Why do you want a stupid-sharp knife?

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KennyB

Joined
Jan 19, 2010
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I kinda put this in this section versus the Maintenance section 'cause you know, that's where all the people that really want a hair-whittling edge hang out, and talk about how to get it and all that--so probably not very representative of all users in general.

I'm more just curious about people's preferences and disposition toward these kinds of crazy sharp edges. I keep going back and forth going, "I want it to be as sharp as I can get it," but then the other part of me realizes that getting it as sharp as I can get it goes way beyond my actual needs.

It makes me curious about why some people want such sharp edges when they don't need them to be that sharp. I think for me it's kind of a pride kind of thing... I like to see how sharp I can get a particular knife, and then once I've got it to that point, I generally don't keep it there and only sharpen it to how sharp I need it with subsequent maintenance sessions.

Obviously there's merits to a sharp knife... It's safer for one thing, cuts easier, etc. However, I think that level of performance can be gained falling far short of the level of maintenance people do give their knives. I mean, who really needs a hair-whittling sharp edge? For me I think it's just a pride, kind of, "Prove to myself I can do it" kind of thing, but past that I don't like spending the required amount of time to get those stupid sharp edges.


I think this thing has been discussed a couple of times before, but I have one more interesting side of it. Buying sharpening equipment... Spending the time to get a knife scary sharp is one thing, but I don't know if I really want to dedicate the money to get more equipment. I can get a knife quite sharp with just my 1000 grit and a strop, but it always makes me go, "I wonder how much sharper I could get with this polishing stone." I can just never convince myself that it would be worth the price. One of these days I'm gonna buy a bunch of wet/dry sandpaper and get a really polished edge just to see.
 
I can get almost any knife hair whittling sharp with a fine DMT stone. But I rarely do. Hair popping sharp in five minutes. Is all I need.
 
Using a power tool to sharpen, I find that it's a difference of 2 minutes to go from "sharp" to "stupid sharp". So I figure, what the hey?

I could understand perfectly if I still used those strops to finish my edge, as it would be 15+ minutes of extra work for an edge that gets destroyed in 5 minutes. But nowadays, it just takes 5 strokes each side on a 3 micron belt and a Mother's Mag Polish loaded belt and the thing goes from shaving sharp to tree topping.
 
Depends for me, my leather working blades are maintained as sharp as I can, stropping before every use. Ofcourse these knives need to make near perfect cuts in leather and what not and struggling with cutting leather is both annoying and can be dangerous.

Now my work knives that I take with me are maintained pretty sharp, I want to be able to slice some tubing or cardboard or whatever else with ease, however these are no where near my leather working blades (and a different edge as well).
 
As a small aside,from what I understand the final grit that you run your knife at doesn't really affect the sharpness of the blade. It affects how long the edge will last. I have seen people shave their arms with an axe ground to 400 grit. The finer the grit, the smaller the "micro serrations" on your knife and the longer it lasts before those small micro serrations fold over causing a dull knife. Ultimately having "scary sharp" edges is the result of good solid technique. Nice equipment helps, but isn't mandatory.

As for the sharpness thing. I keep my knives as sharp as I can get them. I sharpen my knives on a weekly basis, but leather strop/hone daily. In the adsence of a proper strop i'll use my jeans or my belt. I use my knives for a variety of tasks from whittling wood to stripping insulation off of copper wire. Having a nice sharp edge means I can use less pressure (easier on your hands and joints) and get much nicer cleaner cuts. In the event that I do cut myself, a sharp knife limits the jagedness of the cuts, allowing for a quicker heal. Clean cuts can normally be filled with cyanoacrylate with a minimum of fuss. Cuts from dull knives tend to be deeper and more jagged. They don't seal up as nice with crazy glue and they scar more. I normally keep a cheap 10 dollar SAK clone with a semi sharp blade kicking around for people that want to borrow a knife. I don't let them touch my sharp blades for all of the usual reasons.
 
For fun.

I'll fuss over tiniest burrs or dings forever, even though realistically I wouldn't notice a difference in cutting performance. But your question would also be akin to asking "why have so many knives?" :cool:
 
I don't go for highly polished edges. For the types of cutting I normally do and with the alloys I prefer (Those with carbides) I don't need a highly polished edge. I often use a Sharpmaker. When I do, I usually stop after using the flats of the coarse stones.

Howsoever, if you like a polished edge, go for it.
 
if I want to shave, I'll reach for a razor. If I want a working knife, I'll keep it sharp enough to do the job.

For example, on my knives I use for processing dead animals, I use a 10 to 15 degree bevel. For a bushcraft blade, it might be 23 degrees. The knives for field dressing/skinning stay in the pack until needed.
 
