Scandi grinds on nessmuk?

[FortyTwoBlades]

I'm not convinced that what you describe is true for this type of knife (or maybe I'm misunderstanding you). Without changing the geometry, I can only see cutting power increasing with added width under two conditions: (1) if you are chopping with the blade or (2) if the blade is bending when you are trying to apply force with the edge. The nessmuk wasn't designed for chopping, so I don't see the first being an issue. Nessmuks have a narrow 'neck,' so adding width toward the tip wouldn't increase strength, anyway, so the second condition doesn't seem likely, either.

- Chris

Never said it increases the strength--rather that it makes the mass of the blade more efficient. The degree to which increased width increases cutting power is most noticeable on large chopping blades, but that's because the effect is so massively magnified due to factors of scale. If you were, for instance, to take a boning knife and a butchers' knife of equal length, grind (lets say a short hollow saber grind so we keep things as similar as possible), and thickness, and try cutting a melon with the very tip of it, you'll find you probably have an easier time with the butchers knife.

There are some additional factors at play having to do with leverage and the point of balance as well. Applying downward pressure at or behind the fulcrum caused by the point of balance will be the easiest. Of course, once you make contact with the cutting medium you establish a new fulcrum with the point of balance now acting as a marker of the shift of the scale, so to speak. Initiating the cut right at that point, stacking the fulcrums, is going to be the easiest to deal with.

Note that the point of balance is not the sweet spot. The sweet spot is the center of percussion, and the place where chopping will be most efficient. The forces at play during chopping are different than those during slicing.

Who knows--I may be way off the mark here--but that's my experience.

 

[hollowdweller]

Great discussion.

The drawing looks like it's scandi but have to think the original was probably convex or flat ground.

I don't see anything wrong with a scandi on a nessmuk but I do see something wrong with a thicker blade on a Nessmuk since the nessmuk is a great slicer thin.

Spooky Pistolero gave me this Mora 2000, it's stainless, scandi, and thin and it slices better than a lot of the thicker Bark River Convex blades I own, and way better than like my Busse .220 Game Warden. Theres's a lot of factors in the ability to slice besides the grind really.

But I think Fiddleback makes a nice Nessmuk due to his use of thin steel.

 

[baldtaco-II]

I accord with the general theme that once the stock gets very thin the impact of the grind is less pronounced. I've got a very thin [1mm] paring knife somewhere with a very short hollow sabre grind. On a thicker knife a grind like that would be rubbish for cutting through stuff but as it is it cuts indistinguishably from full flat............A factor we haven't really touched on yet is the blade profile. The belly of the Nessy and the angle of the handle scream out stripe-cuts made on the pull, for which we all seem to agree that unless the stock is extremely thin is the province of the full height grind. In contrast, twig whittlers tend to be straight and cut across the blade to make shallow cuts where the flow of the material being cut across the whole width of the blade is less relevant.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Interesting topic for me as I started glue up on a 1/8" Scandi Nessmuk last night (that was supposed tone entered in the WSS bushcraft challenge before I had so stop my hobby). Why 1/8" Scandi in this case? Besides the fact that it was the only piece of steel I had, I wasn't comfortable with full flat grinds prior to sending it in for ht, and I wanted to test light chopping abilities and the Scandi grind left more mass in the blade for chopping. I do not expect it to be as keen of a slicer as my Fiddleback Nessmuk, but it has a different handle shape in order to facilitate a more complete package as a single use slicer/chopper with a slipjoint style backup for those times I want to travel a bit lighter.

That being said I prefer my knives in 3/32", and a flat grind. I am using my design to play with and learn, not as any kind of commercial offering. If I get it done to any satisfaction I will be sure to post it.

 

[Balboa256]

Nordic peoples have been using Scandi grinds for centuries on wood and game alike. You will notice their scandi's are no more than 1/8 inch thick. Many Americans were not exposed to scandi knives years ago. Americans have just begun to embrace them. A Nessie with a scandi grind on a thick blade is analogous to a hollow handle knife with a compass on the pommel and a saw on the spine. Its screams sales gimmick to me. Im sure a lot of people like them but its probably more notably for aesthetic reasons only.

 

[milani74]

Scandi grinds have another advantage- they are dead easy to sharpen with stones. I recently picked up some waterstones to play around with and found that that my scandi grind knives are a tad bit sharper due to the advantage of an easy angle to maintain when pulling the knife back. When I sharpen FFG and convex knives, I always mess up the angle ever so slightly when going through the different grits. I don't believe that that any one truly avoids those angle mistakes when they free hand, they just minimize them but the fact remains that the scandi grinds are just so simple to sharpen on stones.

 

[neeman]

Hi Everyone,

I've been really interested in the nessmuk style blade lately (I'm a knifemaker, FWI, so I've been reading everything I can find on them and looking at as many examples as I can find. I've seen a number of nessmuks with scandi grinds and I'm a little confused about it. To my understanding, Nessmuk used his folder and hatchet for processing wood, and his knife for processing game, whereas a scandi grind is optimized for processing wood. So it seems to be a bit of an odd juxtaposition to put a grind that's most useful for wood on a blade profile that was never intended for wood. What do you gain from having a scandi grind on a nessmuk profile? I'd really appreciate some insight on this.
Thanks,
Chris

Chris,

Without getting stuck in a historical repoduction of what was used many years ago, where the Nessmuck is simply a modified old Lamb Skinner

The Scandinavians have have been skinning their game with a scandi grinds for quite a long time
Why is a scandi grind not good for hunting?

 

[STR]

Hi Everyone,

I've been really interested in the nessmuk style blade lately (I'm a knifemaker, FWI, so I've been reading everything I can find on them and looking at as many examples as I can find. I've seen a number of nessmuks with scandi grinds and I'm a little confused about it. To my understanding, Nessmuk used his folder and hatchet for processing wood, and his knife for processing game, whereas a scandi grind is optimized for processing wood. So it seems to be a bit of an odd juxtaposition to put a grind that's most useful for wood on a blade profile that was never intended for wood. What do you gain from having a scandi grind on a nessmuk profile? I'd really appreciate some insight on this.
Thanks,
Chris

In the field a scandi grind also processes game quite well and is an excellent slicer for flesh and a great shape for chopping the blade through bone where needed to finish skinning small game and the like. They also whack off chicken heads right quick with a little thin Nessmuk blade. I have a thin one myself and for blade no thicker really than a lot of slip joints it outperforms a lot of knives in the field and makes slicing up things like tent stakes and that kind of thing a lot easier than other grinds. I like a small scandi in the kitchen for chopping and a small Nessmuk shape is perfect for that kind of dicing up of roots and tubors to go with a meal