Cutting fruit with Mora Garberg and Fallkniven F1 VG10

ProudGrognard · Sep 22, 2022

Dear all,

I haven't posted for a veeeeeery long time, but I feel the urge now to ask you a question.

Yesterday, on the spirit of getting the feel of my knives, I cut and peeled fruits -apples and pears-with the two knives mentioned above. I was surprised because the F1 did the job well, not perfectly, but well. The Garberg on the other hand, did not so much slice as broke apart the fruits.

Have you had similar experiences when camping or food prepping? Is it the scandi vs convex thing or something else?

MolokaiRider · Sep 22, 2022

The grind, blade thickness, and geometry all effect how a blade performs in different media.

The Garberg has a steep scandi, as compared to the F1's full convex. It is just not going to do well slicing up food into thin pieces.

Surname · Sep 22, 2022

I believe the garberg doesn't come with a true scandi grind, but rather has a microbevel. I doubt it would be a great slicer to begin with, but that sure made mine a lot worse at it. I would check and see if your garberg has a microbevel. If it does, it is contributing to the problem.

KenHash · Sep 23, 2022

My bet is on the scandi/convex grind. Only because I can't imagine another reason for a knife with a 3.2mm blade thickness splitting a fruit when one with a 4.5mm thickness won;'t.

Alone · Sep 23, 2022

MolokaiRider said:
The grind, blade thickness, and geometry all effect how a blade performs in different media.

The Garberg has a steep scandi, as compared to the F1's full convex. It is just not going to do well slicing up food into thin pieces.

This thread got me curious about something...

Even though it isn't a blade discussed in this thread, (*for me) my TOPS 107Es have always possessed some kinda' "Voo-Doo" cutting abilities.

I own a buttload of overbuilt/hard use fixies. And quite a few, while being great wood mauls/wedges, are pretty sorry at performing as actual knives. (*cutting instruments) My 107s have always been the exception. For those who don't know, the 107s are the blades that put TOPS on the map. They're a VERY robust, 1/4-inch piece of sharpened 1095 pry bar. And yet, they still perform quite well at actual cutting.

Are they a Shun or Zwilling Chef's knife? No. Will they filet a fish with ease or cut pieces of transparent tomato? No. However, I have gone straight from splitting oak, for my small "overnight" grill, to cutting sausage/peppers/onions for my evening meal. For my particular uses, they really are quite magical.

Anyhoo, back to the "curious' thing. This thread made me want to take a micrometer to the edge. So, I did. After several tries, I got a pretty standard reading of 23-thousandths (*.023") just behind the edge. Not bad for a brute of a knife, in my humble opinion.

EDIT- The 107s are saber-ground.

The Grendels · Sep 23, 2022

Scandi grinds are really nice for power assist in wood carving, but less than awesome when you need fine slicing in food prep. A thin, flat grind is more likely what you're looking for. Maybe a skinning knife or better yet a paring knife would be ideal.

ProudGrognard · Sep 23, 2022

The Grendels said:
Scandi grinds are really nice for power assist in wood carving, but less than awesome when you need fine slicing in food prep. A thin, flat grind is more likely what you're looking for. Maybe a skinning knife or better yet a paring knife would be ideal.

Thank you for the answer. I am not looking for a cooking knife. I was just curious about why two thick knives behave so differently

Jacques Mi · Sep 24, 2022

ProudGrognard said:
Dear all,

I haven't posted for a veeeeeery long time, but I feel the urge now to ask you a question.

Yesterday, on the spirit of getting the feel of my knives, I cut and peeled fruits -apples and pears-with the two knives mentioned above. I was surprised because the F1 did the job well, not perfectly, but well. The Garberg on the other hand, did not so much slice as broke apart the fruits.

Have you had similar experiences when camping or food prepping? Is it the scandi vs convex thing or something else?

Odd, whenever I cut fruit with my F1 I hastly change it to something else. The F1 is sharp but still it makes a mess out of whatever fruit it cuts. Prolly because of the overall blade thickness.