Is There a "Correct" Bevel Angle on A Scandinavian?

[redsquid2]

Somehow after googling around, a few years ago, I decided 20 deg. inclusive was a "standard" angle for a scandi bevel.

Now I'm finding out (finally noticing) different scandis ground at different angles, so I am just asking out of curiosity. Any advantages of steeper v. shallower scandi bevels or vice versa?

I should mention I have had a few different scandis, but I always ended up micro-beveling. Micro-beveling makes my life easier, but I guess there are reasons not to.

 

[chiral.grolim]

Mora grinds their regular knives to 20-23 inclusive, their thicker blades are 27-inclusive. http://www.moraofsweden.se/knife-care
It should be noted that most Moras and many other production and custom scandi-blades come with a micro-bevel ~30 inclusive.

For cutting/slicing soft non-abrasive materials, an apex angle 15-20 inclusive can work, but it is VERY fragile against lateral stress. If taken to whittle/carve, the last few microns can readily fold or crack away to leave a thicker apex than if the user had started with a slightly thicker microbevel to stabilize the edge.

Hand-carving wood-chisels and chainsaws and chippers are all ground 30-40 inclusive. Most of our hunting and skinning and chopping and combat knives can hold up with the same 30-40 inclusive edge-bevel. 30-40 inclusive is the "standard" for all manner of uses, one simply uses a thicker or thinner blade to support the edge for the task desired. Behind that 30-40 inclusive edge, your blade could be a thin 5-dps and work very well, depending on the thickness and intended use. The 30-40 inclusive edge might be a mere 0.010" wide or even less.

 

[RX-79G]

Mora advertises 23° on most of their knives, but sets the thicker 1/8" blades at 27°. I measured the bevel lengths and blade thicknesses of a variety of old Frosts and other actual Scandinavian blades I have and calculated their angles - anywhere from 19° to 26° in my samples.

Given that these are traditional knives, I doubt anyone was even aware of what angle the edges were until recently. Different smiths and companies chose a stock thickness and grind height that worked, and whatever that angle was, there it was.

I would not be surprised to find that thicker blades tend to be less acute, but I do not have a sample size large enough to draw that sort of conclusion. It would only make sense if the makers believed that thin, light blades were going to be treated more lightly by users. They may not believe that at all, and Mora may have only went to 27° because of all the Bushcraft extremism in the US market.


I just bought a bunch of Lauri blades, and many of them have microbevels. But one does not.


So, no rules.

 

[mete]

Depends a lot on the steel.S30V needs a thicker edge than S35VN, etc. You might sharpen for a specific purpose also such as hardwood vs softwood.

 

[RX-79G]

Depends a lot on the steel.S30V needs a thicker edge than S35VN, etc. You might sharpen for a specific purpose also such as hardwood vs softwood.

That's a great point, as most Scandinavian knives use what I would think of as finer grained, more edge stable carbon and stainless steels.