Can a zero scandi edge handle batonning?

[Bladenoobie1]

I tried it fir fun on a mora and UT deformed the edge. I would recommend a secondary bevel

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I read that moras have near a 20 degrees inclusive edge, so at 10 dps or less, I would imagine it to be very fragile.

 

[jimh0220]

A froe or shake axe is also much different from a modern knife.

Batoning a very hard piece of metal is simply a good way to break it. I never knew of batoning until I joined the forms and never broke more knives until I tried it.

Cody Lundin talks about it in his 98 Degrees book. He's been batonning with a Mora for 20 years. I don't recall him referencing Blade Forums as a where he learned. Les Stroud batons coconuts with a SAK. Been batonning for decades.
Using a knife to split wood has been around for a looong time. It's the same concept as splitting with a wedge, except, due to the hardness of the knife steel, you use wood to hit the spine of the blade instead of metal, which could crack or break with something metal. Wedges are softer, hence less likely to crack. Same process, different tools.

 

[sodak]

I've never understood why this is such a hot topic. I do it all the time, never hurt a knife yet.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Whether my facts are straight or not the way batoning is portrayed on the interwebs is excessive to put it lightly. It's gone so far that people think if you can't baton a folder through seasoned hardwood then its not a "hard use folder". Survival training is one thing but I doubt 90% of those doing this awesome activity are doing it for survival.

I totally agree.

 

[Thomas Linton]

If you guys watch virtuovice, I was amazed by how his Enzo camper performed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49oh-5iHOI

After he removed the secondary bevel to give it a 0 scandi grind, it was slightly convex. A quick sum up of the video, he removed the secondary bevel of the scandi grind, and took it to a 0 grind all the way to a 3000 grit chosera. After batonning through a sizable amount of wood and making feather sticks, the edge (mind that it was D2 and it was a high scandi grind) appeared to have no deformations and still could do slow clean slicing movement through paper. I was pretty darn amazed and it was that video that lead to all my questions and want for a dedicated outdoor knife haha.

The "Scandi grind," as popularized by UK "bushcrafters," has no secondary bevel, and it's single bevel is flat, not convex. So the knife was not a "Scandi" and ended up not a "Scandi." Not that anyhtiong is wrong with the customary secondary bevel or having a convex bevel.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Cody Lundin talks about it in his 98 Degrees book. He's been batonning with a Mora for 20 years. I don't recall him referencing Blade Forums as a where he learned. Les Stroud batons coconuts with a SAK. Been batonning for decades.
Using a knife to split wood has been around for a looong time. It's the same concept as splitting with a wedge, except, due to the hardness of the knife steel, you use wood to hit the spine of the blade instead of metal, which could crack or break with something metal. Wedges are softer, hence less likely to crack. Same process, different tools.

Cody would be the guy who wrote in 98.6 that carbon steel knives are always easier to sharpen than stainless steel knives.

 

[C_Becker]

Depends what you mean by "carbon steel". If carbon steel = non-stainless, that statement is wrong.
But one could argue that only the 10xx series is true "carbon" steel, than I wouldn't disagree with him.

 

[Thomas Linton]

You would have to ask him what he meant, but when one contrasts "stainless" to "carbon," one usually means "stainless" and non-stainless.

In any case, we know many stainless steel knives - perhaps most in absolute numbers - are butter soft - far softer than a MORA of any material. So, contrary to what he wrote, the MORA he praises to the heavans is harder to sharpen than some stainless steel knives.

Then there are the stainless steel MORA knives, apparently unknown to him when he wrote. Does anyone find them "hard" to sharpen?

 

[me2]

In the spirit of continued thread derailment, it's not too difficult to find softer alloys that take longer to sharpen than harder ones. The statement that stainless is always harder to sharpen is just nonsense though.

Back on topic, baton your Mora. If the edge folds or maybe even chips, it was possibly overheated during grinding. Giving it a few good sharpenings could stop this without having to add a more obtuse bevel.