What knife do you have that had the worst factory edge?

I bought a schrade extreme survival knife, and it barely tore paper out of the box. However, the bevel was set so I was able to get it plenty sharp with just a sharpmaker.
 
nccole said:
My wife did buy me a Gerber Mini-Paraframe (she knows better now), I bet it was dull, I never used it. I noticed it did have nice standoffs, and I stole those for another knife.
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That was the first knife I bought. lol It was super dull. My ESEE Izula was also not really that sharp when I got it.
 
About 12 years ago I bought a Gerber Gator. That is by far the WORST factory edge I might have ever seen on any blade.
 
FNG here that just had to chime in on this thread.

After owning many dozens of knives over the years (and none of them even halfway to "high end") my ABSOLUTE worst was a machete that came as a "Bonus" from Voodoo Tactical. The blade itself is actually much better quality than I'd expected. It being a bonus (on a shotgun scabbard) i figured I'd have to immediately just trash it and replace it with one of my better ones lying around. Took me nearly 40 minutes with an angle grinder (and a new wheel on it) to even get the angle set before running it on any stone or steel. That has actually given me enough hope that it may actually turn out to be usable.

My biggest disappointment has been with any Boker that I've gotten in the past 3 years or so. Just sloppy construction all around.

The biggest annoyance by FAR has been my CRKT blades. And CRKT have generaly been my EDC of choice for a long time now. I have about 10 or so of them and the variation from blade to blade (even in the same base model) it beyond irritating. As if it weren't bad enough that some are just ground to single bevel, I have 2 of their smaller folders that simply piss me off so much that I have just given up all hope on them. On both of these (both M16-xxx) if the single bevel weren't enough to drive me nuts, the multiple angles on the grind I simply can not deal with. I have actually given up all hope on both because there are at least 3 different grinds on both edges. The one M16-13Z I did put some effort into trying to make acceptable but have finally given up all hope. It has been added to the pile of "stuff" that will be getting sent back to the manufacturers once I have the inclination to bitch enough about them. On the other hand, my M16-14ZSF has been my absolute goto for any situation for over 4 years now (by now it ALMOST has a full dual bevel to it).
 
Spyderco Lum (tanto folder) titanium handle, half the blade was shaving sharp, half was dull, like it had never been sharpened.

it did take a hell of an edge tho, after some work.
 
Many of the Benchmades I've had over the years came with dull or weird edges, And by "weird" I mean that they didn't feel sharp to the touch, wouldn't cleanly slice paper, yet would shave arm hair with ease.

One of the worst factory edges I've seen were on my Spyderco (*gasp*) Spyderflys. Undoubtedly due to the strange grind of the blade.

As others have said, Queen tends to ship their knives butter-knife dull. I hope under the new ownership this gets remedied. I had a whittler that came pretty sharp, but the main blade also came pretty bent, so I had to send it back. The replacement came straight, but with way more obtuse blade grinds.
 
I must have got lucky when I got my Griptilian new.
It was sharp and would shave.
And it stayed that way for over a month with hard cutting in the woods.
.......
I guess our definitions of "sharp" vary.
 
CRKT version of the A.G.Russell Sting, I've got sharper corners on my kitchen table!
 
I just received a new Mora Bushcraft black with an absolutely unusable edge. I couldn't believe my eyes when I tried to slice paper and it wouldn't even tear the paper. First time I ever got a Mora that was not sharp out of the sheath. Fortunately I am a certified knife knut so sharpening that Mora was no biggie and all is well:)
 
Most Benchmade & all Case knives have come to me dull.On the other hand,some of the sharpest edges out of the box,I ever had were Benchmades.There's no in-between with them it seems.They're either crazy sharp or blunt as a trainer.

Queen is another one...
 
Pardon my ignorance, but why would you sharpen the dull knife instead of sending it back? It sounds like defective product, and should be replaced as defective. It seems like you aren't doing yourself, nor the manufacturer, a service by sharpening the bad edge yourself. If it doesn't sharpen correctly or has other issues, the manufacturer can say you voided the warranty by taking matters into your own hands if you then try to return it.
 
