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What's your sharpest factory made knife.
Here's mine, a Kershaw Blackhorse, shaving sharp. !
Here's mine, a Kershaw Blackhorse, shaving sharp. !

Jeff, the key I've found for a keen edge, is keeping that same angle for the WHOLE blade length including going around the curve to the point, following the pattern off the tip. The use of an sharpening system will help, ( my choice is Lansky.) but I tend to finish up by hand and eye, as I've done it a long time before I ever saw a Lansky, and my dad would accept nothing but best effort on blade sharpening.The sharpest knives I've ever bought (as they came from the factory) were all Buck knives. A 119 and a 110 I have were both very sharp knives. But of course they don't hold that edge forever. They have to be sharpened often if you use them. I can get them pretty sharp but not as sharp as they came for some reason. Most of my knives can be made sharper than they were new. And some of the cheapest knives I have became some of the sharpest knives I have too. I have a fixed blade I got for free from Harbor Freight as part of a promotion that will beat any knife I own for sharpness but it doesn't stay that way long enough. The only markings on it say "El Salvador" and it has a place where they tested the oxygen content in the steel. I think it's made by Condor which is a very old company that used to be in Europe and then in the US I believe. But it's a very cheap version of one of their knives if it is. I just know they make knives in El Salvador. Still it's super sharp but has a cheap plastic handle and it won't hold an edge for any time at all.
Art that's pretty much sharpening 101 isn't it? I also learned to sharpen from my father about 50 years ago. There are some sharpening systems that will follow the natural contour of the knife pretty well but that doesn't mean they will be able to do it as well as a human can. The real trick to sharpening is to know the original cut on the blade and to be able to reproduce it or cut a new angle that will work just as well (or better in some cases). For example those Buck knives I mentioned have two angles on the edge. It takes getting both angles right to really match the factory edge. I can do it sometimes but unfortunately I can't do it exactly right every time. My family members usually end up cutting a new edge but that usually means reducing the strength of the edge because the second angle is usually the one that keeps the strength.Jeff, the key I've found for a keen edge, is keeping that same angle for the WHOLE blade length including going around the curve to the point, following the pattern off the tip. The use of an sharpening system will help, ( my choice is Lansky.) but I tend to finish up by hand and eye, as I've done it a long time before I ever saw a Lansky, and my dad would accept nothing but best effort on blade sharpening.
Yea...like other things its a hobby...that turned to an addictionLooks like we have another knife man in our midst...