Mora Grind

Merost · Sep 25, 2009

I generally sharpen all my knives with my trusty Spyderco Sharpmaker. Recently I picked up a few Moras, which obviously have a scandi grind. So does a scandi grind have a microbevel or should it be sharpened using the visible bevel? What is the angle of the bevel on a Mora?

PayetteRucker · Sep 25, 2009

Best way to sharpen a scandi grind is by hand... with a arkansas hardstone.

dantzk8 · Sep 25, 2009

I sharpen them the bevel flat on the stone. Theoretically they don't have microbevel but if the edge rolls (it may happen on hard wood for instance) i put a secondary bevel.
If i well remember the angle is 10 per side.

dantzk.

stingray4540 · Sep 25, 2009

Sharpen the visible bevel. If you really want to, you can add a microbevel but then it really isn't a scandi grind anymore.

And yes, the best way to sharpen is my hand, but if you want to know I concure with dantzk8, it is 10 per side, but they are not always perfectly even.

P.S. I recommend doing a real good sharpening before you even use it, many times the steel at the edge had had it's temper compromised by the sharpening process and will tend to chip and roll until you give it a good sharpening to get it back to the good steel.

nmb · Sep 25, 2009

I sharpen my Mora on my sharpmaker, flat to the bevels. The angle must be a little under 15 degrees per side, because on the 30 degree setting of the sharpmaker, I have to give a little twist to get the bevel flat on the stone. I find there is really good tactile feedback when the bevel hits the stone and I don't find the scandi grind any harder to sharpen than a standard grind on the Sharpmaker.

matthewdanger · Sep 25, 2009

I have found that many Moras come from the factory with a micro bevel to varying degrees.

That can be made into a true scandi grind fairly easily on a flat stone or by just using Sharpmaker in the benchstone mode (with the stones laying flat on the bottom of the case).

Diomedes Industries · Sep 25, 2009

Flat table, small peice of glass taped to the table. Use Wet Dry Sand paper of whatever grit you deem you need (for initial bevel - I will use 400 - 600 and them move up to 2000).

When you have a very sharp edge - strop on firm leather charged with black, then green compound.

You can shave easily with that edge when done.

TF

baldtaco-II · Sep 25, 2009

There's not much point in calling it a Scandi if you're going to have a micro bevel. It would be more accurate to call that just another saber grind. That said, there's the word of difference between gentle Scandi woodcarving in softwood-land and what a utility knife does. On that, it may well pay to add a micro bevel if you have doubts about what the blade can take for the kind of use you have in mind. Seems a popular way of increasing their usefulness, although I'm sure some do it because they are just idle.

Talfuchre put up some great pics of one he did properly not so long ago. If I were a Scandi type person his was the kinda route I would take. I'd have been happy with the results he got

kvaughn · Sep 25, 2009

I put a micro convex on my B.G.Andrews o-1 bushcrafter after micro-chipping the straight,very sharp scandi while making some snare trigger notches in hard dry wood. Hasnt happened since.--KV

Diomedes Industries · Sep 25, 2009

In my opinion - we are talking about Mora's here. Use them like you stole them. sharpen them to a 0 degree (like the Scandanvians have been doing for hundreds of years) - and use them.

It seems to have worked for a few million people who know a lot more about woodscraft than I do for a few hundred years more than I have been alive.

If they chip - use your wet dry and take the chip out. Don't over think it.

TF

ChapmanPreferred · Sep 25, 2009

There are two positions on the Sharpmaker that allow you to sharpen Scandi grinds as though you were on a bench stone. First is one of the positions where you store the stones. I put a set (either white or gray/brown) in the position that you squish the brass rods into before putting the stones on top. This leaves a gap between the stones, but is above the face of the base where you insert the stones for "v" angle sharpening. It is where Sal demonstrats sharpening the pinking shears in the video I believe. Second position is for if I am just working on the tip (i.e. I dinged a portion of the tip) then I use the bottom side of the Sharpmaker case that usually is against the table. I put the cover on it, turn it face down to show the two closely positioned "v" slots. Put the rods in there and you have a little wider surface to work with on the belly. All of my Scandi grind sharpening is flat to the primary bevel with no secondary or micro bevel.

Happy sharpening.

