Scandi vs hollow grind for small fixed blade dedicated to fine tasks

DocJD said:
Wasn't the Scandi originally done mostly as a cheap, easy/ fast grind ?
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Depends on your definition of scandi I guess.....
But yeah, the current version that has been promoted by the Ray Mears school of bushcrafting was a cheap way of doing things. It was once described on a UK based site as "a simple blade that could be easily made by any bloke with a belt grinder in his garden shed".
 
Between the two, I’d choose the 117.

I don’t process much wood, so scandi grinds are not my favorite.
 
Rather than be torn between what one says or another says I would suggest getting a cheap Mora Scandi, and a cheap hollow/flat grind. And try them out on what you will use them for - tomatoes to feather sticks. Then go shopping for a hundred dollar plus knife. You can use the two cheap ones in the kitchen or your garage or workshop, keep them in the car whatever, til they're ready for the trash can.
 
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RPZIP said:
Rather than be torn between what one says or another says I would suggest getting a cheap Mora Scandi, and a cheap hollow/flat grind. And try them out on what you will use them for - tomatoes to feather sticks. Then go shopping for a hundred dollar plus knife. You can use the two cheap ones in the kitchen or your garage or workshop, keep them in the car whatever, til they're ready for the trash can.
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This 👆is the way
 
y53p said:
I’m looking to get a small companion fixed blade for my main large blade, in the 3.5 to 4.5” blade length range for all tasks from making good feathersticks efficiently, food prep, hunting (gutting&skinning) and gutting fish.

I’ve narrowed it down to either the Buck 117 Brahma Pro, in cpm-s35vn steel and green micarta, basically a scaled down 119 with 4.5” blade hidden tang, or a Boker with magnacut, scandi grind and magnacut steel 3.5” blade, mucarta and full tang. Boker’s about 50 bucks cheaper and better steel but maybe less versatile for stuff that goes beyond just making feathersticks but is more sturdily built than the 117, which looks better and is probably more versatile in a wider array of cutting tasks but probably not as good at feathersticking?

What do you y’all think?
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I have an old Buck 119 (from 1997!!!) and it is an excellent feather sticker! usually those knifes with a hollow grind are more aimed for hunting / cutting meat / stabbing into meat, and therefore the edge angle of the bevel is more acute - if not, the hollow grind makes it pretty easy to put a more acute edge on, you don't have to grind the blade back to do this. If you also want to baton with this knife, I would be careful with the S35VN - yes, it holds the edge better than the 420 HC, but the cheap and old 420 HC with the correct HT (and Buck knows HT!) is actually a very tough steel, much tougher than the S35VN. The 117 with the micarta looks of course fancier, but if it is used as an allrounder I prefer the good old 420HC version with the phenolic handle - it is easy to sharpen, and it is also a lot cheaper.
Wrt scandi: a real scandi grind is nothing else than an extended edge bevel, so it all depends on the actual edge angle and the blade thickness - for a good slicer the blade has to be thin and the edge / scandi angle acute - both attributes will make the knife less tough. The Boker Vigtig vs Wild (is this the one you are looking at?) is a nice little knife - wrt edge retention the Magnacut is similar to the S35VN, but it outperforms the S35VN wrt toughness (420HC is still tougher than Magnacut!). If you want to use it for food prep: I guess the 117 would have the edge - the longer edge 😀 - here.... 4.5" vs 3.5", that's quite a difference....and the Vigtig is quite thick - 4mm is quite a lot for such a little knife, I guess (I don't have one so can only assume) it is a very tough little knife, but not the best slicer, and wouldn't be my first choice for hunting or fishing tasks (it depends obviously also on the size of the fish you intend to catch 😃)...
 
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furthermore: something between the 4.5" Buck blade and 3.5" Boker blade: how about the Reiff F4 in 3V (when they are available again)? ...still small but fit for really tough tasks too (but would cost also a little bit more).
 
If you are wondering about the utility of a Scandi blade, Wally World carries the Mora basic in carbon steel. Here in kommiefornia it is $15, but in other parts of the country it might be less. If it works well for you then you can look for a fancy Scandi.
 
lambertiana said:
If you are wondering about the utility of a Scandi blade, Wally World carries the Mora basic in carbon steel. Here in kommiefornia it is $15, but in other parts of the country it might be less. If it works well for you then you can look for a fancy Scandi.
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Utility of a scandi is greatly affected by it's thickness, more so than with other grinds. The Boker knife he wanted to buy is at least twice as thick as Mora Basic.
My reccomendation to him would be Mora Robust - but it has no stainless version.
But if he needs a knife just knife jobs then - Mora Basic will be enough.
 
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Helle Mândra. Scandi, but so thin that you can cut the occational tomato, sausage etc. stainless layered steel. Lightweight, leather sheath
 
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