Sharp Steel said:
Pardon my ignorance, but why would you sharpen the dull knife instead of sending it back? It sounds like defective product, and should be replaced as defective. It seems like you aren't doing yourself, nor the manufacturer, a service by sharpening the bad edge yourself. If it doesn't sharpen correctly or has other issues, the manufacturer can say you voided the warranty by taking matters into your own hands if you then try to return it.
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A knife with a factory edge that won't shave isn't defective; it just isn't very sharp. Most people will sharpen it rather than return it because it's often far more convenient for all parties involved. People have varying viewpoints on what is acceptably sharp from the factory so my definition of dull might be completely different from someone else's. I'm not going to return a knife because the edge isn't a forged laser from the factory just as I wouldn't return a baseball glove that wasn't broken-in. The factory edge is a starting point. I expect it to be near my ideal of factory sharp because it's what I'm most accustomed to, but I'm not throwing my hands in the air and giving up on the thing if it doesn't split a hair three ways, out of the box.

As for warranty issues, I personally have never heard of a manufacturer voiding a warranty over sharpening. Any sharpening failure on a user's behalf that would void a knife's warranty would likely be so destructive (to the heat treat or integrity of the steel) that the user in question probably shouldn't have been handling a knife to begin with.

A factory edge should be mostly even and serviceable, but to me it's like included batteries in an electronic device: enough to get you started but you're going to have to replace the batteries eventually; how much "juice" you get out of those batteries before reaching that point will vary. If you're going to use the knife it will dull eventually and if you're not going to use the knife (safe queen, etc.) then it doesn't matter anyway. So a'sharpening we will often go.
 
Over an hour to get a decent edge?
If you use diamond stones you could cut your time in half or better, pun intended.
 
Opinel was duuuuull which surprised me because I always heard they were sharp outta the box. The carbon steel took a mirror polish more easily than any other knife I've ever sharpened up though.
 
Sharp Steel said:
Pardon my ignorance, but why would you sharpen the dull knife instead of sending it back? It sounds like defective product, and should be replaced as defective. It seems like you aren't doing yourself, nor the manufacturer, a service by sharpening the bad edge yourself.
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Because sending it back and asking for a new one takes weeks, costs me money for shipping charges, and will probably result in receiving another dull knife in exchange. If it's a company that has chronic problems with putting a decent factory edge on a knife, it's probably not wise to keep sending the knives back to them and hoping they get it right.

Whereas if I sharpen a knife myself, I'll end up with a knife that's as sharp as humanly possible that same day. This might not be possible if you lack the skill to sharpen your own knives, in which case you should probably send it to a trusted sharpener.

Sharp Steel said:
If it doesn't sharpen correctly or has other issues, the manufacturer can say you voided the warranty by taking matters into your own hands if you then try to return it.
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Really? A manufacturer that voids the warrant ON A KNIFE when you SHARPEN IT? What are you smoking? :confused: Have you ever heard of a car company whose warranty doesn't cover refuelling?

The worst edge I've yet seen came on a CS Ti-Lite. There were big ol' flat spots on the edge where the two grinds didn't even meet.
 
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JTR357 said:
Most Benchmade & all Case knives have come to me dull.On the other hand,some of the sharpest edges out of the box,I ever had were Benchmades.There's no in-between with them it seems.They're either crazy sharp or blunt as a trainer.

Queen is another one...
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My 3 stainless Case knives all came hair-popping sharp. My CV swayback jack didn't have quite as refined an edge. Being CV, though, it was a cinch to bring it to slightly better than the others came from the factory.
Could be a production anamoly, but I figured they know the stainless ones are more likley to be dropped in a pocket and used, while CV blades are bought by people like us who till care for them, and want to put our own edge on anyway. At least, that's what I like to think.

Similarly, my Heckels/Miyabi Morimoto SS gyuto was, quite possibly, the sharpest knife I've ever received out of the box, while my Aogami Blue Masamoto petty had decent cutting ability, but really needed to hit the stones before use.
 
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