Doug

Ankar Sheng · Sep 25, 2009

I've been putting a micro bevel on one side of my scandis. You can still lay them practically flat when youre carving wood (which in my opinion is the big advantage of scandis, good mechanical advantage on push cuts), but with a more durable edge that's easier to keep extremely sharp.

shangchi108 · Oct 8, 2009

ChapmanPreferred said:
There are two positions on the Sharpmaker that allow you to sharpen Scandi grinds as though you were on a bench stone. First is one of the positions where you store the stones. I put a set (either white or gray/brown) in the position that you squish the brass rods into before putting the stones on top. This leaves a gap between the stones, but is above the face of the base where you insert the stones for "v" angle sharpening. It is where Sal demonstrats sharpening the pinking shears in the video I believe. Second position is for if I am just working on the tip (i.e. I dinged a portion of the tip) then I use the bottom side of the Sharpmaker case that usually is against the table. I put the cover on it, turn it face down to show the two closely positioned "v" slots. Put the rods in there and you have a little wider surface to work with on the belly. All of my Scandi grind sharpening is flat to the primary bevel with no secondary or micro bevel.

Happy sharpening.

Doug

Yea, what he said.

kgd · Oct 8, 2009

Yeah micro-bevel here. I'm starting to think the whole - pure grind - business is merely an intellectual debate. Sharpen your knife how you see fit and in the way it works for you. There really isn't much advantage one way or another. Micro-bevel or not, true scandi, convex or hybrid between them. As much as you can rationalize performance of one or the other, you can rationalize advantages of the others.

chopchop · Oct 8, 2009

If you sharpen by hand without a guide, there is no way you're getting a "true" zero edge. Especially if you strop to remove the burr... you will always have a little convex micro-bevel at the edge. It's really all semantics though.

If it's sharp enough to cut what you want to cut in the way that you want to cut it... it's all good!

I've sharpened mine by hand with a dmt diafold, an Arkansas stone, a Falkniven diamond card, and wet dry sand paper. They all work well enough to give me an edge that can carve the way I want.

I say just match the bevel and try it! The most you're out is $15!

desmobob · Oct 8, 2009

Merost said:
I generally sharpen all my knives with my trusty Spyderco Sharpmaker. Recently I picked up a few Moras, which obviously have a scandi grind. So does a scandi grind have a microbevel or should it be sharpened using the visible bevel? What is the angle of the bevel on a Mora?

If you have more than one, put a microbevel on one and keep another with the traditional scandi grind. Compare them in your uses and decide which works best for you!

(I bought my Moras and other scandi grind knives because they were scandi grind knives. I keep them that way. I often convex my other flat-ground knives.)

Stay sharp,
desmobob

longbow50 · Oct 8, 2009

Every one of my Mora knives came with a micro bevel and since I don't use them to carve, I touch them up with 2000grit paper and redo the micro bevel.

TheGame · Oct 8, 2009

I don't care if there is a microbevel, however I sharpen the visible edge, so there shouldn't be one. If there is one, though, it wouldn't bother me. As long as it still functions to cut, that is all I need.

me2 · Oct 8, 2009

The only "scandi" ground knife I have is one I made, and I use a microbevel. I put scandi in quotes because its a 10 degree/side convex scandi, with a 20 degree Sharpmaker microbevel, stropped on a 0.3 micron abrasive honing film from the local woodworking shop. When the microbevel gets too big, I have to go back to the belt sander to redo the larger bevels. The blade is very hard M2 high speed steel, so I dont have the patience to redo that with a stone on the whole bevel. The Moras should be considerably softer, so the whole edge could be sharpened much faster, though I'd still probably give the microbevel a try at either 15 or 20 degrees per side. If it were me, I'd use a coarse then medium stone (220/1000 waterstone in my case) on the original bevels, then microbevel with 10 strokes per side on the Sharpmaker at medium and fine on the flat sides only. You could probably touch up the edge 3 to 4 times before having to go back to the coarse/medium to reset the original bevels. Its really about (for me) what is fastest. For my knife, a couple of months of use followed by a rebeveling on the belt sander after the microbevels stop working is faster than redoing the bevels every time I need to sharpen. If I didnt have a belt sander, I'd probably think very differently about it though.

ms3902 · Oct 8, 2009

Talfuchre said:
In my opinion - we are talking about Mora's here. Use them like you stole them. sharpen them to a 0 degree (like the Scandanvians have been doing for hundreds of years) - and use them.

It seems to have worked for a few million people who know a lot more about woodscraft than I do for a few hundred years more than I have been alive.

If they chip - use your wet dry and take the chip out. Don't over think it.

TF

I have to agree with this!

Since most mora can be had for less that $20 bucks why not make sharpening them as easy a possible. Unless you plan on batoning a burl of Osage Orange you will be more than pleased with the edge that they are able to take. I know that I love mine and I beat the *#it out of them!