Grind Preferances?

P

pinnah

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Jul 28, 2011
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I know we've discussed it before, a lot, but I've been thinking about it a bit so y'all get to hear about it.

Do you prefer different grinds for different tasks and why?

I find I strongly prefer the flat/convex grind for pretty much everything. It does great in the kitchen and works great on wood. It works well enough for meat, but I don't dress game hardly at all.

In particular, can anybody defend the hollow grind as being superior for anything in particular?


Opinel #10 (drop point) & Opinel #8 by Pinnah, on Flickr

I've obviously been spoiled by my Opinels.
 
I like flat or convex as well. I have a couple of fixed blade knives I had made some years ago that have a convex edge and I love the ease of keeping them sharp.
 
Yeah, I'm with you guys. Hollow grinds can look pretty and work well on razors :)
 
I actually have no preference to blade grind. To me, the overall picture of how the knife is made is more important to me. The sum of the overall package. I like SAk's and they have a flat grind. I like my Opinel, and that convex. For the past year and nine months my regular edc when I leave the house has been my Case peanut with Thomas damascus and that's a mild hollow grind. The Buck 102 woodsman I used from 1969 to 1998 was a hollow grind, and it worked well for many years of hunting and fishing. When it was worn down to w sharpened toothpick, my better half gifted me a new one. For me they all cut the same. I'veused them all for a very wide varriety of cutting jobs, and didn't se much difference.

My two most used knives are the peanut and Opinel. Love them both.

Carl.
 
Not really. I used that Buck woodsman for all kinds of stuff on camping trips. Whittling tent pegs for a tarp shelter, slicing up dinner, whatever came up. Karen had a Swedish Frosts mora, and I had my Buck. Both seemed to work well. I know a lot of people debate things like this back and forth, but I think in the real world, sharp is sharp, and the knife works or doesn't work. I think overall blade thickness and handle shape makes more difference than the type of grind. A nice sharp blade, 1/8 of an inch thickness or less, with a good handle, will cut through most stuff pretty good. If there's any difference, you'll probably need a torque wrench or scientific test to really see it. Me? I just push on the handle and it goes or it doesn't. I've found that if it's sharp, it usually goes.
Carl.
 
I much prefer a shallow convex grind over the others. Unlike JK I can tell a difference. It's very minor and for the most part JK is correct that they all work pretty darn good if properly matched to the knife. I hate a big fat thick grind on any pocket knife no matter what the grind. As I do prefer a convex grind,I'd take a thin hollow grind over a thick convex grind any day.
 
I carried a hollow-ground Spydeco Co-Pilot for a number of years, mainly as a knife for cutting climbing tape and cord, and opening packages. At a pinch it'd do a lot else besides, nice little knife, but I also carried other knives with flat-grinds at the same time, and especially if I was travelling or camping, and for food prep particularly, I'd choose them. I've got a lot of Scandi (sabre) ground knives, and they're knives I like, but even when that grind is well-done and subtle, I can chop veg a lot better with a sharp flat-ground knife. Sure, there are other important factors, but given a choice, with all the other things being the same, I'd choose flat or slightly convex ground blade for EDC over a hollow-ground blade. I love the look of the spectacularly extreme hollow-grinds of Jasper Voxnaes, for example (just as I love the look of my my Dovo straight razor), but that's just knife-candy :)
 
I would say most of my blades are on the convex side, even my peanut, meaning there is no shoulder or edge where the sharpened edge meets the main body of the blade it sort of has a nice gradual soft roll so materials wick away and nothing binds, makes for a durable hair popping edge that's is easy to maintain and doesn't chip or fold.
 
I prefer flat grind; however, on my Case 6265SAB, the main clip-point blade has a saber-grind. I'm not afraid of rolling the edge on it during hard use; the secondary blade has a flat grind, and I'm more careful with that one. It's an amazing slicer.

I have an old U.S. Schrade 25OT with a flat grind, and it beats everything else I have hands down.

~Chris
 
I posted in an earlier thread on this (which compared Opinels to sodbusters, specifically), but I've noticed a certain advantage to a hollow grind in cutting apples. In particular, the (thinly) hollow-ground blade on the Case Sod Buster Jr seems to do that task better than any other I've tried, including Opinels, which surprised me. For whatever reason, the Opinel's blade tends to bind up in an apple, but the thin hollow grind glides right on through. I've noticed a similar advantage with a little 'BUCKLITE' 424, which is very similar in blade thickness & grind (very thin at the edge) to the Jr Sod Buster. These thin hollow grinds have done equally well in slicing other fruits & veggies, though most of the rest of them don't seem to bind against a blade as much as the apples, which really seem to 'squeeze' a flat or convex-ground blade pretty hard.

I also like thin hollow grinds for cutting meat. Makes a perfect, effortlessly-slicing steak knife. :)

(Edited to add: )
As for my edge bevels specifically, almost all are at least gently convexed, regardless of the type of primary grind above them. This includes the edges on the sod buster and Bucklite folders previously mentioned.


David
 
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while I prefer flat grinds and am OK with convex, I am not a fan of hollow grinds in general -- but have never had one catastrophically fail on me. It's a personal prejudice and I know this.
that said, hollow grinds work fairly well for cutting soft materials, like in food prep or cutting meat, where the item being cut wants to stick to a flat blade but will not generate quite as much "suction" on a hollow edge. (similar logic behind grantons on a kitchen knife)
 
I was thinking that the OP was discussing the blade grind and not necessarily the edge. I prefer a full flat ground blade or a full hollow ground blade over sabre or convex grinds. Buck had some pretty strange looking grinds on the 500 series, at least the couple I've got. Hollow ground about 1/3 way up the blade. Don't know what good it does.

I generally sharpen to a "v" edge as best I can hand held. I have a couple knives with convex'd edges and they work well, but I'm not particularly comfortable with my ability to maintain a convex edge. Maybe I'm worried for nothing (a likely senario), but I continue to freehand a "v" edge on my users.

I'll quit rambling now.

Ed J
 
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