How sharp is too sharp?

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#goldpan
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Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:00 pm

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by #goldpan »

I have to agree that a sharp knife is preferred to a dull one. And the sharper the better, to a point, pun intended. :roll: But you can get a knife too sharp. More than once I have sharpened a knife to the point where the cutting edge was so thin that it would develop small chips on the cutting edge. Natural serrations? Just kidding. Chipped blades just snag them selves on what ever I'm cutting. After that its a chore re-do the edge to make it last and stay sharp.
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Ruffinogold
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Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:12 pm
Location: Fannin County Georgia

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by Ruffinogold »

I had a professional sharpener that used to live in my county . When I brought him knives , he'd ask what the knife was being used for . I said what does it matter ? He then went on about how certain tasks do better with certain degrees of edge . Id say , well , that Kabar MK2 I use as a camp knife and that one I use as a skinner and another as a general all around tool [ work knife ] . I mentioned " razor sharp " and he said it wasnt good for certain applications , though I cant remember which now . He said something negative about razor sharp retention and taking rough work
He had German machines that sharpened them with wheels inside . They were huge and really heavy . Each was the size of say three shoeboxes put together . But the guy handed me back killer sharp knifes that held up . It could be all bs , though . For all I know he put the same edge on all of them , lol

I wish the guy was still around because I cant get my blades where he got them to but I was lucky enough to go to him for 3 years

Too sharp ? I dont know . But maybe its about the " right sharp " ? I dont know either ::shrug::
C-WADE7
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by C-WADE7 »

Ruffinogold wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:36 am I had a professional sharpener ….
I’m my opinion and experience he is absolutely right. A work knife with a whittling knife angle won’t hold up. Just imagine thinning an axe head down enough to have 30° of total edge, there would be no strength behind the cutting edge. I lay my carving and whittling knives down to a pretty low angle to sharpen but my work knife would roll the edge the first day if the same was done to it.
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cody6268
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Location: Southwestern Virginia

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by cody6268 »

C-WADE7 wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:14 pm
Ruffinogold wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:36 am I had a professional sharpener ….
I’m my opinion and experience he is absolutely right. A work knife with a whittling knife angle won’t hold up. Just imagine thinning an axe head down enough to have 30° of total edge, there would be no strength behind the cutting edge. I lay my carving and whittling knives down to a pretty low angle to sharpen but my work knife would roll the edge the first day if the same was done to it.
I had a Kershaw the seller had "professionally sharpened" to a shaving razor edge. With regular EDC use, it dulled badly in a week as the angle was very thin. Kershaw cleaned up the mess using their angles, and that edge has held up.
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