Scandi Bushfinger Andy's Grind

S

Storm crier

Joined
Apr 19, 2012
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THis is my first post to this Forum If my picture does not work I appologize. Any help would be appreciated.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of Andy's Scandi bushfingers. I had to give up two of my Blind horse scandi's to afford it but those can be had at any time from many locations. As for Andy's work, I have been following him for about 2 years and this was the first opurtunity I had to snag one. Andy as you all know is a great guy. Customer service is off the charts. I am waiting on a Ellsworth sheath for it now. Can't wait. I have been doing custom leather work for about 7 years now and have several unique designs, mostly concealed carry holsters. But that has never stoped me from buying other peoples leather. I appreciate the craftsmenship and labor that goes into the art.

To the title. Andy asked me to give my opinuon on his Scandi grind as it is my favorite and I have several hand made scandis to campare with.
First, I have seen both ends of the Scandi spectrum. from super thin, fine cutters to thicker more multi use grinds. To me the Scandi is the qunitisintal Bushcraft grind. It was invented for bushcraft and I have yet to find another grind that can beat it on it's home turf. This being said it is not a "Survival knife" grind. I would never use one of mine to open a can of beans or baton knotty wood. But for its intended job of aidding in preimative living skills, or Bushcrafting, it is right at home.

After some extensive use at home and on a weekend backpacking trip I have come to the conclusion that Andy knows what he is doing when it comes to Scandi grinds. My first Scandi was a BHK long tail. great little knife but the grind was so thin that it would chip easily in use. The second was my favoite, a BHK boat tail Scandi. it's grind was a bit thicker. It did not suffer from the chipping issue but did not take as keen an edge as a scandi usually can.
Andys Scandi grind lands right between these two. the grind is thin and I did experiance some inital micro chipping. This told me that the edge was properly hardend but I have to confess I was a little let down at first. I continued working with it as my experiance with some scandis was that with use the edge would ware down to a thicker more robust angle.
After the first sharpening, maybe 10 min worth, all the micro chipping was gone. It was after this that I took the bushfinger on a weekend BP trip. It saw use making fire, cutting 550 cord and some extensive carving to craft a ladel for my wife out of hard wood (not sure what kind but HARD). After all this I examined the edge very closely, looking for any chipping. NONE. whats more the little bugger was still popping hair off my leg using the entire length of the blade.

When I got home I desided to give it a proper sharpening to see just how sharp Andy's Sandi could get. Starting with 1000 grit and then going to 2000 and then to leather. I put a super flat edge on the blade that you could see yourself in. Spooky sharp but very, very thin. the edge chipped too easily. So I decided to allow the edge to convex just enough to gain the added strengh but not enough to take away from the "scandi experiance"

How I acomplished this was by placing the sand paper on top of a 1 inch thick foam pad and applied a little pressure during the sharpening proccess, same as above. It worked perfectly and what I was left with re-defined SHARP. This thing will shave you clean and you can't even feel the hair being cut. This thing is mystical Katana sharp and has just enough meat at the edge to prevent the chipping.

Over all Andy, Great job. Now that I have added the slight convexing, I would still consider it a Scandi grind, it is the best Scandi I have ever had If you wanted to improve the "out of the box performance" you might consider a little thicker grind, but if you did I would not have ended up with what I have now.

I am not even going to get into the fit and finish or handle ergos. Just one word, perfection!

I love it Andy Thanks again.
 
I'm glad you like it. I worked my new one down today. I do it on a leather backed belt. I keep the grind flat to the belt. I'm sure there is some minor convexing, but that is OK to me because its a lot easier than traditional scandiing on a stone. The knife slices off the tiniest curls of paper. I'm not as sold as you are on the grind. I was initially worried that folks wouldn't be able to sharpen it, or would damage the zero ground edge and complain, but I've never had that happen. In fact I've only had one edge complaint ever, and it was a guy batonning a skinner through knotty (pin knots) hardwood. I added the 'proper usage' clause to my warranty after that. I've grown to enjoy making Scandi's. I'm glad folks get a lot of use out of them.
 
