Kind of dull

Now its just more stuff made in china

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I agree. For some reason I buy other stuff made in China, like a Coast flashlight for $10, but I refuse to buy knives from there. There's just too many good makers here to spend my money on so I own a lot of Case, Emerson, Benchmade and Strider.

Google cliff stamp's method of rough shaping before finishing the edge. Great way to save a lot of time.

C.R. said:

For Christmas this year I got a set of Uncle Henry knives three different pocketknives. They look nice,Bone handels nickle bolsters but I cant beleive how dull they are ! No way would they cut paper out of the box, I had to spend a couple of hours on them to get anything close to sharp. I guess im kind of picky because I dislike using a dull pocket knife . I will like these once I get them touched up. Too bad the Schrade company was bought up and production moved over seas they used to be a Good brand. Now its just more stuff made in china

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Amen !!
When Schrade closed their doors I bought every Schrade that I could find locally.
Since then, the price for a U.S. new condition Schrade has increased.
Still some to be had though.
Try your local Mom & Pop hardware, or better yet, Gun Shows.

I grabbed a bunch of the Shrade Imperials from Ireland when they went out. Tucked them away for a rainy day.

Factory edges are the reason I bought my first Lansky sharpener. I was seeing too many great knives that came out of the box prepared to spread peanut butter, but not ready to do much else. The Lansky, and the Gatco that replaced it, allow you to set a decent angle and bring the edge to its full potential. I'm going to go watch that Cliff Stamp video now.

This may be the video in question, please correct me if I'm wrong-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPGGo3W15HQ

AJumbo said:

This may be the video in question, please correct me if I'm wrong-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPGGo3W15HQ

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That's a good start. He has also written about it on his forum if you need more.

The USA Schrade are fairly collectable. They are also very available at pawn shops, gun shows, knife shows and so forth. Schrade made a lot of knives before they went out of business. My field knife for years was a the Schrade 2-blade version of the Buck 110.

Maybe you need to find yourself a good Barlow, stockman, or Trapper made by a US company.

I have come to expect that every new knife I buy will come with an unsatisfactory edge, regardless of country of origin or price. They may be dull, rough, or uneven. Even if the factory edge is well done, it does not necessarily meet the geometry requirements for what I intend to use it for. Every knife I own, besides my 110, has been reprofiled shortly after aquiring it.

mboe794 said:

I have come to expect that every new knife I buy will come with an unsatisfactory edge, regardless of country of origin or price. They may be dull, rough, or uneven. Even if the factory edge is well done, it does not necessarily meet the geometry requirements for what I intend to use it for. Every knife I own, besides my 110, has been reprofiled shortly after aquiring it.

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Try a Benchmade.

Russellc

Try a Benchmade

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My 710 in D2 had the most uneven edge I have seen on a new knife. Their edges are sharpened by hand so that probably had something to do with it. But supossedly their honing guys have decades of experiance. Guess mine slipped through QC.

Edit: Just to be clear, I am not saying it is a bad knife. It just needed some adjustment to meet MY expectations. It is in my pocket right now, just like it is every weekend. I like it a lot.

I've gotten Benchmades that weren't that sharp, and I love Benchmade. But when I get them or any knife they go on the Wicked Edge to get a real sharpening.

AJumbo said:

Factory edges are the reason I bought my first Lansky sharpener. I was seeing too many great knives that came out of the box prepared to spread peanut butter, but not ready to do much else. The Lansky, and the Gatco that replaced it, allow you to set a decent angle and bring the edge to its full potential. I'm going to go watch that Cliff Stamp video now.

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I certainly DO agree.
Today's factory edges are marginal at BEST!
I use first, a bench mounted Medium India followed by a Hard Arkansas.
When I get the edge that I desire, I maintain the same with a Spyderco Sharpmaker.
Cardboard and leather strops imperative!
Super sharp? YEAH!

mboe794 said:

I have come to expect that every new knife I buy will come with an unsatisfactory edge, regardless of country of origin or price. They may be dull, rough, or uneven. Even if the factory edge is well done, it does not necessarily meet the geometry requirements for what I intend to use it for. Every knife I own, besides my 110, has been reprofiled shortly after aquiring it.

