Spalting, is it a deal breaker?

Here is an example of two knives I really like. The scandi karda with beautiful 3d spalting and a full grind esquire with very little noticeable spalting. Both very attractive knives in my book.

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willic said:
Scales aside.... I choose a higher grind. If the grind is the same, I would pick the more dynamic spalting.
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+1. Sounds like I'm the odd man out. I prefer the high grinds the look almost like a full flat. I don't think I consciously pick those, but I do have a lot of them.
 
I prefer as high a grind as possible.

Josiah, when you sent me the HB it was the first I'd seen with really killer spalting. It was gorgeous, and I believe I mentioned that to you. :)

Part of the reason why I've never been that attracted to the stainless knives is because of the different texture. Now that I've had a couple in hand, I do like the hammer blows too.

I like more spalting, but I'd still take a higher grind. Function over form as I too prefer a slicy blade.
 
willic said:
Scales aside.... I choose a higher grind. If the grind is the same, I would pick the more dynamic spalting.
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This.

If this were Burger King, I'd get them all with near full height grinds; just enough spalting to show off their heritage. And 1/8" on any blade 4.5" or less. My Asp and EDCII have ideal grinds for my tastes.

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hasco said:
Here is an example of two knives I really like. The scandi karda with beautiful 3d spalting and a full grind esquire with very little noticeable spalting. Both very attractive knives in my book.

03790EF8-6905-4784-BFF0-A8861A18EC5B_zpsgaupdsay.jpg
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That esquire has a killer grind. That thing is clean brother. If that were 1/8" or thinner, that would be a slicer for sure.
Strigamort said:
I prefer as high a grind as possible.

Josiah, when you sent me the HB it was the first I'd seen with really killer spalting. It was gorgeous, and I believe I mentioned that to you. :)

Part of the reason why I've never been that attracted to the stainless knives is because of the different texture. Now that I've had a couple in hand, I do like the hammer blows too.

I like more spalting, but I'd still take a higher grind. Function over form as I too prefer a slicy blade.
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Function over form is the question to be asked. I'm a city slicker, so I lean towards aesthetics over function, but both are important. I have that luxury. Now if it were a case of pick one knife and head into the bush until further notice, then no care would be given about how the blade looked. Performance would crest all other attributes.
 
The height of the grind has nothing to do with the spalting on the blade. Rather it is a factor the the handmade aspect of the knives. I generally try for a 3/4 height saber grind. But I grind till I get the sides to match. Thats where the height of the grind is determined.
 
I agree with Nathan in that I think spalting is a part of the overall aesthetics. The area and the depth of the spalting to me must harmonize with the rest of the knife, and I think Andy has the ability to make everything work beautifully together as he plays with each element's variability. So I guess what that means for me in practice is I love both. (and of course this is just my humble opinion, what I personally like).

For example, near full height grinds with almost no spalting, sometimes a knife just begs to have a "clean" looking blade (my Recluse)
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OR, deep spalting that matches the intensity of a burl handle (my Duke)
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As for the knives in application, I generally prefer thinner knives for bushcraft, so typically go for 1/8" stock, and I haven't seen any significant variation in performance due to variation in the height of the primary grind (I must disclose I do hand sharpen on waterstones and extend the secondary bevel to my liking on all my knives though).
 
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I find Andy's comment interesting. I think that it has been generally accepted that the higher the grind, the thinner the blade, hence effects on cutting performance. With a flat ground with fixed angles or a hollow ground with fixed radius, I think generally this would be a true statement. That is with everything else being equal such as blade thickness. However, Andy's process does not have a fixed convex radius grind as I understand it. Perhaps generally speaking, a higher grind might mean a thinner blade when compared to a lower grind of the same blade thickness, but effectively it might not have any bearing on cutting performance. What a high grind does have bearing on is how much spalting is showing.
 
