easy sharpening?

[Carolina Tom]

When people say a Scandi is 'easy' to sharpen, they mean it's easy to match the edge angle because the bevel is large enough to rest the knife on. For a lot of people (including me), it is the first kind of knife that they got really sharp. A lot of this is due to the very acute edge angles, usually no more than 25 degrees inclusive.

However, it is probably the most labor intensive grind to sharpen (assuming a flat bevel to a zero edge). A lot of metal to remove on those big bevels. Convexing or micro-bevelling the edge would help this, but I insist on keeping the edge flat to a zero edge because I think it gives a slight advantage in wood cutting (cuts like a paring chisel). They micro-chip or roll fairly easily (mine seem to be at 20 degrees inclusive) and larger chips have taken me hours on an 800 grit waterstone to restore the edge. This was the inspiration to get EEC and EC DMT Diasharps

Amen to everything you say!!:thumbup:

 

[jakejo]

I recently took my first steps into the world of freehand sharpening with a Fallkniven DC4 (about $30). I like it because it's portable and you don't use any oil or water with it. I bought it with my Mora in mind but now all my folders and kitchen knives are nicely sharpened.

I kinda accidentally stumbled upon the sandpaper method last week when I was using some 600 grit to remove some rust on an old pocket knife. Looking forward trying this out more.

 

[Carolina Tom]

When people say a Scandi is 'easy' to sharpen, they mean it's easy to match the edge angle because the bevel is large enough to rest the knife on. For a lot of people (including me), it is the first kind of knife that they got really sharp. A lot of this is due to the very acute edge angles, usually no more than 25 degrees inclusive.

However, it is probably the most labor intensive grind to sharpen (assuming a flat bevel to a zero edge). A lot of metal to remove on those big bevels. Convexing or micro-bevelling the edge would help this, but I insist on keeping the edge flat to a zero edge because I think it gives a slight advantage in wood cutting (cuts like a paring chisel). They micro-chip or roll fairly easily (mine seem to be at 20 degrees inclusive) and larger chips have taken me hours on an 800 grit waterstone to restore the edge. This was the inspiration to get EEC and EC DMT Diasharps

FYI-my angles on Moras are between 17 and 20 degrees.

 

[sir_mike]

FYI-my angles on Moras are between 17 and 20 degrees.

What do you use to sharpen the Mora's at those angles?

 

[Carolina Tom]

The bevel is already set at about 17 degrees on these knives. I just lay the bevel flat on the stone or board, push down on the bevel with my fingers and grind away. I don't use a jig or anything.

 

[Storm Crow]

Thanks, awestib, for directing folks to my little video tutorial. Remember: Simple, not to be confused with easy.

I just had five out of six students get their knives shaving sharp tonight following the same basic steps in the video, except that we sped up the process a bit by using a 220 grit belt on my KMG to establsih the edge, which is accomplished in my videos using the coarse stone. It's a simple process and it works well, it just takes a bit of practice to get it down. The sixth student rolled his wrist too much, a common beginner mistake.

Really, the most important thing to take away from my tutorial is learning to feel the edge so you can tell what is going on and adjust accordingly. You can feel where you have a sharp spot and where you have a dull spot, even if you aren't able to see it. You can feel if you've rolled a wire edge, even though it's too small to see. You can feel if the secondary bevel is a flat plane or if it curves (which was the problem with the sixth student's edge).

Another tip is to see where your stone is actually touching the metal by seeing where it is marking and/or polishing the steel. If the stone is contacting the secondary bevel but is not reaching the edge itself, try raising the spine just a bit higher off of the stone and see what it does. I had a student tonight who had to adjust like that and pretty quickly saw good results. That's often the problem if you aren't seeing headway.

And another tip is to make absolutely sure your secondary bevel actually comes to an edge and doesn't have any flat spots. If you have a flat spot on your secondary but everything else is correct, you can sharpen all day on a fine stone and not solve your problem. If you hold the edge at the right position under a light, you can see the light reflecting off of any flat spots. If you need to, get a cheap loupe or magnifier to see better.

Freehand sharpening is all about getting a feel for the technique. Once you have it down, it takes very little time to put a shaving sharp edge on a knife. And it can be done on a $12 Arkansas stone from Academy and a scrap piece of leather with a dollop of metal polish on it.