ok i have 2 scandi ground knives. a mora and an enzo. well what ive been doing to keep my enzo sharp the last few weeks is stropping it with chromium oxide. well when i went to go and sharpen it i dound i wasnt hitting the actual edge. found out even more after that i slightly cinvexed it. adn i dont want a convex scandi. so i spent 6 hours on a cheapo stone, the only stone that i got, reprofiling just the right side of the blade...im now waiting to finish it on a new stone i ordered. so yeah my advice, if ur gonna strop, do it on a plain leather belt, but maybe some of you guys here can disprove my findings. it would suck to be stuck in a survival situation and not be able to sharpen your knife to its full ability.
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a word of advice on scandi knives
- Thread starter crbauhs
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I suppose, CR, that you stropped that EnZo for a looooong time. It would take quite a while to convex the scandi grind.
The EnZo SCZ (Scandi Ground to Zero) is allready convexed when you get it. I've owned four and each one has a noticeable convexity to the grind. The Moras (I own 11 now of several different models) are not so much ground with a slight convex as they are ground on a robotic machine which leaves grind "ridges" visible to the naked eye. There is some convexity, though not as much as the EnZo blades.
Since the EnZos already have some convexity to the scandi grind, the only thing I betting that you're changing by stropping is the very edge. You can tell by how hard it is to grind flat with a stone that it would literally take years of buttered stropping to noticeably affect the full face of the Scandi bevel.
Your EnZo came that way already
The EnZo SCZ (Scandi Ground to Zero) is allready convexed when you get it. I've owned four and each one has a noticeable convexity to the grind. The Moras (I own 11 now of several different models) are not so much ground with a slight convex as they are ground on a robotic machine which leaves grind "ridges" visible to the naked eye. There is some convexity, though not as much as the EnZo blades.
Since the EnZos already have some convexity to the scandi grind, the only thing I betting that you're changing by stropping is the very edge. You can tell by how hard it is to grind flat with a stone that it would literally take years of buttered stropping to noticeably affect the full face of the Scandi bevel.
Your EnZo came that way already
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I like slightly convexing the edge of my moras, I sharpen them on my dmt plates, and finish on loaded leather,I keep them up with the strop, but after a while do notice the edges get a little to rounded,and put them on the stones again.
for quite a while i would strop on high grit paper to polish the edge of my mora, and after about 10 stroppings i would flat the bevels on a stone.
then i found that i could still get ridiculously sharp edges right off of my medium grit stone with a strop, so my mora has returned to being a scandi instead of slightly convexed.
i do have another though that i'm sharpening on my belt sander to see how it does convexed.
then i found that i could still get ridiculously sharp edges right off of my medium grit stone with a strop, so my mora has returned to being a scandi instead of slightly convexed.
i do have another though that i'm sharpening on my belt sander to see how it does convexed.
hmmm i never thought that it might have come that way, this is the first time i have really tried to sharpen it... but yeah. its killin me wiht this cheap stone. i can twait to get my 100/180, and 1000/6000 will go along nicely with my 340, 800, and 1000. gonna have a decent collection now and a true zero ground scandi.
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I strop my scandis flat..so the bevel is against the leather, same as if I where to sharpen it this way I'm polishing the edge at the same angle that I'm sharpening... DOn't kow if that's right but it works.
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glue the leather to a block of wood and it won't convex the edge so much, though i sometimes find that a very slightly convex edge is a good thing with the fine edge that comes from a zero ground scandi, expecially on high hardness steels like roselli's UHC
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I use hard backed 1000 and 2000 grit wet/dry and strop while maintaining the bevel, and finish on a slicked up piece of walnut smeared with green rouge. Just hold the knife just as you would to edge lead sharpen, but strop instead.
Also, the bevels from the factory are many times, not dead flat either. I spent a good amount of time working my Clippers and my 760 on my Norton India stone to get good flat bevels, and remove a bit of the very edge where the factory grinding can at times burn em. My SS Clipper at first would not hold an edge hardly at all, but after a solid work over on the big rock it is now a great performer.
Just my .02,
Becker
Also, the bevels from the factory are many times, not dead flat either. I spent a good amount of time working my Clippers and my 760 on my Norton India stone to get good flat bevels, and remove a bit of the very edge where the factory grinding can at times burn em. My SS Clipper at first would not hold an edge hardly at all, but after a solid work over on the big rock it is now a great performer.
Just my .02,
Becker
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And nine outta' ten Scadinavian knives that I own came with a secodary bevel. OMG, Not Pure! 
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Enh.. I've done scandi grinds with secondary bevels (it's actually quite nice for field use), the convex grinds i do have a scandi look most of the time, and I do full flat scandis.
nothing wrong with any of them. And a LOT of scandi knives from scandiland that I've seen have some convex to them.
If you want a pure hard core scandi, buy an apex and a LOT of stones. It works, but you'll wear through the coarse and medium grit stones a bit fast- at least if you are a knifemaker.
nothing wrong with any of them. And a LOT of scandi knives from scandiland that I've seen have some convex to them.
If you want a pure hard core scandi, buy an apex and a LOT of stones. It works, but you'll wear through the coarse and medium grit stones a bit fast- at least if you are a knifemaker.
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So far as I can tell from talking to makers from around the Baltic (including the former mod of the Scandinavian forum at BritishBlades) and looking at the knives from there, few knives are made with the so-called "Scandi Grind" (saber/flat bevel and no secondary bevel). The two customs I got that were made by Trond Peterson have a slight hollow bevel and a secondary bevel. I have production models from ten different makers. I can see the secondary bevels with the Mark I eyeball on all but three and the bevels are convex and hollow as often as flat. They all came scary sharp, especially the Tronds - shave hair above the skin and all that.
Obviously not very important to Scandinavians to have a "Scandi grind" but real important to folks from elsewhere.
Somehow, the world has gotten along with almost no "Scandi Grind" knives for centuries. And pain me as it might, I guess will have to do the same.
Obviously not very important to Scandinavians to have a "Scandi grind" but real important to folks from elsewhere.
Somehow, the world has gotten along with almost no "Scandi Grind" knives for centuries. And pain me as it might, I guess will have to do the same.
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good luck
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I use the BRKT strop which is leather on a backing board to strop my blades. Scandis just lay the bevel flat on the strop. If you use a "loose belt" type strop it'll be nearly impossible to not convex it close to the edge. Not that that is bad. I think it's easier to carry a strop in the field than stones, so field touch ups shouldn't be a problem either way you go.
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Lee Valley Hardware makes pretty decent 1000 and 4000 pocket water stones.
Those work great for me along with a hard strop to polish it out.
For the D2 and 3v ones Ragnars Diamond plates put the fastest razor edge on then followed up with the strop.
On some of mine if I notice a lot of chipping I'll raise the angle on the strop at the last part and do a slight bevel on it.
I'd like to mention that the only scandi knife that I have never got any edge chipping on is Kosters 3v. It's really slow to sharpen, but if you want a true zero edge with no deformation that's a hell of a blade.
Those work great for me along with a hard strop to polish it out.
For the D2 and 3v ones Ragnars Diamond plates put the fastest razor edge on then followed up with the strop.
On some of mine if I notice a lot of chipping I'll raise the angle on the strop at the last part and do a slight bevel on it.
I'd like to mention that the only scandi knife that I have never got any edge chipping on is Kosters 3v. It's really slow to sharpen, but if you want a true zero edge with no deformation that's a hell of a blade.