CPK Kephart

Regarding "sharpness": I am no pro but I am competent in putting a good edge on a knife and maintaining it - the high end steels are a bit of a learning curve but it just takes a bit of practice and the right equipment.

My experience with fellow knife nuts and non-knife folks alike has demonstrated that there are equal parts, "Man, this IS sharp!" and "Do you ever sharpen your knives, bro?". I even had some friends of my teenaged daughter bring me their knives (which were in abysmal shape) and I sharpened them up - she later tells me that they bitched about how I didn't know what I was doing 🤬. To be fair (queue Letterkenny chorus.... ✊), I can only do so much with no-name-gas-station-special-steel and they weren't the sort of lads that I was comfortable gifting better knives to.

Point being, as has been noted in previous posts, everyone's idea of sharp is different. In hunting camp a few years back, we were preparing some elk tenderloin to cook over the fire with some onions and chanterelles - I had my Becker BK-5 (go-to camp kitchen knife) and gave it to my buddy to prep the tenderloin. He's a hunter, not necessarily a knife guy, and he takes a pass at the meat and is like, "This is dull as shit!" - It wasn't, in my opinion, but I got my Spyderco setup out and he took a few passes and then got back to work. Can't please them all, I guess 🤷‍♂️ - or I am simply a terrible sharpener, which is entirely possible.

For the record, all of my CPKs are cutters, I've never had the need to sharpen right out of the box.
 
My neighbor is always happy to bring a six pack or two and sit on the porch with me whiling away an afternoon while I sharpen a knife or two for him.
He's always gone home with a sharper knife than he came with and he's never complained.

But I agree with Dylan...one man's ceiling is another man's floor. And sometimes any given knife in a group of knives may be one or the other. Go figure.

And so it goes.
 
My neighbor is always happy to bring a six pack or two and sit on the porch with me whiling away an afternoon while I sharpen a knife or two for him.
He's always gone home with a sharper knife than he came with and he's never complained.

But I agree with Dylan...one man's ceiling is another man's floor. And sometimes any given knife in a group of knives may be one or the other. Go figure.

And so it goes.
While differences in standards are true, for general use, my preference is, once it shaves cleanly, it's sharp enough. While I can get it even sharper, to a polished edge, I find that it has more limited utility (eg. Gyutos used mostly for slicing meat and vegetables). I've found that a slightly toothy edge that shaves, works better for a wider variety of uses.

One example I've seen more than once though (unfortunately), that tells me a person REALLY has no clue what sharp knives are like, is when they test an edge by drawing their thumb down the edge, instead of across it 😬.

Had more than one person slice their thumb on one of my knives and go, "Oh, that's really sharp". 🙁

How dull has EVERY knife they've ever handled been, to think that running their thumb down the edge of a knife is a good/safe way to test for sharpness? Even the lightest pressure will end up cutting, doing it that way with a sharp knife.
 
We're on the same page, my friend.

Once it doesn't skate on my thumbnail and it slices phone book paper cleanly in both directions, I call it good enough. I don't need an edge that I'd want to avoid using for fear of undoing the work put into it.

I don't bother shaving since the hair on my arms is very fine. I do sometimes do the old Bob Dozier test on the hair on the back of my head.
 
Home sweet home finally after some delay in the UPS shipping.

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Thank you gentlemen, I know everyone has a different opinion on edge sharpness, and you can’t make everyone happy. I spoke with him last night and he said he sharpened it up and loves it now.

I put a flat grind on mine that will be users right away. I have a Wicked Edge 130 so sharpening my knives is a piece of cake. But I love the sound and feel of my diamond stones on the D3V steel! I'll be sharpening my DEK1 again soon and it really doesn't need much, which goes against a personal rule of mine. I just love this steel!
 
I've never really had much interest in Kephart style blades. I always respected it's history and the novelty of owning one but also felt there were better designs so it never really appealed to me when I've handled them at different times.

Since the CPK Kephart was a CPK and was an easy grab to acquire, I figured, what the heck, at least it's still a CPK even if I don't really dig the blade style that much. Well, after a very quick turn around, my Keppie arrived this afternoon and it's a super cool knife. While on the surface, it looks like a Kephart, its really a CPK. It just goes to show that a well engineered and executed blade of any style makes all the difference in the world and I'm yet again impressed by Carothers Knives.

Amazing execution and thought and it just really, really shows and I've just been so impressed with D3V that it's tough to compare. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I feel fortunate to have the CPK's I do in my collection because of the craftsmanship and work those goes into these blades before a specific design ever gets sketched out and it shows. I'd love to have a CPK safe queen someday but these are some of the best tools I've got in any tool style regardless of blades and I'm a tool snob.

My 2 year old threw my phone in the street yesterday and broke my screen and camera lens or else I'd post a pic!! Hahaha! True story! Took me like 30 min to type this. Lol!

Sweet blade! Thanks team!
 
Hi guys.

I am undecided about today's Kephart sale. I want a field knife and I think FK2 might be a better knife than Kephart but I am not too sure if we will see any FK2 soon.

I am not very keen on the Kephart due to mainly the grind and the design. I prefer good slicing knives and "experimental grind" seems to work against the cutting performance (at least that's what I think). I understand it is good for splitting (which I do not use my knives for) but this not a priority for me. Also the tip is not very pointy, which is again against how I use my knives. I like pointy tips for detail work. Another issue could be the handle shape. Yes, it is might work but surely FK2 seems to be more comfortable?

Well I said all of these things, so you might think why I am even bothering with CPK Kephart. Well, FK2 might not be an option and $250 is damn good buy for a CPK made knife. So it if works as good (or even close) as FK2 in the field, I might just go for it. I read the whole thread but there is not much about how the knife performs in the field. So, I thought I might ask for an update about it's use in the field. I know only an hour or so left for the Kephart sale, but I am still on the fence and I thought I was able to make my mind until the sale, which appreatently could not. So asking for some help (encouragement or discouragement for the sake of waiting a better CPK).
 
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