How do you guys like your edges?

[IndianaSpider]

How do you like your edge? Plain or serrated? Toothy or polished? Please feel free to describe how you finish your edges. I like to finish my edges on the sharpmaker with the the fine rods on a 30 degree setting and then stropped lightly on denim. I find this gives me a "refined" toothy edge that can whittle hairs! How about you guys?

[VashHash]

DMT blue stone for most knives that see edc. Serrated edged get the ceramic treatment. I'll usually strop the edges on my belt if at all. Some knives go up to 8K and then a leather strop. That's usually reserved for ZDP. All done by hand so not sure of the exact angles.

[bh49]

Plain. Toothy or if I have time polished-toothy: I will polish the edge to the highest grit (I think that is 1600) I have and than put micro-bevel @ 40 degrees with 600 grit.

[IndianaSpider]

I see I see, maybe one day ill be good at free hand sharpening, I can do it, but I get better results with a guided system

[Johnnie1801]

I see I see, maybe one day ill be good at free hand sharpening, I can do it, but I get better results with a guided system

You should get a cheap knife to practice with, I use an old Opinel.

[IndianaSpider]

hahah It just happens I have an opinel no 9 In carbon. I love that knife, I heard they dont make them anymore, is that true?

[Knivesinedc]

toothy serrated and toothy plain edge.

[bearfacedkiller]

I like my edges sharp.

This comes up quite often and once recently even. Do some searching. Most people seem to find that while a polished atom splitting edge can be fun that a courser edge cuts better and may even last longer. Also, many seem to prefer different edges with different steels as well as different edges for different jobs.

For a working edge I will sometimes do a 400 grit followed by a little refining on the UF stone for an aggressive edge. I will also often take my Super Blue Spydies and my 1095 slip joints all the way up to hair whittling sharp because it doesn't take too long and isn't too difficult. Steels like S110v I will just finish on the Spyderco's brown stones because it takes more time to sharpen and the return on investment is low once I get into finer grits due to the increased length of time it takes to polish those edges. Other steels like VG10 and S30V just depend on my mood and intended use but I usually finish them up on the Spyderco fine stones.

This is really subjective and you need to play around with it a bit to find what works for your uses and can be acomplished with your level of sharpening ability.

A carbon opinel is incredibly easy to sharpen and due to the thin grind does not take a ton of time. Great way to start. I learned to freehand years ago on Swiss Army Knives and Old Timer slip joints which are both easy to sharpen as well. I couldn't imagine if when I was a Boy Scout we were trying to learn to sharpen on today's high vanadium steels.

[Ankerson]

Something in the 320 to 600 grit range depending.

[KevinOubre]

I prefer palin edges with a variety of finishes.

This is the edge finish off fo my Fallkniven DC4 pocket stone. Very nice compromise edge that does wood working and aggressive cutting pretty well:





Here is my preferred finish for thinks like rope and cardboard. Its off my broken in DMT extra coarse:



And of course I like mirror polishes for woodworking. I have two knives with me almost everyday not counting my SAK and one is some sort of polished and the other is a coarse grit. Both are good at different things.

[Archimedes]

I like a toothy edge on my folders. I use diamond stones only then a few passes on a leather strop to clean it up a bit.

[PWork]

Plain edged and sharp. :D

[IndianaSpider]

hahaha thanks for the responses guys. Sorry bearfacedkiller I should have used the search function before posting, my apologies!

[Evil D]

Typically around 400-600 grit, then lightly apexed with a 3k Edge Pro tape.

[bearfacedkiller]

hahaha thanks for the responses guys. Sorry bearfacedkiller I should have used the search function before posting, my apologies!

No need to apologize, I was just letting you know that with a quick search you could source some good info. This is a discussion forum so ask away. Here are a couple of polls we did.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64070&p=946791&hili ... sh#p946791" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64071&p=946792&hili ... sh#p946792" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[IndianaSpider]

Oh these are great, Thanks for sharing that with me bear! :)

[Brock O Lee]

I like my light use EDC's thin and toothy. Ideal is a FFG blended into the edge, so no secondary bevel. I then run a 30 deg incl SM diamond (400 grit) micro bevel. I mostly cut food, cardboard, and open packages.



I used to prefer a sub 30 deg secondary bevel off the EP, with a SM brown micro at 30 deg incl. But since I discovered thin and toothy (thanks Cliff), my edges just seem to stay sharp much longer than before.

[Brock O Lee]

double

[Johnnie1801]

hahah It just happens I have an opinel no 9 In carbon. I love that knife, I heard they dont make them anymore, is that true?

Hey Indy, Opinel are still making knives, probably more than ever :)

http://www.opinel-usa.com/collections/o ... QrNBEW0PYA

[Jason B.]

Depends on, the knife, the steel, and what it will be used for. Sometimes it's a 400 grit damond plate and others it's a 5000 grit waterstone.

In general I like a 2000 grit waterstone finish when sharpening a customers knife, gives a good balance of toothy and polished.