Sharpest edged tool?

[HorseGuy]

I’m curious to know who make the sharpest edge tool that you have used. It doesn’t matter what type of tool it was, be it knife, axe or anything else.

The sharpest tool I have used was a Robin Wood carving axe made by Wood Tools. It’s just a simple, no frills mid-priced hatchet but out of the box the edge on it was crazy sharp like nothing else I have ever seen. Whoever grinds these things has legendary sharpening skills. For sharpness it beats my Fällkniven F1, Helle Utvær, Mora Companions, kitchen knives, SAK or any razor blades or scalpel that I have ever used.

So what is the sharpest edged tool you have ever come across?

 

[Chris]

I think my Woodlander from Ben Orford has arrived sharpest out of all of them. My Gransfors also arrived shaving sharp but I think the Woodlander just has the edge (no pun intended).

 

[Toddy]

A ceramic kitchen knife.
It was literally like a razor.
The sharpness didn't last very long, a couple of weeks, and trying to re-sharpen it was an exercise in frustration.

I think that's an important point about sharpness....can it be maintained ? If not, then there are real issues. If that sharpness is really hard, and brittle, then that too is an issue.
I threw the knife away, and I've seen an awful lot of broken Buck knives.

Good bushcraft tools are easy to maintain, or ought to be, I reckon.

 

[Bhod]

My Adam Ashworth (Ash and Iron) Slojd is probably the sharpest knife out of the box didn't even need a quick strop just shaved the arm hair straight from the off, likewise the Max Neukaufler axe, hollow ground and probably the sharpest axe out of the box I've ever had.

 

[Glow_worm]

Swann-Morton skin graft blades are pretty keen as they come.

A bit difficult to answer, how do you define 'sharp'? It depends on tool geometry for starters- A very thin blade with a very low bevel angle is going to to be 'sharper', but useless for anything other than cutting paper.

And you're going to need a microscope/imaging equipment to give an accurate answer....

I think what you're gettting at is 'which tool manufacturers supply products honed and stropped to an invisible edge'? And to be honest I can't see the relevance except in the case of disposable blades- snap off blades, disposable razor blades, scalpel blades, which need to be supplied ready for their brief use.

Non-disposable blades are going to be sharpened by their owners regularly in use- sometimes as often as every few minutes, which is why a lot of new high end carpentry hand tools are not supplied 'sharp'. Especially as it is known a lot of craftspeople will modify the tool, grinding their preferred bevel angle etc..

I think that's the difference, attitudes have changed somewhat. Hand tools kept a lot of people from starvation through a big chunk of history. Tools also cost a lot more relatively Those who genuinely use tools understand they are buying something which will serve them only if they serve the tool in return- care, sharpening, modification to suit their body and particular use requirements if needs be. In the past as now when craftspeople/countrymen used a tool for hours at a time, or day in day out for weeks, they develop a very different attitude compared wth someone with disposable income buying the latest knife, cutting a few things with it then putting it in a case with all their other knives. I can understand why a lot of people expect a blade to come ready for use out of the box these days, the hobby market is a different world.

All a bit daft anyway, given that as soon as you make the first cut the blade is no longer 'sharp', so unless you'll be binning it shortly and taking another out the packet you're going to need to be ready with the hone and strop.

There's also the question 'what is appropriately sharp', which depends on the type of blade and what you're using it for. Sharpening too regularly is a waste of blade life and time.

I used to teach gren woood working courses, and my day long tool sharpening course was always popular. How on earth can you fill a day with sharpening? Very easily! I used to do a 2-hour session at festivals too, great fun teaching people the basics and getting them thinking. Very often peope would pull out their pocket knife they'd had for years but never sharpened from new due to lack of knowledge...

 

[Pattree]

Many of my knives have a beautifully sharp spine, to the extent that they can slice through a wet pelt but without cutting my thumb in more conventional use. An axe puck is sufficient for day to day sharpening of the blades but maybe too fine for my hatchet.

Is a perfect 90 degree edge “sharp”?

 

[Glow_worm]

Fittness for purpose. A purely splitting tool such as a froe or splitting maul shouldn't be sharp enough to cut skin- it will just catch and dig in where a blunter blade won't. When I used to forge froes I would grind a bevel then deliberately blunt. An overly sharp edge would also be a pointless danger to the user.

