Scandi vs other grinds

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DangerZone98

Joined
Dec 7, 2019
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Hello everyone. What are your opinions on the scandi grind? Have you ever taken your full flat or maybe convex knife to the woods and thought that a scandi would have performed noticeably better? From what I read, scandi has the advantage in carving and whittling wood (correct me if I’m wrong), but I don’t think it’s super essential outside of woods use.

That said, I love all my Mora knives. All cut cleanly without any issues. I just prefer full flat and hollow grinds a tad more subjectively.
 
I have a bunch of scandi grind knives that are good for wood carving, because the bevel acts like a guide.
You don't have to have a scandi for the woods, though. I think it's more important to really work with a knife and learn if it suits your needs.
It's more the user, than the knife.

I also think the handle is more important than the grind if you are going to do serious work. Comfort and control > grind.
 
I find thicker blades that have a scandi grind are really good for hogging off a lot of wood.

But a thinner blade offers more control and options in cutting thinner slices, and also works for a wider range of tasks.

A standard Mora has relatively thin blade stock, so they sort of bridge that gap.

Thicker knives in a steep scandi egde are kind of two trick ponies. They baton pretty well, and they cut deep shavings in wood.

They are not so great at food or meat, fine whittling, etc.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and not the end all.
 
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Scandi is great for wood craft.
Flat is great for versatility.
Saber is good for strength.

Convex covers everything above ( with a little practice ).

Steel choice, stock thickness, handle shape are equally important IMO.

Scandinavian grinds are very fun to use on wood.. in my experience Scandi is not so great for general cutting of things.

*Also - I’m not an expert on anything. I use all sorts of knives. I would never carry a Scandi as my primary tool as I live in the city. If I was going camping, I’d absolutely bring a small Scandi and bigger convex.
 
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My only scandi ground knife is a Morakniv 120, that I bought as a blade blank and put a handle on it. I keep reading what great whittling knives these Moras are. I don't agree. At least not for the way I whittle. It's okay, but a long ways from great. I think the scandi grind gets thick to quickly behind the edge.

My knife
AMWts8Bl1iS3XyrCqTka7tOj5x0g57f8SHWl1rfa_4sCH3wB-IMj2DHYcUrkrdQN5-GszkF5qj4Jqf5W9muWOx8lto_o9J8wZRnPlq3WAkR2jQl0YQKvbN8ObdASwbB4raWIlAQ8waJnpq9WVJIYEEhFQbtT=w312-h890-no


O.B.
 
I have a really hard time envisioning a scandi grind carving wood so much better (or ANY better, really) than any other grind. And I'm not a complete stranger to wood carving or whittling.

I'm personally not convinced that the scandi's wood carving "prowess" was not a clever marketing ploy by some in the knife making community to justify or mask other shortcomings. Then the next logical leap was to slap the marketing ploy onto "bushcraft" knives and off it took.

I believe that theory has been largely parroted by many and so the lore of the scandi grind lives on.

I'd really love to be proven wrong. Does anyone have a GOOD explanation or better yet, video showing a scandi grind outperforming another grind at carving?
 
I think the advantage of scandi, aside from being a wedge for batoning, is that the abrupt transition from bevel to shoulder is supposed to limit bite depth and prevent material from being cut off during feather sticking. I'm no bushcrafter though.
 
Traditional puukkos were used for all kinds of cutting chores, from processing fish and game to woodwork. I suspect that many eventually evolved a slight convex edge due to freehand sharpening but were still pretty close to zero bevel.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Traditional puukkos were used for all kinds of cutting chores, from processing fish and game to woodwork. I suspect that many eventually evolved a slight convex edge due to freehand sharpening but were still pretty close to zero bevel.
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Yes they were. And so were many other knives. I just think traditional puukko knives had thinner stock than knives we see today.

Take for example Mora Robust and try to cut an apple or potato or onion with it... it won't cut it, it will act like a wedge.
 
LostCause said:
I just think traditional puukko knives had thinner stock than knives we see today.
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True. Which imo, makes more sense with a lower bevel as there is less of an abrupt transition and it offers a more useful blade than just a splitting wedge.

But many puukkos also had/have higher bevels than what is referred to as a "Scandi" grind today. It's pretty common to see a mid-height bevel on puukkos, which again, when combined with thinner blade stock in general, leads to a knife that performs quite differently than the modern, thick "Scandi" with a lower 1/3rd bevel which has been so popularized.

Oh, and there is no such thing as a "Scandi" grind in historical Scandinavia. It's a silly term, invented recently.
 