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As cliff pointed out somewhere once, the factory edge may also involve an excessive amount of fatigued metal due to being ground out quickly on a belt sander or wheel. Even if it is the perfect angle/symmetrical, until the fatigued metal is removed the steel may not perform (in terms of edge holding, toughness, etc) at its highest potential.

If looking for a knife made in the USA (or any other particular country), then www.knifecenter.com has a good search function that includes that option.

I would not make any kind of judgement on a knife based solely on the edge the factory put on (or didn't) unless it was marketed as being razor sharp out of the box. Most guys who know how to use a stone can put a far better edge on it than the factory in about 5 minutes. Not many factories are going to pay people to sit at a bench hand honing edges on production knives. If a person does not know how to use a stone then they must either learn how - or buy disposable blades. All I care about in a production knife is what kind of steel it is and what the Rockwell C hardness is. I'll sharpen it myself.

+1 on factory edge. I could care less. In other parts of the world, some of the most expensive knives come totally unsharpened, even. But most folks in this country equate sharpness with quality. I think Mora has gained quite the reputation largely by virtue of delivering knives with scary sharp factory edges.

You can find some of the older knives which still have carbon steel blades if you look around on sites like ebay.

I carry an Old Timer. First one I got was as a high school graduation gift from an uncle...which I had to give up at boot camp because nobody told me what NOT to bring with me. Silly me...I'd been carrying a pocket knife daily since grade school.

I bought a replacement as soon as I got out of boot camp...and replace that one every few years whenever I lost one. Then I noticed I could no longer put an edge on the blades quite as easily and they wouldn't hold an edge when I did. Why? Stainless steel blades...no more carbon steel.

I ended up buying a few on ebay with carbon steel blades and retired my last one with stainless blades. I was much happier afterwards!

I have gotten several old stock old timers here and there. Now the new ones by Taylor are hit and miss according to the people who buy and sell them. My LGS will not handle them.

EBay and rural hardware stores are where I find mine.

I've never developed the skills to really sharpen knives, that's just always evaded me. I envy those who can! Wish I could take a class or something.

I learned by watching YouTube videos. There are many different sharpening systems/tools out there nowadays. From simple stones to expensive electric machines. I used to spend hours a day watching people using different tools. Then the next guy uses the same tool, but in a diffent way. There are dozens of approaches to sharpening knives. Just gotta find the one that suites you best.

I've never developed the skills to really sharpen knives, that's just always evaded me. I envy those who can! Wish I could take a class or something.

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Right tools, and right strategy. If all else fails, use a MUCH coarser stone than you think you ought to be using. Use a keener angle than you feel like you should be using. And just keep on a grinding until the edge of your knife is completely gone and replaced with a huge, floppy bur all along the edge. And your bevel is huge and thin and there are scratches up onto the sides of the blade.

Then use a fine stone and lightly work the actual edge at a slightly less keen angle until the bur falls off.

Then strop to remove the wire edge.

This simply cannot fail to produce a sharp edge. Durability is another matter. But after you get your first success, you can work on making this process more efficient and/or tweaking for different types of edges/bevels and doing more polishing of the edge. In no time you'll have the skill to fix all the edges you botched up in the process of learning.

Rondog,

It's expensive, but get yourself a Wicked Edge. I was always a relatively incompetent knife sharpener and decided to compensate for the shortcomings in my abilities by getting a better tool. The dang thing is amazing. I have messed with a lot of different sharpeners over the years and this is by far the most foolproof and effective.

I showed an 11 year old girl (on our annual kid's hunting weekend) who never sharpened a knife before, how to use it and within 30 minutes she was turning out edges you could shave with.

The only downside is that once someone else at hunting camp uses your knife, you'll spend a couple hours sharpening everyone else's.

I just got the basic kit with 100-200-400-600 grit stones and you can shave and easily slice paper with the edges. I think I'm going to pony up for the 50-80 grit and 800-1200 grit stones when my cash flow is a little better.