Thomas Linton said:
Then there is the so-called "Scandi" grind, where the edge is simply the result of the two primary bevels meeting at an angle. Some are great fans of this treatment. Others find it unnesssarily fragile.
That's why a lot of the older Scandi blades were so thick and sabre ground. Doing so made a more obtuse angle that would hold up better than a thinner blade and more acute edge would have.
These knives were designed to have a single edge bevel IMO and seem to do well with said edge, at least in my experience.
The new diamond hones have aided greatly in creating the single edge bevel because their wear is minimal unlike a natural or manmade whetstone that wears with every stroke.
Eventually those stones will wallow out once again making a convex edge more the reality unless re-flattened pretty often. That's an inheirent flaw with the soft waterstones but they are said to cut like the blazes!!!!
We just learned recently in the Cantina that not all Scandi edges were a single edge bevel but were ground with a more acute angle and then sharpened with a somewhat heavier obtuse micro bevel, maybe a 1/64" + wide or so from the way I understood.
But unless a person that sharpens free hand on a stone has an excellent eye and even more excellent motor skill they are going to have at least a slight convex edge anyway. There are very few people that can hold the exact angle freehand.
And that's why there are so many sharpening systems available. A sharpening device that holds the blade at the same angle to the stone each and every time will create an unusually sharp edge just because it is indeed precise.
The devices aren't really practical for a khukuri and personally I don't feel they are that good for a large knife that requires multiple settings.
Whenever the device is moved the person using it isn't apt to match the same degree of metal removal between the settings, but that's just my opinion and you know what's said about opinions.:thumbup:
All of my knives that I have sharpened whether by hand or by belt sander and buffer are convexed, at least to some degree. I'm not one of the people with an excellent eye and even more excellent motor skills.
Everyone speaks about the difficulty of producing a convexed edge but in reality it is the one most likely to be produced when sharpening by hand.
And that's even using a pair of crock sticks with a precise angle. I can hold the knife pretty straight each and every time but I can guarantee that there will be at least several microbevels on the edge and enough so that in essence it would be considered
convex.