And look at the finest scalpel blade under a microscope- metal is crystalline, and sharpening just knocks crystals off, the more you zoom in the more lumpy and bumpy the edge becomes. In effect you've got a really fine saw- which is why a slicing motion always produces a cut with less pressure and effort than no slicing motion. You are taking advantage of the fact that all edges are really saws of varying fineness!

 

[C_Claycomb]

John Lord, flint tool, fractured to molecular sharpness.
Murray Carter kitchen knife.
Ashley Ilse gouge.
Never owned, but handled a Rockstead knife.

Meh. How to compare sharpness of a gouge against a knife without something like an Edge On Up tester? As soon as I use it, it doesn’t matter how sharp it came, just how sharp I can make it.
Met a chap making knives who honed and polished his Scandi bevels to a mirror polish on Shapton stones. Impressive, but as soon as the knife dulls the new owner will erase that polish! I guess it does prove how sharp the tool is capable of getting

 

[Pattree]

You are taking advantage of the fact that all edges are really saws of varying fineness!

Indeed. I was taught to pull an axe at the exact moment of impact to take advantage of this. Snedding was always a slicing action.

 

[Glow_worm]

I guess it does prove how sharp the tool is capable of getting

A bit of pointless bling does help encourage spontaneous purchases! Always used to buff up the stuff for my stall at events.

 

[grainweevil]

Do Flexcut tools still come equipped with sticking plasters? Seem to recall they always used to be considered pretty lethal out of the box, back in the day.

 

[GreyCat]

Yeah, Flexcut tool ssre still sharp. My carving tools are the sharpest I have.

Next after that, my Woodjewel puukkos. Close to carving sharp out the box.

GC

 

[Foogs]

As soon as I got it home, I went to test my Rob Evans Bush Tool on my arm hair and it shaved off my tan.

I've only ever stropped it and it's still a razor.

 

[plastic-ninja]

Plus one for Rob Evans blades.
I had one years ago & very foolishly let it go.
It was insanely sharp when it arrived & I only ever used a strop loaded with Autosol to keep it lethal.

 

[Hammock_man]

I do believe the OP question was " who make the sharpest edge tool that you have used?", then I am going to have to say ME. { Yeah it was just a Flint shard but that chicken sliced like it was pre-diced!}

 

[demographic]

Veritas PMV-11 blade in the NX60 Block plane I bought when my mother died, my inheritance I guess.
One like this.

 

[forrestdweller]

●in 2015 i bought a small nata from a shop in Fujinomiya (i hope i spelled it correctly....) -- when i purchased it i shaved some hair of my arm which prompted the shop owner to ask if i'd like it touched up (i told him no need)
●my Ben Orford Woodlander (gift of a very generous forum member) arrived hair popping sharp as well
●in 2010 a fellow misdelivered soul (= not born in Australia) gave me a "swiss mad" spoon gauge (made by "pfeil") which i'm using since then for spoons etc. , lots from tropical hardwood. in 2014 i bought a special waterstone in Japan for it -- but i didn't have to use it once, yet!

 

[OrangeSport]

I have no way of accurately testing and grading sharpness, but I keep all my knives shaving sharp. I put them away like that so they are ready to go.

Every BPS and every Mora knife I've bought has arrived shaving sharp. Some others have needed a strop, a couple needed actually sharpening.

 

[Silverclaws2]

I’m curious to know who make the sharpest edge tool that you have used. It doesn’t matter what type of tool it was, be it knife, axe or anything else.

The sharpest tool I have used was a Robin Wood carving axe made by Wood Tools. It’s just a simple, no frills mid-priced hatchet but out of the box the edge on it was crazy sharp like nothing else I have ever seen. Whoever grinds these things has legendary sharpening skills. For sharpness it beats my Fällkniven F1, Helle Utvær, Mora Companions, kitchen knives, SAK or any razor blades or scalpel that I have ever used.

So what is the sharpest edged tool you have ever come across?

Yeah the Robin Wood Carving axe is scarily sharp I know and shaving sharp as a pal with arm hair discovered, but the sharpest edge tool I have used has just got to be the 1939 Solingen steel open razor I have and have used, well worn, it is that sharp

 

[Laurentius]

Wilkinson sword double aged razor blade back in the 1970s when I started shaving I have had many knives that start out sharp but don't stay so so it is a bit of nuanced question, it is all about your ability to maintain a blade really and I confess that I am not very good at it.