What is your experience with Spyderco factory edges?

retzius

retzius

Joined
Sep 17, 2009
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1,102
Hello everyone.

What is your experience with Spyderco factory edges?

I can only speak to the Spyderco knives that I have purchased, but I have had enough samples go through my hands that I can make some generalizations.

The good: All of my samples have been very sharp and have been sharpened all the way to the apex. I have never had a sample that would not cleanly cut paper.

The bad: Although my samples have all been "sharp", they have all been inconsistent with one side more obtuse than the other. This may just be an indicator of the "handedness" of the individual sharpener, but I notice that one side is usually around 13-15 degrees and the other around 18-20 degrees. Its not an issue until you decide to sharpen the knife on the Sharpmaker and you recognize that you are hitting the apex on one side and the shoulder on the other. Most of us on BF have the experience and forethought to knock back the shoulder on the obtuse side and then sharpen the blade but for the mass market consumer this could result in the often heard complaint, "I can't get my knife sharp", because they aren't hitting the apex on one side.

The ugly: I have had at least 5 samples where the edge veers off to one side progressing from heel to tip. This is much more difficult to correct during resharpening, especially when combined with uneven edge bevels and the propensity to use super-steels. This is further compounded by the lack of sharpening choils on most of Spyderco's knives.

So what are your thoughts?

We are much more critical than the average consumer and for the price point of many of Spyderco's more popular knives a "sharp" edge may be adequate.

When does the price get to the point that a better edge is expected?

Have a good day!
 
Never had a problem and never had an issue maintaining one on a sharpmaker. That's looking at 22 different variants from the US, Japan, and Taiwan production.
 
I never expect A knife to have a good edge when I get it so that way I'm never disappointed.

In my experience Spyderco has always delivered acceptable edges. Cold Steel and ESEE have the most consistent per my experience.
 
Spyderco has been the most consistent in great edges for me over any other brand.
 
I've never had an issue with an edge on my Spydercos until I go the new Opus. That thing was just way off, uneven grind and dull, but I guess 1 out of 190 or so Spyderco's I own isn't bad at all.
 
The Spydies that I have bought in the last year or so have been great, some better than others. Few years back, some of the grinds were like the OP's. The primary grind was off a degree or two, which in turn, makes one side of your edge look wider than the other, although they are both sharpened at the same angle. I even got a few where there was at least an 1/8" of unsharpened edge near the ricasso and then a slight recurve, when it should have been flat. I believe that Spyderco automates their sharpening process now. I know years back, it was done by hand, which introduces the human element and won't be as consistent as machines. That being said, most of Spydies have come with at least a good working edge, some better than others!
 
Never had a problem(across the board 25 knives, 19 models) except for the mantra 2 which had 27dps and horrible uneveness; but even that was quickly fixed on the wicked edge so no problem for me. I really couldn't care much less about factory edges
 
I would say that Spyderco has the most consistently best factory edges overall, from a production company. Although, honestly, Benchmade is right on their heels in the sharpening department in my experience.
 
factory edge are not usually awesome, with a little bit of patience and skill over time, its easy to put by hand a finer edge, and its supposed to be always good to removed the surface metal by hand that was grinded off by machine.
 
halden.doerge said:
I would say that Spyderco has the most consistently best factory edges overall, from a production company. Although, honestly, Benchmade is right on their heels in the sharpening department in my experience.
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not for me. benchmade has the worst for consistency and obtuse angles and offset from each other. im comparing ones ive bought over the last 10 years. they have gotten much better lately though. cold steel is very consistent on the pricer knives not the cheap machetes and such. buck does a darn good job of consistent. spyderco american made ive had good luck. many japan ones very obtuse and wildly different angles. not all though. some taiwan ones slightly obtuse and differing angles....consistently better than the japan ones. thats been my experiences on literally hundreds of folders and fixed over a decade plus and then some. many brands i left off...too many to list.
 
Spyderco's edges have improved a lot in the last 5 yrs. Recently everything I've received has been even and well done. Some of these steels aren't easy to work with & they're sharpening thousands. They probably have huddle prior to a Maxamet batch.:p
 
My KW 204P Military came with one of the very best edges I've ever had out of the box, dead symmetrical and very sharp.
 
halden.doerge said:
I would say that Spyderco has the most consistently best factory edges overall, from a production company. Although, honestly, Benchmade is right on their heels in the sharpening department in my experience.
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I haven't got a benchmade with even bevels. And often get burnt edges. It's horrific and this is what most people see. Just saying. I know you've had great luck and that's awesome.
 
Mo2 said:
I haven't got a benchmade with even bevels. And often get burnt edges. It's horrific and this is what most people see. Just saying. I know you've had great luck and that's awesome.
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Yeah, I don't think either of us can authoritatively say what "most people" see. Probably should stick to just what we see. And of course mileage will vary.

I'm way into sharpening. Nearly all the knives I get go on the Wicked Edge and get a screaming high polished finish they day I get them. CRK, Hinderer, Strider, ZT, Viper, Lionsteel, etc, all of these that I've owned have gone straight to the sharpener, out of the box. The only knives I seem to ever find myself waiting to sharpen are Benchmades and Spydercos (and, as someone mentioned above, most notably the USA made Spydercos).

Have I gotten examples from both of these with uneven bevels or edges that didn't satisfy me? Of course. But out of all of the above, these were really the only ones that would at least sometimes get it right.
 
I don't think I have ever been satisfied with a factory edge on any knife I've ever purchased (and that is well over a thousand). I generally put my own edge on a new knife before I use it anyway. Factory edges are for people who can't sharpen a knife.
 
GB940Rookie said:
I never expect A knife to have a good edge when I get it so that way I'm never disappointed.
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Totally
The Taiwan edges have been the best . . . no complaints about the Japanese edges. . . really nice . . . the Golden, CO edges . . . wellll . . . I guess they cut stuff sort of . . . most of the time. The worst edge bar none has been the one on my Manix LW S110V and the one on my Para 2 S110V was right about the same = piss poor; barely sharp (not the least bit shave sharp); rough and to use a technical sharpening expert term . . . funky.

My UKPK in S110V was actually pretty darn nice and useable out of the box just a touch with an 8,000 diamond stone and it was shaving nice. (I forget where those are made).

Bottom line : white guys can't jump (or sharpen knives) :) :eek: :)
 
My rankings below:
1. Stupid Sharp
2. Excellent
3. Really good
4. Good
5. Not so good

PM2: I’ve had good (M390) to excellent (CF M4) to stupid sharp (Cruwear Sprint)
Para3: Excellent (Cruwear)
Manix: Really good (Cruwear exc, S90V exc) to stupid sharp (Maxamet)
Military: Excellent (Cruwear, S90V, M4, S110V)
Yojimbo: Excellent (S90V)
Lil’ Nilakka: Stupid sharp
K10: Really good, but held the edge
Southard: Not so good
GB1: Excellent
Native 5: Good (S90V) to excellent (Maxamet)
DF2: Good (ZDP189)

I can go on and on, but overall, really good-excellent. The thing is though, that some of those Excellent to Stupid Sharp edges didn’t always hold very long or as long I thought they would. Also, I think Spyderco pays a bit more attention or puts the A-Team on the sharpening belt for Sprints/Exclusives.
 
Most of my Spydies are Golden made, and they all came in sharp and without major issues. Para 3 CRUWEAR came in the sharpest. Out of my 4 Japanese models, only one was relatively dull. No Taichung yet.

I too like to hit up the edge pretty early on. I have an Edge Pro and also do pretty good free-handing, so I don't have a problem even if something doesn't come in flawless out of the box.
 
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