I love spalting, but 3 of my Fiddlebacks are S35VN and ground high.. My 2 current O1 Fiddlebacks have nice spalting and it adds a lot to the aesthetics.

S35VN


O1 and S35VN together
 
I think it just depends on the configuration. I like spalting. When it comes to deciding on a blade to post on the flea market, if i'm deciding between two, i typically keep the one with spalting. But again, its about the configuration. You ask which one of the above i'd choose. its the one on the left for me. The wood on that combined with that smooth baby's behind blade sings to me. I just sold my most spalted, oldest fiddleback. It sucks, but i needed something else more.

Spalting is rarely bad for me, but it just depends on the total package.
 
Fiddleback said:
The height of the grind has nothing to do with the spalting on the blade. Rather it is a factor the the handmade aspect of the knives. I generally try for a 3/4 height saber grind. But I grind till I get the sides to match. Thats where the height of the grind is determined.
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.......what? :confused:

McVeyMac said:
I find Andy's comment interesting. I think that it has been generally accepted that the higher the grind, the thinner the blade, hence effects on cutting performance. With a flat ground with fixed angles or a hollow ground with fixed radius, I think generally this would be a true statement. That is with everything else being equal such as blade thickness. However, Andy's process does not have a fixed convex radius grind as I understand it. Perhaps generally speaking, a higher grind might mean a thinner blade when compared to a lower grind of the same blade thickness, but effectively it might not have any bearing on cutting performance. What a high grind does have bearing on is how much spalting is showing.
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Ya. I'm totally confused now.
 
schmittie said:
.......what? :confused:

Ya. I'm totally confused now.
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I can't speak for anyone but me, but here's how I take it.

I think Andy is answering Joe's initial post which seemed to imply that higher convex had less spalting than lower or scandi and that they were somehow related. Andy's saying they're not connected. The amount of spalting a knife has is a function of being hand made - some have more, some have less. The height of the grind is a function of being hand made - sometimes he has to go higher to get the grinds to match.

I would agree based on my set of knives. Some that are low convex and some of the scandi's have very light spalting, while some of the higher convex have nicely defined deep spalting.
 
So...it sounds like the height of the grind only limits the amount of spalting left showing, neither are causative of the other in the sense of how the maker does it. Andy grinds until he thinks the knife is "right"; the grind height and revealed spalting are not the goals in and of themselves.

MVM, if I understand you correctly, you're simply stating that grind height alone is not a good indicator of slicing ability.
 
Grind height, steel thickness and edge thickness effect sliceyness. But salting isn't a consideration in functionality at all. We work in a worlwind. Which blades wind up w which grind, handle and salting is very random. This is also why we suck at orders.
 
I think I worded my op wrong. I did make it sound like I was saying the lower the grind the heavier the spalting. That would be an untrue statement.
 
trestle said:
So...it sounds like the height of the grind only limits the amount of spalting left showing, neither are causative of the other in the sense of how the maker does it. Andy grinds until he thinks the knife is "right"; the grind height and revealed spalting are not the goals in and of themselves.

MVM, if I understand you correctly, you're simply stating that grind height alone is not a good indicator of slicing ability.
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I am stating that perhaps not. I think that the geometry of the convex grind will ultimately determine performance. Since Andy hand grinds his blades, grind height in of itself may not necessarily be an accurate reflection of that geometry. I guess I have a representative sample here that I could get the micrometer out to see if I can find any tendencies shining through with high or low ground blades, but I will leave that for a rainy day.
 
I'm so confused.....

I like the spalting over non, If they don't have at least a little I tend not to hang on to them. I just cut stuff, I don't worry about heights, bevels, micro bevels etc. Scandi usually have more spalting, that's a double win for me.

Bring back the Scandiness. I'll take extra spalting please. This thread makes me miss my Bushcrafter now.

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A Bushcrafter with a Ladyfinger/Bushfinger handle? You should miss it, fairly unique knife right there. :)
 
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