Easiest grind to field sharpen

[bladerique]

great idea and execution effer.

 

[effer]

I have and more than once.

It's not too bad as long as you can find a flat stone, and if it's pretty smooth like in a river you can put one heck of an edge on.

Did it slice the TP?

Out of curiosity, was there a real need for rock sharpening or was it just for fun?

I wanted once to try sharpening my CS GI Tanto on a rock, just for fun. When finally got to the water I couldn't find anything good. I sure could put a working edge with the stones that I have found, but there was nothing flat and smooth enough to give me some confidence that finished edge will be really good Since there was no real need for it, I just abandoned the project.

 

[Ankerson]

Did it slice the TP?

Out of curiosity, was there a real need for rock sharpening or was it just for fun?

I wanted once to try sharpening my CS GI Tanto on a rock, just for fun. When finally got to the water I couldn't find anything good. I sure could put a working edge with the stones that I have found, but there was nothing flat and smooth enough to give me some confidence that finished edge will be really good Since there was no real need for it, I just abandoned the project.

There was a need, it was a K-Bar and it got dull from digging a fire pit, happened more than once.

Also sharpened a few folders that way over the years.

With today's steels there shouldn't be a need to bother though.

 

[mesoscopic]

Can't say as I have any problem field sharpening on my DMT Diafolds, whether Scandi, convex or V grind. The technique is only slightly different for each.

I had been using a Mini-DiaSharp (fine) and recently a Diafold (coarse/fine) to sharpen my folders which I think are V-grind edges.

Held off buying convex edged fixed blades as I didn't have flat stones for the job.

I was under the impression that the Diafolds can only sharpen V-grinds and Scandi grinds.

Allow me to hazard a guess, instead of holding the knife in one hand and sharpening with the Diafold in the other which is what I had been doing so far.

The Diafold is held down onto a flat surface (e.g. a box or edge of table) with the folding paddles folded into open position and the convex-edged blade is then sharpened by moving the blade across the Diafold with either one or both hands just like a flat stone?

 

[elkpro1]

I spend my whole fall in the woods and I have been grinding edges off knives since i was 9 years old . We have to resharpen in the field dailey and if you are one of those guys that believes in the dream of excalibur ,the eternally sharp knife I can assure you it is just a dream if you cut up bull elk on the ground for a living . I have used every super steel extensively and now i prefer a great tool steel knife aside from my s90 millie over all others. THe way i set up to field sharpen is easy , i have taught it to many other hunters who could not sharpen and they learn it to easy. I set up each blade by hand grinding an edge with about 6 angle changes on each side starting almost flat, this makes any knife convex but true to your sharpening angle by hand , if you have trouble use a marksalot to remark the edge over and over and we use nothing but 2 sided DMTS in the field, work down on grit as you get a burr go down on grit size . Also it takes alot of elbow grease in the early flatter stages on v ground steels . Convex edges are easier to maitain like this than any flexible backed pad or strop or paper . In the end I like a true guilt type grabby edge on my knife and with a great blade i can do a bull on the ground in a little over on hour { gut ,debone and cape} and touch up 2 or three times in a 10 or 20 seconds and still shave hair in the end . If i hit a rock it ussually takes less than a minute to get a working edge back . To me a great steel is one that still cuts well being a litte dull and that is why ilean toward tool steel like A2, D2, O1 , or even 52100 these are great to me with an awesome heat treat.

 

[elkpro1]

I forgot my latest favourite steel M4 .

 

[bpiatt]

i convex all my knives. you can make a very small leather strop to carry with you. strop often and rarely need to go back to sandpaper unless you really tear up your edge.

 

[Joshua J.]

I'm going to post my usual anti-grind-type propaganda.


It's all about angles and thick versus thin.
Whether the grind behind the edge is concave, convex, or flat, does not matter.

If you sharpen the edge at a low angle it will be thin and cut like a dream, but take damage easily. If you sharpen the edge at a high angle it will be thicker and tougher.

If major damage (hitting metal or rocks) is not a concern then it should be safe to thin out the blade behind the edge. Thinner cuts better and thicker is tougher.

If you aren't going to be doing anything terribly strenuous with the knife it probably doesn't need to be made of very thick stock. Thinner cuts better and thicker is tougher.

 

[Joshua J.]

As far as ease of sharpening goes, the easiest to sharpen will be an moderately steep edge on a very thin blade, making the edge bevel itself very small.

I guess we usually call that a thinned out edge with a micro-bevel.

 

[Sep]

Let me assume worst case scenario where you don't have your sharpening tools with you, and has to rely on whatever is available (rock, cinder block, etc.).

The easiest to sharpen would be scandi, because there is no guess work whatsoever, it's 100% controlled angle. As long as the grind is flat on the sharpening material, you are guaranteed to (eventually) get the knife very sharp. However, it also takes the longest time because to sharpen the edge you have to remove the entire surface of the grind.

The fastest to sharpen would be hollow grind, because it leaves the cutting edge very thin. You only need to remove very little material to get a sharp edge, but the ultimate sharpness depends on how steady your hands are.

People might be tempted to say "but it doesn't take very long to sharpen my scandi". It is true that if you don't let the knife get dull to begin with, touching the edge up doesn't take much time. But the rules of physics dictates that for the same level of dullness a hollow grind knife would be much faster to sharpen than scandi one.

Bear in mind that if you do nasty things to your knife that causes it to chip badly, it will take forever and a day to make that chip disappear on a scandi grind, because you have to remove a lot of metal. There's a good reason Mora chooses tough steels as opposed to wear resistant ones.

So, if you want acutely sharp edge every single time and don't mind using a healthy amount of elbow grease, Scandi grind works best. If you want an edge that can be sharpened quickly and don't mind it to be only so-so sharp (a.k.a. working edge), then go with hollow grind.