Scandi ?

[LEGION 12]

Hi everyone finally got my first mora the new compainion when i need to sharpen it should i sharpen the whole bevel or put a micro bevel on it ? This is my first scandi grind knife so thought i would ask you guys as always thanks for any advice Rich

 

[CapitalizedLiving]

Sharpen the whole bevel.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

You can do either. If it's going to be a general-use, all-purpose tool, it'll be just fine with micro bevel, same as with any other knife. Most of what I've read about Scandi knives, suggests the pure scandi bevel is at it's best with bushcraft work, as a chisel would be for fine woodwork. If you don't need it for that, a micro bevel will suit it just fine. And it will obviously be much easier to maintain, with just a few light passes on a Sharpmaker or something similar.

 

[Chris Pierce]

I like to sharpen the whole bevel. But if you want you can put a mirco bevel on. But before you do you should consider how difficult it will be to sharpen it back to a true scandi grind. You would need to remove a lot of material if you decide to go back. Also, as time goes on (if you decided to go with a mirco bevel) and you sharpen the knife more and more you will end up needing to re-profile the knife to maintain it's cutting efficiency. If you stick with the scandi grind you will be re-profiling it as you go, which will take a little bit more time at each sharpening but not very much.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'll add this point. By 'micro bevel', I really mean 'micro' (as in barely visible). One that could be applied with about <5 LIGHT passes per side on a ceramic hone. Some folks might view a micro bevel as something larger, a distinct secondary bevel. The fear of having to rebevel the whole thing would obviously be more justified, the bigger the 'micro bevel' is.

And rebevelling isn't all that hard anyway, if the right grit is chosen to get the 'grunt work' done. All the easier, if the micro bevel is maintained SMALL and very lightly touched up.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Here's an informative quote from a well-known Mora dealer (Ragweed Forge), about sharpening Scandi knives (micro bevel is covered in 2nd paragraph):

To sharpen, press the bevel flat to the stone and work the entire edge. In the beginning, I don't think it matters what type of motion you use, as long as you keep the bevel flat. Work it until you can feel a slight burr when you run your finger tip off the edge on the other side. You want this all along the edge. When you have established a burr along the entire length of the edge, turn the knife over and repeat on the other side. When you can feel the burr all along the first side, you've established the edge. Now you want to remove the burr. Stroke the blade lightly over the stone as if you were taking slices off the surface. At this point you want to move in one direction only, edge first, as if you were cutting the stone. Keep the bevel flat. Switch from side to side, moving the burr back and forth, until it's honed away. Moving the blade diagonally gives the effect of a slightly finer stone. Finish on a strop. If your blade is very dull, or badly nicked, you might want to start with a medium, or even coarse, stone to remove the nicks. Then move to the fine stone. Depending on your use, you may want to repeat with successively finer grades of stones or diamond plates. For the best possible results you can go down to a mirror finish, but this is overkill for most purposes.

This applies to knives used for woodcarving or other work requiring the finest possible edge. For general use many folks like to strengthen the edge with a micro bevel. Just lift the blade very slightly on your finest stone, and take a few light strokes to establish a small secondary bevel. A better way to do this is to use a super fine abrasive paper (7 or 15 micron, or about 1200 grit) on a semi-soft surface like a magazine or newspaper. This is really just an aggressive strop, and blends the micro bevel smoothly into the primary bevel. You can also use a razor strop

 

[ChapmanPreferred]

So far on Mora's I have sharpened the whole bevel. I would not call myself proficient at the task yet, but I'm working at it!

 

[Bo T]

For everyday tasks use a micro bevel. For wood carving or for cutting soft material sharpening the whole bevel is OK. I've found that the micro bevels that I have cut just as well as no micro bevel.

 

[stoffi]

There is yet another method:

sharpen the entire bevel, but lift ever so slightly to create a zero convex bevel. The bevel should appear to be full Scandi, but in fact it is convex. This will make it easier to maintain whilst keeping the edge strong and sharp. An inherent problem with the Scandi-grind is that the edge tends to roll or chip. A lot of custom Scandis are not perfectly plane, because they are usually hand sharpened; so they are often slightly convex and as a bonus, the edge doesn't roll so easily on these blades.

I used to work construction and everyone insisted that Mora knives used cheap, useless steel and that it was the culprit in the edge-rolling and chipping. This is not the case! The steels used are really good, but the edge angle is a bit steep, so they tend to chip and roll. All you need to do is to either lessen the angle or slightly convex it and it'll maintain it's edge much longer.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

There is yet another method:

sharpen the entire bevel, but lift ever so slightly to create a zero convex bevel. The bevel should appear to be full Scandi, but in fact it is convex. This will make it easier to maintain whilst keeping the edge strong and sharp. An inherent problem with the Scandi-grind is that the edge tends to roll or chip. A lot of custom Scandis are not perfectly plane, because they are usually hand sharpened; so they are often slightly convex and as a bonus, the edge doesn't roll so easily on these blades.

I used to work construction and everyone insisted that Mora knives used cheap, useless steel and that it was the culprit in the edge-rolling and chipping. This is not the case! The steels used are really good, but the edge angle is a bit steep, so they tend to chip and roll. All you need to do is to either lessen the angle or slightly convex it and it'll maintain it's edge much longer.

Couldn't agree more. :thumbup:

I have seen this in my Opinels also. Some don't seem to like the Sandvik stainless in them, but the slight convex in the grind really makes a difference. I've taken mine to a zero edge, with the subtle convex thinned somewhat on sandpaper on a softish backing. Extremely sharp AND durable.

 

[pwet]

+1 for the convex.

all my pukkos came that way, more or less subtle depending on the manfacturer/model/intended use. the most subtle convex is on my roselli grandfathe, this one is really almost flat, the stouter grind is on a woodsnife puukko 10,5cm with a leuku-ish profile, i mean more curve to the tip, and a oil-stained birch handle. this one stay in my work knives roll it is my dedicated boning knife when i have to deal with whole animals in the kitchen (like today 7 baby goats or whatever it's called in english for the week end.) it holds just fine through all the breaking down process including "scratching" all the ribs with the tip to break them cleanly, dejointing etc ... not much edge degradation after that.