# Your EDC Edge - A Public Service Announcement



## Dave Martell (Mar 24, 2013)

I bet a lot of you have an everyday carry knife (EDC) in your pocket most days when you step out of the house. Have you considered how you sharpen this knife to be of much importance? Well I'm here to suggest that you should.

I keep my EDC with a very rough edge - 120-140x diamond - with only a light stropping on plain leather being my preferred edge quality.

Why so coarse? Because I've found myself in situations where a more refined edge won't cut what I want it to....quickly. 

I've come to think of my EDC as a one time emergency use tool, something to help me get out of a jam and I've tailored my edge to suit this role. I figure that my knife might be called upon to cut jeans, a leather coat, a seat belt, or any number of tough hard to cut items. I want an edge that acts as a zipper to these items vs an edge that slides on contact. 

So the edge on my EDC is ugly, won't cut paper worth a crap, but it'll tear at and open up almost anything very quickly and yeah it's not a pretty cut but I'm not looking for a prize, just hoping the knife is there to do it's job when I need it in an emergency.

I'd suggest that if you carry an EDC for emergency purposes that you do some test cutting on items that you expect to use the knife for and see how your current edge fairs. If it's not doing what you want then maybe try going coarser with the edge and see what you come up with, it just might save your bacon one day. 

Dave


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## Dave Martell (Mar 24, 2013)

I forgot to mention partial serrations being a good thing for an EDC for the same reasons. My knife is plain edged though.


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## Twistington (Mar 24, 2013)

I keep my EDC at 1000, primarly use for it = sharpening pencils when i'm in the shop doing woodwork and such... :O


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## AFKitchenknivesguy (Mar 24, 2013)

If Dave says it, I'd say it's worth making it the standard.


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## stereo.pete (Mar 24, 2013)

I remember this service announcement from Dave's sharpening video, good advice!


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 26, 2013)

i use my EDC daily. i've opened avocados for my lunch salad..cut steaks at a jobsite bbq, cut thick rope. i've used it to spread peanut butter on my bagels. and when allowed, i use it to test fruit at farmer's markets. 

i dont carry it for emergencies. it is a tool i carry to use all the time. i just get it as sharp as i can. if i remember, i'll run it on a steel at the end of the day. i dont always remember.

i agree 100% on the partial serrations. all my benchmades are like this.

i work in a tunnel. we cover openings with thick canvas tarp. i cut one opened during a fire alarm. the serrations would mean the diff between life and death. now the tunnel is open to traffic and i find myself more at my desk. i carry a vintage Case knife. difficult to sharpen, but the avocados cant tell.


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## franzb69 (Mar 27, 2013)

i dunno if my edc had serrations i'd let it handle those tasks but for other stuff i'd keep the non serrated edge as fine as i want to... =D

really depends on what someone does with their edc, i guess


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## Lefty (Mar 28, 2013)

My new EDC is one of my work knives. I have a SAK Trekker in my bunker gear pants, and I just got a Spyderco Tasman Plain Edge as my EDC and other work knife. For the Tasman, I'm liking the edge I get from my ceramic hone, which makes sense, because it's very similar to the Sharpmaker, which is an under appreciated tool. Overall, I like a toothy, but fairly refined edge on my EDCs.


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## geezr (Mar 28, 2013)

So how do you maintain the serated edge part of your EDC?
Use my EDC way more than any of kitchen knives but realize I do not fuss over it. :cool2:


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## skiajl6297 (Apr 11, 2013)

Just bought my first EDC - Benchmade Osbourne 943, and this is very helpful advice. Thank you!


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## boomchakabowwow (Apr 11, 2013)

geezr said:


> So how do you maintain the serated edge part of your EDC?
> Use my EDC way more than any of kitchen knives but realize I do not fuss over it. :cool2:



my sharpmaker (agree with above!) can handle my serrated blades with ease...the triangular ceramic sticks work on serrations. it just takes a few sweeps..then focus on the flat edge. my benchmades are freaking scary!


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## Troy G (Apr 23, 2013)

Yeah my EDC blade is for cutting canvas, rope, belts, a little prying, hacking, cutting cardboard. I cannot prepare seafood or perform a tracheostomy with my EDC, well I could but neither would be pretty.


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## Jmadams13 (Apr 23, 2013)

Since my EDC has three small blades (vintage case xxx) I keep one very toothy for the rough stuff, and the other two smaller blades razor sharp for the others. I use it a lot when foraging, so a crazy sharp blade comes in handy


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## Cadillac J (Apr 23, 2013)

In general, I stop most of my EDC knives at Chosera 3K and find that its a great balance.


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## snowbrother (Apr 27, 2013)

I usually run mine across a 1000grit and then strop on kangaroo for a few passes. It hasn't given me any issue yet.


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## bikehunter (Apr 27, 2013)

My SAK Parachutist solves this serrated problem nicely by having a serrated edge on the one-hand opening primary blade, which is plenty sharp enough to slice paper (or food) and a shaped and serrated "rescue" blade designed specifically for lines and belts. 

http://www.smartknives.com/Swiss-Army-Knife-Tools/Swiss-Army-Knife-Images/Victorinox-Belt-Cutter.gif

http://shopping.c.yimg.jp/lib/ixis/ivt038.gif


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## Mike9 (Apr 27, 2013)

I'm not a fan of serrated edges on my EDCs so I use a smooth edge and sharpen with a 500 bester and strop on cardboard then newspaper. I find a 1k edge doesn't hold up as well as a 500 and my knife is out a lot during the day.


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