Went out hunting this afternoon and the hunting gods were very kind to me. I got a chance to use my new 411 but after putting it to work on this doe the edge requires some serious attention. I would love to hear from folks who have put their new family member to work and found it to be lacking in staying power. Overall it’s a very nice knife and gets high marks on ergonomics. I hope I can put an edge on this guy that will stand some abuse. Has anyone applied an edge and getting better results than what they are getting from Scrapyard?

great doe man. i havent used my sykco sr101 or rats enough to know if i have a problem yet.
I hope mine perform beter than you say it did

I don't get this...
Is deer hide really that hard on the edge?
Having chopped down trees with my 711, and split the wood, batoning, and still having a edge that will push cut paper, it amazes me, that SR101 gets dull paring a deer.
Why is that?

My buddy skinned 2 raccoons and his 311 was not that sharp afterwards. I talked up this knife so much he bought one and called me afterward and was mad. I haven't used my new knives much. But I did use my S5 CG to gut my buck and it is still crazy sharp. So who knows???

Cutting wood and cutting up a deer are two different things. I have used three Bussekin blades for hunting and all three could not shave hair after processing one deer. DT and I have come to the conclusion that it could be the profile of the blade. I am no expert on knife edge science but sure would like to know what type of an edge is needed to allow me to process more than one deer and still have an edge that is shaving sharp. I would like to hear from anyone with an idea as to proper profile.

Do your blades remain shaving sharp afterwords?

I’m not mad, just disappointed <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. This is a brand new 411 that just arrived from the happy tree rodent home. I took it out this afternoon and cut up one deer and it’s not sharp enough to cut paper.

I'm wondering if the manufactures would like to weigh in on this and provide some insight behind the edge?

I wonder how well the Elmax blades work for skinning. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I have a feeling this is a result of the edge geometry that these come from the factory with.....

From my understanding, the factory edges are set with durability and toughness being paramount.

I know these aren't really designed specifically for skinning, but I'd be willing to bet that by reprofiling the 411's edge to a more acute angle you would notice an improvement in it's ability to remain sharp while skinning.

Form wise, the 411 is my favorite smaller blade. Edge holding? That's disappointing. The bigger blades seem to hold their edge exceedingly well. The smaller ones....not as much. At least on deer. Deer are a different beast (so to speak). You are cutting hair, splitting bone, and slicing flesh. Not sure if that's the reason too...

I would tend to agree with AFF. Most all my knives needed "Improving" from the factory edge. I do think the factory edges on most knives are set for longevity, not ease in slicing. If they were to put a more slicing friendly angle/edge on their knives people would complain that the edges will not hold up. Catch 22.