I do it as a quality control check of my sharpening job. And, I do occasionally need to make a very precise cut, so it comes in handy. If my knives will whittle hair or catch hair above the skin consistently, then I know I'm doing things right when sharpening. Also, it is a matter of showing off. There are some here, but I don't personally know anyone else that can sit down with a Norton India stone and in 30 minutes have a whole kitchen block to the point they'll whittle hair. After you get the hang of it, the time issue kinda disappears. I have gone from an edge that won't cut paper to an edge that will catch hair above the skin on the back of my head in 5 minutes. This was a typical 3-4 inch folder, not a 7" + blade sheath knife. I've heard people state that any knife should be capable of being sharpened in 5 minutes. I don't know why it's such a stretch that bigger blades take longer. I've been doing a lot of machete work/experimenting lately, so my perceptions and opinions may be skewed.
 
Once you have an edge that sharp it doesn't take but a few passes over varying grits to get it back that way once it's been used. If you have the tools to do it, it makes cutting stuff take much less effort. To me that's a no brainer... now if I could only afford a few of those Ice Bear stones...
 
I like a knife to shave or POP hairs off at all times, incase I have to use it to save some ones life cutting a seat belt or somebody bonded up in ropes or slings or for use in general. I'm a merchant marine officer I see a lot of weather and just how fast it can turn a normal day into a life threatening or altering event lol right now I'm in freshwater city la watching the horizontal rain in 50 mph winds. You never know when your going to need a Sharp knife. Plus crew members make fun of you if your knife won't cut manila rope lol wich any given day I may use my knife 2 dozen times cutting rope securing things or boxes or whatever its simple your knife has to cut well every time you use it. Reliability dependability
 
Wouldn't this kinda be like going to a car enthusiasts' site and asking "Why do you want a car which goes really really fast?"
 
I like the challenge of trying to sharpen an edge to a fine hair whittling polish, but I also don't mind carrying a knife that doesn't even shave hair well. If a knife saw-cuts paper, then it is worthy to enter my pocket.

I carry a small diamond sharpener in my wallet if I ever feel I need a hair popping edge, or if a knife needs maintenance.
 
knarfeng said:
I don't go for highly polished edges. For the types of cutting I normally do and with the alloys I prefer (Those with carbides) I don't need a highly polished edge. I often use a Sharpmaker. When I do, I usually stop after using the flats of the coarse stones.

Howsoever, if you like a polished edge, go for it.
Click to expand...

I do pretty much the same on my Sharpmaker, but about 25-50% of the time I run a blade across the edge of the white ceramics. Nothing overly elaborate and most times I can slice paper easily. Depends on my patience\interest that day.
 
To answer the OP, because I have the tools, time and knowledge that a sharp edge is far more valuable than a dull one.
 
I don't tend to put an overly fine edge (anything above 1000-1200 grit) on my work knives anymore - it takes too long to restore and doesn't provide any benefits for the type of cutting I do.

My knives do shave hair just fine, I just don't bother getting them hair-whittling sharp anymore.
 
ThePharce said:
Wouldn't this kinda be like going to a car enthusiasts' site and asking "Why do you want a car which goes really really fast?"
Click to expand...

Interesting analogy...

To me I feel like, when I sharpen a knife, I've already put in the work to take a regular stock car and give it a nice 20% performance boost. Let's put it in terms of top speeds just to be really clear... How much money are some car enthusiasts willing to pay to up their top speed by only a few miles per hour? It's that whole, diminishing returns thing... You can get a huge performance increase by doing something as simple as putting an improved exhaust system in, but once your car is already an extremely efficient performer there's still a variety of expensive or laborious things you can do to "tune" it that really don't increase the performance by much. You go from 20% improvements down to maybe only 5% improvements.

To me that's the same I feel about knives and getitng them ridiculously sharp. I can spend 15 minutes and get an edge that will shave arm hair right off, cut through paper and all that stuff. On the other hand, I could spend about an hour ( honing and stropping combined ) and get one that's much finer, will whittle and split hairs to smitherings... But will also be gone in a little amount of use, and how much sharper would it really be? I can't tell a difference in how sharp an edge like this is when actually cutting anything. In fact, whittling hair is one thing, but if I can get an edge to cut a hair at all, it will generally cut through anythign else with ease. Just "my milage" as they say tho...

I'm just interested in why some people are willing to go to the extreme end of that every single time. As one person said I guss it makes a difference when sharpening to that type of level has become as ordinary as common maintenance.
 
hahahaha jedi thats awesome...to put it bluntly its a knife...its job is to be sharp the sharper the better to me otherwise i'd use scissors or somethin but also its just cool to have shiny razor sharp mirror edges :cool:
 
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