to do now but dump them for replacements, lesson learned.
 
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The plot thickens.....clearly one of these has been sharpened/reprofiled, they have very different edges on them. The question seems to be which, older posts indicate CRK uses a convex edge.

So the sharper (older knife) with the toothy edge has what looks like a single bevel edge. A few strokes on a sharpmaker and it was plenty sharp again.

The newer dull knife, has what appears to be a very convex edge. A sharpmaker won't even come close to getting to the edge, so it's much steeper than 20 degrees.

So unless CRK changed their sharpening methods in the last few months, one was either used/resharpened, or I suppose it's always possible it's a fake, but given it's only a month old and came from a authorized dealer that seems unlikely.

From the older knife, and somewhat sharp, looks like a single bevel and the tip angles are very clean/sharp

2025-08-20-21-58-29-329.jpg2025-08-20-21-58-29-329.jpg2025-08-20-22-32-06-658.jpg

From the new knife with a obviously convex edge and much more polished. Harder to see in picks but it's super obvious when you rotate the edge that it's a curved bevel. Tip angles don't look nearly as sharp

2025-08-20-21-59-04-402.jpg2025-08-20-21-59-04-402.jpg2025-08-20-22-32-15-877.jpg

So now even though both came from authorized dealers, did CRK change their sharpening method, was one used/sharpened, is one counterfeit....the questions continue.

As far as I can tell neither look used, and neither blade has marks that would indicate it was clamped etc.

I have reached back out to CRK to see if they've changed their sharpening method recently.
 
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