Thanks again Andy
I am looking really hard at one of your smaller belt knives now. I feel the need to obtain one of your high sabor convex jobs.
Your convex knives are zero edged right?
I have never understood the secondary grind on a convex blade. To me that would be like putting a secondary grind on a scandi.
I don't know it all. FAR FROM IT!
perhaps you can edjumicate me????
 
In that regard, I have made some experience with scandi sharpening with sandpaper on thick leather. It really worked great, much better and easier than on a flat surface. I assume that the little give of the leather is just enough to "mold" to the grind. To maintain that edge, as long as there are no chippings of course, I just strop on the leather with compound. Works great.
 
awestib - What type of compond do you use and where do you get it? I hate taking a blade that just needs a little maintenance to the sandpaper. You are right about the leather.

I also used the one inch foam pad system on my BHK Machete last night and followed up with a loose belt stroping. The Machete has a very nice convex grind and the foam allowed the rounded curve of the grind to lay into it which made the sandpaper remove material across the entire grind. It did not change the angle of the grind. After only 10 or 15 min. I had yet another scay sharp tool.

The BHK Machete is one of my primary bush tools. I always carry a 36inch bow saw blade in my map tube, just in case. If I need a large saw I can simple cut a sapling and use it to complete the bow saw. However, I rarely every use it. It just weighs so little it does not make since to leave it behind. Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.
 
Storm crier said:
Thanks again Andy
I am looking really hard at one of your smaller belt knives now. I feel the need to obtain one of your high sabor convex jobs.
Your convex knives are zero edged right?
I have never understood the secondary grind on a convex blade. To me that would be like putting a secondary grind on a scandi.
I don't know it all. FAR FROM IT!
perhaps you can edjumicate me????
Click to expand...

I don't zero my convexes for sale or personal carry. They're stronger and easier to maintain with a secondary bevel. To me its not much like a secondary on a Scandi. A Scandi is a short blunt grind. It needs to be zero and kept at or near flat so that you don't have to re-surface the whole grind every few sharpenings. If you put on a secondary, it becomes even shorter and quickly much less efficient. Soon you're re-surfacing the whole thing. A BIG task. The convex is a wider thinner grind and does well with a secondary bevel. Secondary bevels are easy to maintain. Also, they keep the sandpaper off of the flats of the blade during sharpening so your blade doesn't look all scratched up. Our convexes approach flat. No appleseed grinding here. I love getting asked if the grind is a flat grind. That means I did it right. Its a knife. Not an axe.
 
I have taken the secondary bevel out of every convex of Andy's I have owned. It didn't take long and is always an option with his convex grinds. If you like a secondary bevel - it is there - if you don't - like me - you just take some time and get rid of it. I find it is part of making the knife 'mine'.

If he sent me a Scandi with a secondary bevel - I would drive to his house to slap the shit out of him. It would take me HOURS to reset the bevel - at that point - I might as well just grind the damned knife myself. It would be a deal breaker on that type of blade to me.

I too see it as different. I don't like secondary bevels on convex knives - but the grind is so small that I simply make it convex. Of course, I convex my SAK's..... so.....

TF
 
Ya,........that must hurt. I hope it has good edge retention so you don't have to do it often.
Is it more of a Bushcrafting sack or EDC sack?:o
 
DD,

EXACTLY. Convexing your sack leads to a more a more serviceable and durable device - while allowing for an ease of travel unsurpassed by other methods.

TF
 
Come on guys. This has gotten way off track. The original intent was of a scandi grind review and not about a convex sack. So lets get this back where it started. What about a scandi grind on a sack?
 
MajorD said:
Come on guys. This has gotten way off track. The original intent was of a scandi grind review and not about a convex sack. So lets get this back where it started. What about a scandi grind on a sack?
Click to expand...

HA!!! I wonder if Dan could come up with a jig for THAT? Dan???
 
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