ZT 0561 dull right out of the box?

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wystan_frauka

Joined
Jan 14, 2013
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I am new to these forums and Zero Tolerance knives in general, though I had been considering buying a 0561 for a number of months now. I finally bought one, and while I have been fairly pleased with it, it did not come very sharp. Generally the first thing I do to test the sharpness of a knife is see how easily it cuts a piece of paper. The edge on my NIB 0561 struggles a little to cleanly cut a piece of paper. In comparison, the edge on my Spyderco Paramilitary cuts through a slice of paper with ease. After spending $250 on the knife, I was expecting it to come sharp. Now I realize that the problem can be remedied by just sharpening it, but I am not really confident in my sharpening abilities at this point. Any comments would be appreciated.
 
It has happened to me once when I got a ZT0561.. I just sent it to ZT for a resharpening and it was back in under 2 weeks laser sharp!....you could also exchange it from where you bought it if they'd let you...Also you could have bought it from Kershaw Guy for a way better price!
 
Mine seems pretty sharp. My other Elmax blade, a Speedform II, is pretty dull. Same with an S30V Leek. But I used the Sharpmaker to reshape the blade to 30 degrees and then set a 40 degree secondary bevel and it bites me if I just look at it. Reshaping a bigger S30V blade (or an Elmax) might be more of a challenge though. So I'm going to practice on a couple of Sandvik-bladed Zing Tanto blems I got. If I get good at that I'll move up to the S30V Blur and finally to the Elmax. From what I hear the Elmax should actually be easier to sharpen than S30V.
 
Thanks for the comments, guys. I think I may send it to ZT for sharpening. In the meantime, I will start practicing my sharpening skills on a cheaper knife.
 
Did you buy the knife new or used? From a branded seller, from an auction or somewhere else? Perhaps you might want to post the vendor in the good, bad and ugly forum so the rest of us will have a heads up. A new knife from a known vendor being dull is a very rare event for me.

Sharpening can be a little Zen-like. You can get into it, with an EdgePro Apex for example, and before you know it you are asking folk you barely know if they have any dull knives that they want sharpened. Oh yea. It can be fun and a form of meditation. I was introduced to the EdgePro at a knife show by a master knife maker. There is nothing like an apprenticeship to a master in order to learn something the right way. If you put some blue painter's tape on the face of the blade you spare it from getting scratched. Good luck.
 
oregon said:
Did you buy the knife new or used? From a branded seller, from an auction or somewhere else? Perhaps you might want to post the vendor in the good, bad and ugly forum so the rest of us will have a heads up. A new knife from a known vendor being dull is a very rare event for me.
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I got the knife from Blade HQ, which I have had good luck from before.
 
It is very rare but on occasion knifes from any manufacturer can come a bit duller than expected. Be glad it isn't a benchmade god those things almost all come crazy dull.
 
Blade HQ is top drawer. The gold standard.

I bot my 561 from ZT during their annual factory sale in Tualatin, OR. I handled a handful and picked the top cat. Love that bunch. They make it easy to give $ to the Armed Services Toy Drive as you check out. Wonderful knives and great people to be around.
 
And I hate to tell you the 560 is never going to cut like a pm2, blade geometry is just different. Your pushing a lot more steel through whatever your cutting, but you don't have to worry about breaking the tip off.
 
BrentD86 said:
Be glad it isn't a benchmade god those things almost all come crazy dull.
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I bought a Benchmade 530 Pardue a few years ago, and it was that knife that got me more seriously interested in knives. And I must say, it did not come sharp out of the box. Since then, myself and my two brothers have purchased a few more Benchmades, and they have never come sharp. It was not until I bought a paramilitary 2 that I learned that knives could actually come sharp when you buy them (heh heh).
 
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whateatsrabbits said:
And I hate to tell you the 560 is never going to cut like a pm2, blade geometry is just different. Your pushing a lot more steel through whatever your cutting, but you don't have to worry about breaking the tip off.
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Yeah, you are certainly right about the 560 having a lot more steel that needs to get through what you are cutting. So, I suppose the paramilitary 2 is not a good comparison. But, I had expected it would not be tearing paper as opposed cutting it.
 
That's wierd. Send it to Kershaw. Or buy a kershaw tremor and practice sharpening on that.
 
This past weekend I sharpened my 0560 with an Edge Pro Apex. I watched the jdavis882 videos and emulated what he did. The knives came out surprisingly sharp. But, my PM2 is a much thinner blade and slices like a razor. I want my ZT's to hold an edge after I use them hard. My PM2 isn't built for the same use/abuse.

EDIT: I practiced on a couple of cheaper blades to get the technique down. One of them was a Cryo. Holy Hell is that thing sharp! I don't know what I did that was so different, but that thing scares the hair off my arm instead of shaving it. It's kind of fun doing "S-cuts" in paper just because you can. :)
 
Don't forget to strop!

It can be frustrating getting a dull knife, especially if you aren't very good at sharpening.

I am too cheap for an edge pro, so I bought a Lansky with diamond stones. With just a little practice, I was able to get hair popping sharp results.

Now I really enjoy sharpening and don't mind one bit if I get a dull blade in the mail.
 
Even if a $250 comes razor sharp right out of the box, it doesn't stay that way forever, you should learn to sharpen a knife.
 
My 561 came pretty dull but literally less than two minutes on a ceramic rod and it will slice PB paper almost as good as a Para2:thumbup:
 
I would like to sharpen a ZT0561 on my wicked edge. I've heard so much great stuff about the steel. I have been very impressed with Kershaw and ZT steels in general. If someone will pay shipping I'll be glad to put a hair splitting edge on their ZT0551. User or new. I'll take off very little metal and put a very nice edge on it. Here is an example of my work:
IMG_0811.jpg

PM if interested. thanks, Jerry
 
rayban said:
Even if a $250 comes razor sharp right out of the box, it doesn't stay that way forever, you should learn to sharpen a knife.
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I have to agree here. It would be better to hold onto the knife, practice on a cheaper knife for a day or two, and then try sharpening the 0561. I would suggest reading the stickies over in Tinkering and Embelishment sub forum. What equipment are you using?
 
carlsbad said:
I would like to sharpen a ZT0561 on my wicked edge. I've heard so much great stuff about the steel. I have been very impressed with Kershaw and ZT steels in general. If someone will pay shipping I'll be glad to put a hair splitting edge on their ZT0551. User or new. I'll take off very little metal and put a very nice edge on it. Here is an example of my work:
IMG_0811.jpg

PM if interested. thanks, Jerry
Click to expand...

I reprofiled both my 0560 and 0561 to 30 degrees inclusive on the wicked edge and they came out awesome. Scary sharp, took a bit to get the bur since It was the first time setting it to the exact angle but I couldn't be more pleased by the result.
 
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