What type of edge dulls sooner: toothy or polished?

[Ben Dover]

Cutting anything? Or what type of use?

All around use. I cut quite a bit of cardboard and plastic packaging material. General camp chores such as rope, whittling tent pegs, food prep, and field dressing big game.

I've noticed that some of the better knife makers such as Bark River and Fallkniven use polished, refined edges as well.

 

[L2bravo]

All around use. I cut quite a bit of cardboard and plastic packaging material. General camp chores such as rope, whittling tent pegs, food prep, and field dressing big game.

I've noticed that some of the better knife makers such as Bark River and Fallkniven use polished, refined edges as well.

I apologize if I sounded challenging! Not at all how I meant it, just trying to understand clearly. I guess in the end, like I said, it's a cool thing, that you can make your knife do whatever you want it to do.

 

[OHALLUM]

However, this is somewhat of a "holy war" question among sharpening fanatics. You'll find a lot of folks with positive experiences in both the "toothy" and "polished" camps.
TedP

I do not think this question can be answered with a "global" answer. It needs to be asked about a specific cutting job, for example, which will cut a piece of meat best, or which will last best when cutting up cardboard, etc, etc. Asking the question as the OP originally asked, on a forum such as this with so many varied knife knuts with the plethora of knives available on the market today, will get you multiple "opinions", and no real solid answers. It would be like asking which car was best, a Chevy, or a Ford. Sit back in your easy chair and bring a big bag of popcorn for the show! Entertaining and informative, but no real affirmative answer.

Blessings,

Omar

 

[wvdavidr]

There probably is a "correct" answer. I wonder if it has ever been studied scientifically. I understand that John Juranitch (or somebody) gave polished and toothy edges to meat cutters w/o telling him the purpose. They found the meat was easier to cut and the edge lasted longer when polished. That's a 'subjective' study. Measuring the weight needed to cut a certain number of various objects could be objectively measured. Maybe Mythbusters should test it!
Good sharpening,
Dave

 

[Ben Dover]

I apologize if I sounded challenging! Not at all how I meant it, just trying to understand clearly. I guess in the end, like I said, it's a cool thing, that you can make your knife do whatever you want it to do.

No apology needed, my friend! It was a very legitimate question.

 

[SunsetFisherman]

Everyone also has a different idea of what polished vs toothy is which causes a lot of problems with this kind of debate My personal experience with whittling and game cleaning knives is that I prefer the performance of a higher grit edge but between say 1k and 2k sandpaper grits the 1k edge lasts longer for me

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

Polish is toothy if the magnification is increased ... I bet for some non knife people, my edge is polished, although I only have DMT EF + strop

 

[Ben Dover]

Polish is toothy if the magnification is increased ... I bet for some non knife people, my edge is polished, although I only have DMT EF + strop

That is correct.:thumbup:

I generally polish my EDC "Braggin' rights" knives to 30K on Shaptons. When they are completed, at 15.0 degrees, I readjust the Edge-Pro to 15.3-15.4 degrees and give it 4-5 very light edge leading only strokes with the 30K stone, then go to the strops, usually to .25 micron.

Even then, under the microscope, the edge looks a little "rough."