I have exactly the same frustration with the Case Sodbuster. It's a lovely knife and the design of the knife has really won me over in many ways. But the blade consistently dulls faster than the Opinel or the Buck, particularly when I use it on a wooden cutting board or when I use it for a carving project or cutting limbs. I have to sharpen it at a slightly larger angle to get reasonable performance from it, more along the lines of Opinel's similarly soft carbon. Ditto my Case 316-5. It dulls when I look at it sternly while a Schrade H-15 (1095 at >58Rc) cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts.
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No, don't go with a larger angle, go with a smaller.
The Opinel is ground to a much thinner edge and is a convex ground blade. The Case is a flat grind with a secondary angle. Sometimes the at the factory get it right, sometimes they don't. Is the Case the True Sharp stainless or CV? Eother way, go to a lower angle on the stone, and go with a toothy edge and you'll e very surprised at how it performs. The Opinel is a great slicer, not many knives n the planet are going to perform with them. I've never faulted the Opinel in the cutting department. I just got weary of the finicky factor, and the water swelling factor. The Case does not have a blade near as thin at the edge as the Opinel. So you have to thin it a bit yourself. But my love is not for the Sodbusters thin blade slicing ability, it's the rugged reliable heavy duty nature of the knife. I'd rather carry a Case sodbuster than and Opinel because the sodbuster will stand up to a wide range of conditions better than the Opinel, including a watery environment like some of Maryland's Eastern shore.
Lower that edge angle on the sodbuster so it's more like the edge angle on a Eye-Brand sodbuster.
Don't confuse SAK buyers with knife nuts. The twain shall never meet. People who buy the vast majority of SAK's are the run of the mill yukkapuks who wander into a Dick's Sporting goods store or some backpacking store, buy some backpacking or hiking gear, and buy a SAK because it's one of the 'ten essentials' listed in the backpacking book they read. Or the kid gets one for Christmas from Aunt Agatha and he loves it so he's a sentimental brand loyalist from then on. If it ever gets too dull, odds are it will get a couple pulls through one those horrible pull through sharpeners, or some friend will take pity on him and give it a quick sharpening. In general, SAK users are not knife nuts. The exceptions see to be in the military. Most of the solders I served with like SAK's, and knew how to sharpen them. Most people in general don't know anayting about sharpening a knife. It's becoming a lost art.
SAK's have their place in the cutlery world, as does the other knives. It's all up to the end user.
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Edit to add: I forgot to address the issue do I feel that the little lower point of RC hardness makes for easier sharpening. Yes it does.
Dave, as you know from our many many discussions on the merits of the Vic classic, that I was and still am a fan of it. But one thing I do know, it is sooooo darn easy to touch up the blade when it does go dull. Over a period of years, I've used the little classic as my 'what the hell' knife. The little low cost expendable tool that if it breaks I don't care that much. Walmart, Target, Dick's, the REI store down the road, all have plenty of them. But my better half Karen truly excels at torturing the classic. ONce in a blue moon, I'll have to touchup mine, or Karen will ask me to do something abutter little one because it's not cutting anymore.
With a Vic, it's a matter of 30 seconds, literally, on the bottom of a coffee mug to nice slicing agains. I've done this so many times, that I've come to love the Victoriox SAK's for that reason amount others. Like on vacation in Key West. I had shipped a recruit down to myself where we were staying. For several days, the recruit was my only knife while I was over a thousand mles from home, fishing, partying, kayaking the mangroves, more partying
Anyways, the guest house where we all wee staying had a full kitchen area, but few utensils. Plastic disposable forks and spoons and knives. My recruit made salads, sliced up meat for a beef stir fry, and slice limes for the cold Corona's and gin and tonics. The day I went bone fishing out on the flats, the vic started to not cut the squid and eel bait well. Kind of sliding on the rubbery eel. The motor was raised up, and boat was being poled through the shallows. I touched up the edge of the knife on the small diamond hone I carry in my wallet, and in less than a minute, I had a knife that was slicing eel as nice as a new SAK. About 30 seconds a side in a small circle way of honing,and it was good to go.
Even my daughter, from years of watching me, keeps her little pink Classic on her keys sharp by once in a while stropping on the bottom of a coffee mug. It's so easy a girl can doit.
Yes, a SAK is easier to sharpen up than most other knives.