Smithhammer said:
True. Which imo, makes more sense with a lower bevel as there is less of an abrupt transition and it offers a more useful blade than just a splitting wedge.

But many puukkos also had/have higher bevels than what is referred to as a "Scandi" grind today. It's pretty common to see a mid-height bevel on puukkos, which again, when combined with thinner blade stock in general, leads to a knife that performs quite differently than the modern, thick "Scandi" with a lower 1/3rd bevel which has been so popularized.

Oh, and there is no such thing as a "Scandi" grind in historical Scandinavia. It's a silly term, invented recently.
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And some puukko knives even have a type of choil or "guard". Like Terava Jakaripuukko. So it's a wide term.
 
I also find it entirely plausible that cultures and civilizations prior to the advent of electricity and machinery might have developed and used scandi/Sabre grinds out of necessity of saving time.

When the day was short and the worklist long, good enough was good enough and a full flat grind wasn't high priority.

So scandi grinds may have originally been born of necessity and not superiority.
 
J. Doyle said:
I also find it entirely plausible that cultures and civilizations prior to the advent of electricity and machinery might have developed and used scandi/Sabre grinds out of necessity of saving time.

When the day was short and the worklist long, good enough was good enough and a full flat grind wasn't high priority.

So scandi grinds may have originally been born of necessity and not superiority.
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Practicality remains king.

I use a 1/8th stock high(er) ground scandi-vex as my general camp knife and it took me quite a while to settle on it. It's goldilocks levels of perfect. Notching, feathersticks, batoning.. is all I really need.

The scandi-vex makes it so very easy to sharpen and maintain, not to mention incredibly edge stable. Keeping it a proper scandi would be a bitch.

An opinel will take care of food and it weighs nothing.
 
A couple of things that haven't been mentioned yet: I find that scandi grinds do really poorly with things like cardboard. Their wedge shape does not help them at all in that regard.

Secondly, they are super easy to sharpen freehand. Most knives aren't very difficult to sharpen anyway, but I'm finding I can sharpen a scandi almost without thinking.

The scandi isn't the most well rounded grind you can get but I'm really digging them as of late.
 
J. Doyle said:
I have a really hard time envisioning a scandi grind carving wood so much better (or ANY better, really) than any other grind. And I'm not a complete stranger to wood carving or whittling.
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Envisioning? Have you actually used one, then?

J. Doyle said:
I'm personally not convinced that the scandi's wood carving "prowess" was not a clever marketing ploy by some in the knife making community to justify or mask other shortcomings. Then the next logical leap was to slap the marketing ploy onto "bushcraft" knives and off it took.
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So, never having used one, you reached this opinion?

A Mora 511 costs $11. You can actually find out for yourself pretty easily if you wanted to.
 
Just adding my two cents worth. I do personally believe that a good scandi grind works great for general carving and woodwork, especially fine detail such as building traps, carving spoons and other utensils, and making camp tools. I have a Mora Clipper that I use when carving spoons and it works great, especially on the inner curves. But I also believe that part of what makes it work is the thin blade stock as well as the narrow width of the blade. With that said, my favorite knife is an Esee 4HM which is a fairly broad, full flat grind. It carves great, but not quite as good as the Mora due to the wider blade profile. Yet, I don’t hesitate to carry it and do some carving and whittling with it.

For many people, the differences between a good knife with a scandi grind, and a good knife with a full flat or high-saber grind, won’t really be noticeable. It’s subtle at best, and honestly more of a matter of preference.
 
Old Biker said:
My only scandi ground knife is a Morakniv 120, that I bought as a blade blank and put a handle on it. I keep reading what great whittling knives these Moras are. I don't agree. At least not for the way I whittle. It's okay, but a long ways from great. I think the scandi grind gets thick to quickly behind the edge.

My knife
AMWts8Bl1iS3XyrCqTka7tOj5x0g57f8SHWl1rfa_4sCH3wB-IMj2DHYcUrkrdQN5-GszkF5qj4Jqf5W9muWOx8lto_o9J8wZRnPlq3WAkR2jQl0YQKvbN8ObdASwbB4raWIlAQ8waJnpq9WVJIYEEhFQbtT=w312-h890-no


O.B.
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It depends on what you are whittling. Are you making chains, figurines, or ball-in-cage? Then no, the sloyd knife might not be best for that. I find these are good for making less detailed items like spoons, butter knives, and the like.

IMG-2022-09-24-10-37-44-262-2.jpg
 
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