Which type of sharp is most useful to you?

[misque]

Greetings fellow fanatics of sharp, pointy things!
I'm curious as to what kind of edge you like on your knives.
There are two types of sharp I'm interested in: micro-serrated and polished.
From what I read, it seems to be that the polished edge is efficient for push type cuts and the micro-serrated edge performs slicing type cuts more efficiently.
Do you have an overall favorite?

Thank you in advance for your responses!

 

[Jeff Clark]

I like a really low edge angle (around 10 degrees) and a very fine micro-serration (what might seem polished to others). I like to bring my edges to a fine polish with a stropped finish then I go back and give it back some roughness with a fine ceramic hone. With an edge that is under 10 degrees I might leave it polished. The higher my edge bevel angle the rougher I leave the finish. On bayonets I sometimes use a file. On my SAK I usually finish with a fine or medium ceramic hone. My next step up is to finish with an India stone. I often do some light stropping with bare leather (no polishing compound) after I do my last honing.

 

[calyth]

I like a more polished edge because for most tasks, I'm not really cutting into stuff that's very tough and the microserrations don't benefit much.
I tend to polish the kitchen knives a little more so that the micro-serrations are finer and I find that it goes through meat like I've never seen before.

 

[pahl]

I like the polished edge and not only for push cutting.

I have been using a bench sander with the back side of a old sanding belt and white compound on it to get a really fine polished edge after honing the blade by hand.

I have on order a leather belt from handamerica.com that will fit my sander and will use it instead of the cloth one when it comes.

I use to strop by hand untill I tried the power strop trick.

I can tell a big differance in stroping by hand and using the belt sander to strop.

The polished edge looks so preaty too

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Jeff Clark :

The higher my edge bevel angle the rougher I leave the finish.

There was an interesting point brought up on rec.knives awhile ago how coarse edges are crutches used mainly becauses knives commonly now have very thick and obtuse edges. If the edge profile is much reduced you will note that many of the materials that needed a coarse edge are cut very well know. Much as you note Jeff, as I reduce the profile on the edges I use, I tend to use higher polishes as well.

-Cliff