Grohman Canadian belt knife in stainless

[cut it out]

Also it is uneven. It kept coming out of the clamp for some reason and I didn’t notice it at first. It’s apex is equal and slices paper like a razor so just gonna run with it and just see how it holds up at camp.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have 120/240 for my lowest stones. But I used a extra coarse diamond to take it down to 20 degrees. Kinda wish I kept the factory angle now. As soft as it is I can see why they have it that steep. Oh well. Live and learn I guess. Nothing else will make a great kitchen knife now. Lol

Might seem counterintuitive with 'soft' stainless knives, but I've come to firmly believe they don't do much better with a wider-than-usual edge angle, in trying to compensate for the perceived softness of the steel. When push has come to shove, I've always taken them at least a bit thinner to improve the way they cut from the outset. 'Soft' steel (ductile steel that's more likely to deform instead of chip or fracture) will still deform easily, either way. If it's edge is thin, it rolls more easily; if it's still fairly thick, it'll 'deform' by denting or flattening of the apex.

The advantage to thinner geometry is, it'll at least cut much more easily for a while. By contrast, an edge that's deliberately made wider in angle will never cut as well from the start, and will only get worse in cutting performance as the edge wears.

Even with my cheapest-of-the-cheap kitchen knives in soft stainless, I've always eventually thinned them out, sometimes extensively, to improve how they work. I've always found it surprising that doing this has made them better overall, even if it means they'll want for more frequent touching up (and it's easier to do this with a thinly ground edge).

Looking at Grohmann's own description of their blade materials (see link & quote below), they say their 4110 stainless is hardened in the HRC 56-58 range. This is essentially the same ballpark as other makers use with similar steels, like Case's 420HC (55-57 HRC) or Victorinox's stainless steel (also around 56HRC). With these knives as my basis for comparison, I've found all of them to work well at 30° inclusive or sometimes a bit lower, down to 25° inclusive or so. With a hunting knife, maybe microbevelling could be useful also, for some harder work. But essentially, such steels seem to do pretty well in most tasks at 30° inclusive (15° per side) for starters.

( Quote below is linked from their site here -->: http://www.grohmannknives.com/index.php/about/materials-we-use )

"...Grohmann's most popular stainless steel in the outdoor fixed blade knives are fashioned from German high carbon stainless, such as 4110, which is somewhat comparable to the USA 440 series. We maintain a 56-58 degree rockwell hardness on all outdoor knives."

 

[WolfyW]

I wouldn't call that soft. Too hard and there is issues. It's stainless. So you have to treat it as such. I doubt you'll have issues at camp. There are people able to get through 2 moose before resharpening.

 

[cut it out]

Yeah I just hope the thinner than factory edge isn’t a mistake. I should’ve figured there was a reason they had it so steep to begin with. I’ll have other knives too so not worried. I always carry 2 when hunting and will have more at the cabin if needed. I take a lot but carry 2 at a time while out afield.

 

[Will Power]

I've their smaller Bird&Trout knife but it's flat ground which I much prefer. Obviously, it doesn't face demanding tasks like butchering large game but I've not had problems with sharpening or retention. Stropping works well and these 'odd' knives are wonderful in the hand

 

[WolfyW]

I bet the flat ground trout/bird would be fine. Here's a vid of a coupla crazy Canucks who use almost nothing but the trout/bird version. Chris prefers the flat grind. Skip to the 7 min Mark if you want to get right to the knife at work.