Scandi , I guess I just don't get it .

KenOnion

KenOnion

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Apr 21, 1999
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I have been reading about these Scandi grinds and such for years and I realize there area a bunch of you all that like them . I'm not trying to bash them , I just want to understand the reasoning behind them. I understand the purpose of a zero grind . But most of the scandi ground blades I see have this very short V grind that to me anyway looks like the drag coefficient would be huge . Great for prying , easy to sharpen I guess if you wanted to use the shallow grind as a guide but I can't see how they would be effective cutting instruments other than for shaving hair or shallow cutting chores. So I guess I just don't get it . Would someone enlighten me ?
I have reviewed some of the old threads and ok so you can get them sharp but but so can a properly flat ground blade.
 
you're talking about a blade that's basically flat on both sides but with a very prominent bevel grind near the edge that can easily be sharpened just by laying that bevel surface flat on the stone, right?

if so, manufacturing ease is one reason. just take a flat bar. anneal, cut to the right profile, grind the bevel surfaces (hand or programmed machine) and then heat treat. beveling a flat bar to a full-height v removes 50% of the stock so the proccess is more expensive and time consuming. and then, there's the added chore of adding a miniscule roll or secondary bevel when sharpening.

as to effectiveness in cutting, i can't really answer. depends on a lot of things.
 
Ken, I've been perplexed by Scandi ground knives too. Hopefully I learn something new from this thread. Sorry I don't have any insight, though.
 
I always saw it as a grind easy to maintain out in the bush if you bring a stone in your pack, simply because of ease of sharpening.
 
re: drag. i notice that many people talk about it but in narrow terms, mainly the ABS test of cutting a piece of dangling rope in a wide chopping motion. i hardly notice any difference in resistance between a flat v, a hollow grind, and a scandi. IMHO, all that's needed for rope cutting are a no-resistance edge sharpness, sufficient blade length, and bearing/shearing angle upon contact.

i notice drag when chopping meat. it's the hollow grind that seems to give one a lot of drag. v blades and convexes easily "swim" through meat. i can imagine scandi grinds to give one even worse drag but all scandi blades i've used were short, finishing-type knives.
 
The FFG will cut with less drag but at least for me the acute saber grind (20 degrees inclusive) of the inexpensive Moras were a lot easier (technique wise) to sharpen. The thin Mora blades do not loose much in cutting ability to the FFG. Especially for some one that only uses a knife a couple of minutes a day. The scandi is a little bit stronger behind the edge if you abuse your knife, other things being equal. But, having developed the skill to sharpen blades beyond the scandi, my kitchen knives are thin FFG or full convex. Most of my woods knves are thin scandi with a microbevel.
 
They work great on wood, actually they excel at cutting wood for all sorts of bushcraft needs. The problem i see most often though is that very few have a high enough hardness to support this bevel configuration without the addition of a microbevel.

They can be used for other cutting tasks because it is sharp steel but cutting wood will be the main application. The grind allows better control and the ability to make deep cuts for notching/trap making.
 
I have always been pretty handy at working a stone in the field . don't see the advantage of scandi there. I realize I am coming late to the scandi party . Thats mostly because I have not been even slightly interested in them however they seem to have gotten a bunch of momentum in the last few years . Just wondering what I'm missing .

Hank , Yup those are the ones I'm talking about.
 
Scandi should be a full zero grind. Some makers don't go all the way, or put some sort of microbevel. I EDC a scandi from JK, and it came with a bevel. I ground it away by painstakingly removing all excess material across the entire bevel.

Scandi is excellent for woodworking, and it also leaves a significant amount of material behind the edge so you can get a strong edge with a thin blade. In addition, scandi grinds are usually quite an acute angle maybe 10-15degrees per side.

the downside is sharpening. In order to properly sharpen a scandi blade, one must remove material from the full bevel. Thus it requires not only much patience, but also the ability to hold an angle throughout the process.

