Can you re-profile a hollow ground knife to be a scandi knife?

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sisk61

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Jun 24, 2011
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I was just wondering if this is possible to do without ruining a knife. Could this eventually be done with waterstones?
 
Sure can. If you do it by hand, you need to start young. It takes a while. One of the older style Byrd Meadowlark or Cara Cara knives could be good to practice with. As far as ruining the knife, that depends on what you mean by "ruin". Obviously the blade will have scratches all over it and need to be polished again if the scratches bother you. The question I have is why would you want to do this?
 
I really like scandi grinds for woodwork or bushcraft. Ive been looking for a scandi folding knife, and there arent that many of those. so i was considering taking a folding knife with a hollow grind and re-profiling it. it would be ideal for hiking or as a back up blade for when im backpacking.
 
It's super simple. Don't worry about removing the hollow--if anything it speeds up the sharpening process since there's less steel wearing against the stone. What results is much like the grind on a razor. The two-point contact of the edge and the shoulder against the stone servers as the angle guide. I guess you could either call it a razor grind, or a hollow scandi. I'd opt with calling it a razor grind.

I do that with Cold Steel True Flights to convert them into tough-as-nails bushcraft knives on the cheap. :)
 
Thanks FourtyTwo! I had been looking at that Enzo folder. but i was just thinking, why not get a cheaper hollow ground knife and make it a scandi? it seems easy enough
 
I think it would depend on what size wheel the hollow grind was ground with and how much height of the blade your willing to lose. If it is a severe hollow grind you might be better off using a belt sander. but if it is lightly done like a buck vantage then you probably wont notice a difference.

if you do it with a water stone, just make sure to take it through your normal grits to put a more rust resistance finish and to help make it look more professional instead a blade covered in scratches
 
if it's a half-height HG, just sharpen it by laying it flat on the stone. the edge and HG ridge will automatically take the wear. if it's a full-height HG, zero-grinding it will turn it into a straight razor. that's not what you're after.
 
hank_rearden said:
if it's a half-height HG, just sharpen it by laying it flat on the stone. the edge and HG ridge will automatically take the wear. if it's a full-height HG, zero-grinding it will turn it into a straight razor. that's not what you're after.
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Good point. I had neglected to mention that. Not too many full-height hollow grinds on the production market that I'm aware of, though, since they can be tricky to do.
 
I'd say do a razor grind on it until you have a primary bevel of @ 1/8", then put a micro bevel on it to strengthen the edge. Some of the wood cutters have indicated that a micro bevel doesn't detract from their ability to carve, others indicate it does.
 
It does affect it, but deformation of material is enough that it doesn't create a big issue as long as you emphasize the "micro" in microbevel.
 
Depends on the height of the hollow grind. A short one like on the True Flight doesn't need a micro bevel.
 
sisk61 said:
I was just wondering if this is possible to do without ruining a knife. Could this eventually be done with waterstones?
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I wouldn't recommend waterstones to do this unless you have a lot of experience with waterstones. I would recommend getting an extra coarse diamond stone
 
Seems like a flat saber grind would be a natural for conversion to Scandi. Much like a half-height hollow grind, but there's thicker steel behind the edge for strength. The Endura 4 comes to mind:

10pbk4.jpg
 
Vivi reground a couple Spydercos to a true Scandi grind a couple years back. I was more than a little envious. He did a great job on it. I'll see if I can find it.

Here's one he did:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/601653-Spyderco-Native-Upgrade?highlight=Spyderco

Here's another:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/599061-Scandi-Grind-Endura-ZDP189?highlight=Endura

I'm guessing he is no longer on the forum based on the title under his username but these two threads still seem to have pics in them.
 
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