Sharpening a rare/ discontinued knife

[tony carle]

Hi guys,

This is my first time posting on the forum, but I’ve been using my WEPS for about 3 years now. My question is, how do you guys feel about sharpening rare/ discontinued/ sprint run knives? For me I am hesitant to sharpen them because A) I’m afraid I’ll mess up the edge and B) I feel it will diminish the value of the knife. Let me know how you guys feel about this.

[Mark76]

Hi Tony,

Welcome to the forum! Personally I’ve no problems with sharpening nice new knives. I’ve a fair amount of hardly used knives and I find that just (properly) sharpening it, doesn’t diminish its value. In fact, I always offer to sharpen a knife before sending it, when I sell this. And quite a few people like this.

But if you’re afraid you could mess up the edge, it might be better to practice a bit more on beaters. (Although, if you’ve been using the WEPS for three years already…)

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Josh]

Interesting question and answer by mark…

I have found that sharpening does tend to de-value a knife from it’s new factory condition (only due to ignorance… people think that’s the “best” state when in fact it can be made sharper on the WEPS and the factory edge is most likely damaged from the power grinding).

So I would say that if it is a collector piece only then no, don’t sharpen it. but if it is a user then it’s value has gone down as much as it will probably and you would be fine.

[Mark76]

I’m serious Josh, when I advertise the knife as “unused but sharpened well”, I’ve never experienced any negative influence on the price. And I sold about 15 almost new knives last year. But I agree, I write “not a negative experience”. It won’t have a positive experience, particularly for collector knives.

On the other hand, if it’s a user, sharpening will have a positive effect on the price, although it’ll not be much. Not in the least because used knives are often much less valued than new ones…

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Josh]

Well you do definitely have more experience than me in that department! But are you sure it’s not because you can pull the “I’m the moderator of the WEPS forum so I know what I am doing” card? lol whereas an average WEPS user like myself may not be regarded as highly :silly:

[tcmeyer]

Bottom line is consider the owner’s intent. If they want to show the knife to their friends and their friends are unimpressed by a battered edge, then go for it. If his friends are collector types who would appreciate the history and patina, then probably not.

In a case where the knife is like new, the decision is simple. Is the factory edge intact? If not, a WE edge will add value.

If you’re selling a “like new” knife which you’ve sharpened, Mark’s advice is right. Tell ’em up front. I think most buyers would welcome the free class “A” edge.

[tcmeyer]

Bottom line is consider the owner’s intent. If they want to show the knife to their friends and their friends are unimpressed by a battered edge, then go for it. If his friends are collector types who would appreciate the history and patina, then probably not.

In a case where the knife is like new, the decision is simple. Is the factory edge intact? If not, a WE edge will add value.

If you’re selling a “like new” knife which you’ve sharpened, Mark’s advice is right. Tell ’em up front. I think most buyers would welcome the free class “A” edge.

[tony carle]

Thank you for the input fellas.

[Mark76]

Well you do definitely have more experience than me in that department! But are you sure it’s not because you can pull the “I’m the moderator of the WEPS forum so I know what I am doing” card? lol whereas an average WEPS user like myself may not be regarded as highly :silly:

Well, I don’t regard myself as a very good sharpener. Of course I’m fairly proficient with the WEPS by now and I’m producing good results. I sometimes sharpen knives for the members of the Dutch knife forum, so they know me there. But to be honest, even my mother would get good results with the WEPS if she wanted to.

The other forum on which I sell (and buy) knives is the kitchen knife forum. If you like to be tarred and feathered, you should mention there that you sharpen your knives by any other method than plain manually on stones 😀 . Unfortunately I am still a lousy free-hand sharpener.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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