I suggest you buy a mora for ten bucks and see if you like it. I would love to see an onion scandi blade!

I am sure a designer of your prowess can understand the benefits and shortcomings of any grind.
 
I've been wondering the same thing re: drag. As others have mentioned, for cutting tasks where the blade doesn't have to go very far through the media (e.g., rope) it won't matter much. But for other tasks such as cutting cardboard -- probably the media I cut more of than anything else -- the drag seems like it'd be huge compared to an otherwise similar blade with a full flat grind or high flat or hollow grind.
 
From my point of view, the only benefit of a scandi would be the ease of sharpening. It is easy to match the bevel, and easy to put a microbevel on the knife. I have heard somewhere that scandi grinds are good for woodworking though.

I generally don't like scandi grinds, however because the blade gets thick rather quickly, and it just doesn't "go through" what i am cutting very well.
So in the tasks that I use a knife for, i don't see any benefits of having a scandi grind
 
hank_rearden said:
you're talking about a blade that's basically flat on both sides but with a very prominent bevel grind near the edge that can easily be sharpened just by laying that bevel surface flat on the stone, right?
Click to expand...
What what huh? That all sounds very confusing, particularly the part you wrote about a grind near the edge. That makes it sound like two different grinds, one that's flat that goes almost to the edge, and then the grind that continues from there onwards forming the actual edge. A scandi grind that Ken is talking about doesn't have a secondary bevel. It is one giant bevel from the cutting edge extending backwards. It forms a V, which is why Ken mentioned it being just a V grind. Hartsfield made these famous in a lot of his knives.
 
Bolt action, I certainly understand how they would work well for scraping and carving wood with shallow cuts . and I get the toughness thing too . Just seems way to limiting in other areas. I'm gonna buy one and put it through the paces here in the shop . I want to give it a fair chance. I already grind most of my knives quite thin and slightly convex to almost zero . My favorite for a field knife is a full flat grind with a convex edge (Moran ).
 
Scandi grinds give superior control when whittling wood. The large bevel can lay on the workpiece and act as a fulcrum. Slight variations in the angle of attack will make the cut deeper or shallower. It is similar to the dynamics of taking a chisel to wood with the bevel down on the work.
 
I would recommend the laminated mora or the tri-flex model.
 
Ken,

A scandi grind knife is a wood carving tool, nothing else. For the same reason it's easy to sharpen it's easy to work wood with. See it as a planner, the bevel is the guide. A scandi grind is a saber grind with, theoretically, a zero grind; in fact you generally have to set a microbevel for edge stability. As a saber grind is the best geometry to keep stiff a thin stock you get an efficient tool for working wood.

dantzk.
 
KenOnion said:
I have been reading about these Scandi grinds and such for years and I realize there area a bunch of you all that like them . I'm not trying to bash them , I just want to understand the reasoning behind them. I understand the purpose of a zero grind . But most of the scandi ground blades I see have this very short V grind that to me anyway looks like the drag coefficient would be huge . Great for prying , easy to sharpen I guess if you wanted to use the shallow grind as a guide but I can't see how they would be effective cutting instruments other than for shaving hair or shallow cutting chores. So I guess I just don't get it . Would someone enlighten me ?
I have reviewed some of the old threads and ok so you can get them sharp but but so can a properly flat ground blade.
Click to expand...

the next time I fillet a bunch of chicken breasts into thin cutlets (most likely thursday), i'll use my mora companion and see if i notice any extra drag.
 
Scandi grinds gained popularity on the Bushcraft UK forums that started touting it as the "be all end all" bushcrafting knife for sharpening ease and good woodworking capabilities.

It's also a very unstable edge, and almost all "scandi" grinds these days will come with a microbevel. Every Mora I've owned or seen in the last 5+ years had one.
 
Yes, once you get to at least 60 the edge stability becomes great enough in most steels to not need a micro.
 
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