Why do the edges on production knives suck so bad?

I just took delivery of two RAT 1 folders and they have the sharpest factory edges I have ever seen. They are even sharper OOTB than my Emersons and Spydercos. I can attest to this, as when sectioning an apple, I managed to effortlessly push cut a 3/4" incision in my thumb, which I could hardly believe until I saw the blood everywhere. Dull, obtuse edges on my RAT 1 knives...not!
 
The 2 sharpest production knives I ever saw out of the box was my CS Black Rhino and Original Tanto 5 3/4" (1986).

A few Spydercos were close though I think lately.
 
My Umnumzaan cut me several times when I first got it. The sharpest by far was a CQC-10. It cut me everytime I wasn't paying attention. Deep a couple times. Both of those had an edge that seemed to glue to skin.
 
The quality of a edge will mostly be a reflection of the skill of the sharpener. You also have to factor in how many must be done in a day, if your job is to grind a bevel into 400 knives in 8 hours then you care less about the edge and more about getting the job done. Even a skilled sharpener gets sloppy when repeating the same action over and over, not making excuses but put yourself in that position. I know personally I can only go for about 45 min to a hour before keeping thing consistent becomes more challenging.

I do agree that the edges should be better but I'm not holding my breath for that day.
 
retzius,

As the manufacturer of your Ritter RSK II I thought I would give a little input on this thread.

"Ritter RSK II - edge was uneven from heel to tip so the grind symmetry was way off, grind looks like it was done on a 50 grit belt"

Well, first I would like to say that if your blade is in fact as described.
"....uneven from heel to tip ...."
It should have never left our shop. However, a person sharpened your blade, and people make mistakes no mater how hard they try. With that said, we do in fact strive to build the best quality blade for the money that we can every day, and do it here in the USA.

I will take issue with the notion that it looks like the edge was ground with a 50 grit belt. That simply can not happen because no blade has ever been sharpened on a 50 grit blade in our factory....

What sets us apart is this. If your blade is unacceptable, email me, or give me a call, and I will arrange for its repair or replacement. We do our best to produce the best possible blades we can every day for our customers.

Give me a call and we will get you taken care of.

Shon Rowen
Rowen Mfg.
rowenmfg@ida.net
208-529-5115
 
In modern times...2008-present day, Cold Steel has sent me the sharpest knives. The presumption is that the Taiwanese factory has as many or more knives to sharpen than do the ones in China and India, and for that matter the Navy knives I've looked at, are...as of late... sharper than anything delivered from the big-3. I handle knives on a regular basis as I take my bi-weekly trip to the several surrounding shops to gawk and fondle whatever looks new or appealing, so it isn't as if I am merely an unlucky customer. The latest offerings are noticeably sub-par, case closed. Your mileage may vary, and to all who've not experienced similar shoddiness, I am more than a little envious.

The four reasons to ship a dull knife are: They don't now how to sharpen a blade. They don't care how to sharpen a blade. They're too hurried to do a proper job. The QC is inadequate.
 
Most cars, unless you pay extra for an after-market tire upgrade, come with dirt cheap, road use, quick-to-wear tires. Tires are the perfect analogy for this situation. No, most typically don't self-change tires but most pay a significant amount for new tires. You could equate the cash to the time it takes to reprofile and resharpen. I agree, that if you pay 80+$ for a knife, the edge should be pretty solid. If you pay less than that and expect more, then you have great expectations. Just like a Kia comes with cheap road tires that wear quickly, an inexpensive knife will come with a similar edge. Now, if your Lotus comes with cheap road tires that are quick to wear, I could see someone having issue with that. With all that set aside, I feel like the OP is just scaring sparrows and producing conflict over something that won't change, no matter how hard or loud a person screams. Yes, the minimum wage excuse is an excuse but it's not an invalid point. Business in America thrives on efficiency. Producing mass quantities with as little effort and time as possible is the goal of most companies. If I'm being paid per knife or my job depends on output, you better believe I will get a working edge on that blade, at the same time, the companies that require you to meet those quotas or pay per knife are the same companies that are mass producing and selling 30$ knives so I'm going to put a 30$ edge on that blade and make as much money as I can. For the more expensive blades that come with a poor edge, I really don't have a comment for that other than they should come built for the type of person that is shelling out a fair amount for a blade.
 
Rowen Mfg. said:
retzius,

As the manufacturer of your Ritter RSK II I thought I would give a little input on this thread.

"Ritter RSK II - edge was uneven from heel to tip so the grind symmetry was way off, grind looks like it was done on a 50 grit belt"

Well, first I would like to say that if your blade is in fact as described.
"....uneven from heel to tip ...."
It should have never left our shop. However, a person sharpened your blade, and people make mistakes no mater how hard they try. With that said, we do in fact strive to build the best quality blade for the money that we can every day, and do it here in the USA.

I will take issue with the notion that it looks like the edge was ground with a 50 grit belt. That simply can not happen because no blade has ever been sharpened on a 50 grit blade in our factory....

What sets us apart is this. If your blade is unacceptable, email me, or give me a call, and I will arrange for its repair or replacement. We do our best to produce the best possible blades we can every day for our customers.

Give me a call and we will get you taken care of.

Shon Rowen
Rowen Mfg.
rowenmfg@ida.net
208-529-5115
Click to expand...

This is the benefit of shelling out the extra cash for higher quality. Many times the maker wants to help you and backs their blades with warantees and promises. As he said, the blades are sharpened by humans who do make mistakes. It's unreasonable to expect perfection. The closer to perfect you get, the more you pay. Look at CRK, they have very tight tolerances, some of the tightest, or so I've heard. You pay high dollar for those tolerances. It's unreasonable to expect that of a 30$ knife. Even Sal said once that if Spyderco had the tolerances of a sebbie, they would be charging similar amounts.
 
Ankerson said:
The 2 sharpest production knives I ever saw out of the box was my CS Black Rhino and Original Tanto 5 3/4" (1986).

A few Spydercos were close though I think lately.
Click to expand...

Need to change this after today.

The CRK Umnumzaan took that title as of today, came hair whittling sharp and will slice TP clean out of the box. :thumbup:
 
Power sharpening is very quick and easy, there really is no defending an edge that isn't sharp or even. It doesn't take a "$100 edge" to shave hair or cleanly slice paper. And if all you did all day long was sharpen knives, you ought to get pretty damn good at it. But if people want to excuse it by saying the manufacturers are hiring unmotivated workers and not paying them enough, then maybe we should stop buying their knives instead of supporting crappy business practices while sharpening a dull knife OOB. No one should be looking for mirror polished edges, but even a 100 grit belt will produce a tree topping edge with some effort, and a more than "sharp enough" edge for the masses with practically none.
 
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