When to sharpen a new blade?

jprime84

jprime84

Joined
Jul 7, 2014
Messages
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I was wondering if its considered bad form to try and improve a blade fresh out of the box. My new benchmade is sharp, but part of the grind on the belly feels ever so slightly rough or uneven, and the bevel certainly isnt anything close to a mirror finish. Should I just use it until it truly needs sharpening, or go ahead and see if I can improve it at all?
 
Well, you gotta be the judge. I like mine sharper than any factory edge I've ever had, so it's an easy decision. If it's a user, it gets a good sharpen & hone before going in my pocket. OTOH, if it's a collector, of something I'll sell, I try not to touch the edge.
 
It's your knife. Sharpen it when ever you want. Unless if find a problem I use the factory edge & see how long it lasts.
 
I usually use the knife for a day or so before deciding if it needs a sharpening or even a reprofile. When I received my ZT0777, I was disappointed in the angle of the edge. It wasn't nearly as sharp as I would have liked it. So instead of the factory 23° angle, I reprofiled it to 18° per side. It now cuts through things with ease.
 
If it's bad form, then I'm bad company. I do it without exception to every knife I've received, and make no apologies.

The way I see it, after I've paid for it, it's only gotta please me.
 
With just a few exceptions, for a knife I plan to use I will give it some form of sharpening right out of the box. It may be as little as a few passes on a strop to remove a factory burr, or polishing the edges with the Sharpmaker, to a full setting of a new bevel with diamond stones, before using the Sharpmaker and strop to finish it up.

One of the brands that I most consistently do NOT have to sharpen out of the box has been Kershaw. All of my Kershaw knives (well, except the Cryo) have been good to go out of the box. My Skyline was so sharp I was afraid I'd actually make it worse if I tried to do anything to it.
 
I would prefer to use the factory edge, although am occasionally disappointed by the lack of sharpness. OTOH, many times when I have received a custom fixed blade, it's been a terribly dull edge.
 
If it's a user I reprofile and sharpen right out of the box, that's like 99.9% of the time.
 
tokerblue said:
I usually use the knife for a day or so before deciding if it needs a sharpening or even a reprofile. When I received my ZT0777, I was disappointed in the angle of the edge. It wasn't nearly as sharp as I would have liked it. So instead of the factory 23° angle, I reprofiled it to 18° per side. It now cuts through things with ease.
Click to expand...

+1

I use the new knife for a few days before deciding if it is or is not sharp enough. Most of the time I then re-profile and sharpen on my WE. Only knives I have that I have not at least touched up shortly after owning came from William Henry and were super sharp straight for the factory.
 
I like my edge so I apply my edge from the start.

Most factory grinds are done on coarse belts and lack accuracy, they are not a gold standard but more a bottom of the bucket standard. If you have decent stones you can probably start to surpass most factory edge sharpness by about the 600 grit mark. So when you hear someone say they finished at 1000 grit or 5000 grit or .5 microns (50k grit) then factory edges start to look like butter knives.

You also never want to let the knife get too dull, it takes more sharpening and grinding to bring it back which causes more wear to the knife over a shorter period of time.
 
I usually improve the edge on my knives after I buy them, if they will be users. I usually prefer angles of 15 to 18 dps with a medium coarse grind.
 
BAD FORM ! ! !
I was sharpening a knife I just received not too long ago when my door bell rang. A man in an ill fitting suit stood at the door waving a badge..."Edge Police"??? WTF I ask is the Edge Police???
Occifer Friday said he was here to check the edge on my recently purchased knife to make sure I had not attempted to violate the "bad form" rules of new knife sharpening etiquette...

What happened next is nobodies business but mine and the fresh earth in the back yard...just sayin'


I always reprofile every knife I receive. I have my preference for edge angle and level of sharpness. My knife, my business, my rules...
Do what you want, it is your knife.
 
I reprofile the knife once I am sure there are no defects that will require me to send the knife back typically. If I have time it's the same day it arrive, if not probably shortly after. There are very few exceptions.
 
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