When I buy or acquire a knife I intend to use, the first thing I do is
change the angle of the edge.
I've found that many commercially made
knives follow some unscientific industry standard - that, or they want
to sell dull knives, perhaps to avoid litigation.
"Caution - sharpen
this knife at your own risk. Edge may be sharp."
If I'm using the knife at my bench, the means of sharpening it is
never far. A flatter angle makes a sharper edge, but it tends to not
hold as long.
I have sand paper on my line finisher that used to be
220 grit, and I use it to polish the edge - I haven't changed it
because of the polish it puts on an edge. Following that, I use
wet-or-dry paper of increasingly finer grits until the wire edge is
gone and the entire edge of the knife removes hair easily.
There is a
difference between an edge that will remove some hair, and an edge
that will shave cleanly.
A single pass with light pressure should
shave pretty cleanly. I use the shaving method because a wire edge
will catch the thumb nail, but isn't as sharp as it can, or needs to
be.
A wire edge will sometimes cut paper, as well.
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