To scandi grind or not to scandi grind? That is the question.

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2jka

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May 25, 2011
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I have a Becker Bk2 and I am thinking about putting a Scandinavian grind on it. The blade geomatry seems fiarly conducive. I am tired of wrestling with the blade due to the very obtuse final grid and obseinly hindering shoulder. I have already put a convex final bevel on it to deal with these problems, but the knive still isn't performing as well as I want.
That brings me to the question," to or not to?" I want the better performance, but will doing so harbor more negative aspects? Will the edge be too delacate to do some really hard work and chip out. Will the edge hold up as well against accidentle rock encounters? Will the scandi bring eventually make the knife too light to chop well? Or will all of that not affect the blade because it will cut so well?
I need some advice and you guys, I am sure, can provide it. Thanks.
 
Do it, always wanted to do it myself, just don't have time or the knife.
 
What advantage do you think you would be obtaining? To me the BK2 is like a hatchet you can put in your pocket, so I'm not sure I would be trying to turn it into a high performance slicing machine, but hey what do I know....???
 
I am not in the market for a high preformace slicer, but better slicing ability would round the knife out better. Backing the final grind up higher would have a similar effect but not to the extent that I was hoping. I feel that the geomatry would still chop well, but I am just not sure. If Feel that It wouldn't be too thin but again I am not sure.
All in all I was wanted to completely eliminat the shoulder,not change the nature of the knife, just refine it.
 
Boy...that's an interesting idea. You are going to have to remove a hell of a lot of steel to make that thing a zero grind scandi...I mean grams and grams of steel I'd think. Big job. I would not even think of taking that on without either power tools or some very course and sharp diamond plates and big ones at that. I must say that I too have wondered what making a scandi of the the BK2 or the ESEE 5 would get me. I think these big quarter inch think knives are better suited to convexing. If you did manage to get a full zero scandi on there you could, I suppose maintain it with a 30 degree microbevel but eventually you're going to have to zero it down again. You'll probably tire of that, hold the knife up off the stone and end up with more or less of a convex or just putting a secondary back on.

But man, if you get a real scandi on that, you'd be a hero and I'd sure like to see it.
 
Sorry, I do not get it. Do you mean Full Flat grind? I suspect Becker BK2 has got a saber grind - so can not figure out how you can feasible change it to scandi.
If you mean full flat: it might be worth to do it from my point of view. It will not be as strong, but may be more suitable for cutting things. ;)
 
You can't make the knife a scandi, the only way to do that would be to put metal back on the blade. You also won't improve cutting performance unless you are doing shallow cuts in wood.
 
2jka said:
I am not in the market for a high preformace slicer, but better slicing ability would round the knife out better. Backing the final grind up higher would have a similar effect but not to the extent that I was hoping. I feel that the geomatry would still chop well, but I am just not sure. If Feel that It wouldn't be too thin but again I am not sure.
All in all I was wanted to completely eliminat the shoulder,not change the nature of the knife, just refine it.
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I think that such 5" knives Like the BK2 and ESEE5 with that thickness are originally tanks meant to take a beating rather than cut well. I ALSO think that if they have given them scandi grinds in the first place, they would have been great cutters from the start with a very strong spine that could still take the same beating. IMO if one simply rounds out the shoulders of such knives without creating a thinner grind(ie Scandi), it's basically the same as grinding the rough edges off of a tank. It's still a tank, don't try parallel parking drifting because it's not gonna happen. So, to sum it up, DO IT, because you'll end up with an awesome cutting edge and a huge amount of strength behind it.
 
For all of you who don't get what I want (and many of seem like you don't) what I had in mind was not a true scandi-grind, but something akin to it. I was thinking of backing the shoulder of the secondary and primary bevals up, way up... To the shoulder of the primary bevel and the flat of the blade, a zero edge like a scandi grind. The only bevel on the knife would be the one getting sharpened. The geomatry won't be textbook scandi but it would be verry similar.
Thanks all you guys for the advise though. I really appreciate it!
 
If you would convex the edge along with the grind you'd see incredible improvement. Pretty much all normal aspects of knife use would be improved: slicing, carving and chopping. It would work well on a knife such as BK-2.
 
if you did a zero grind then yeah, it would be too delicate for chopping and would not hold up to striking a rock. The geometry would be close to some kitchen cutlery, and the wrong cutting board will damage the edge.

You can thin the blade by working on the primary grind and lower the edge angle. You can convex the edge as well, but convexing is just changing the edge angle and removing metal, so six of one or half a dozen of the other.
 
In order to do what you are looking for is a total regrind of the blade/primary grind and you still can't obtain a scandi grind. You could get a full flat or semi-convex grind. I would suggest getting the edge convexed by thinning/lowering the edge angle.
Scott
 
Gossman Knives said:
In order to do what you are looking for is a total regrind of the blade/primary grind and you still can't obtain a scandi grind. You could get a full flat or semi-convex grind. I would suggest getting the edge convexed by thinning/lowering the edge angle.
Scott
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And he can do it for you. :D I got a Scrapyard 711 that I had the same issue with. For a small fee Scott fixed it right up. Works much better now.
 
Shotgun said:
And he can do it for you. :D I got a Scrapyard 711 that I had the same issue with. For a small fee Scott fixed it right up. Works much better now.
Click to expand...

I would rather he tell me how. I would actually love to talk to somebody who knows, so when I go and try it myself, the success would all the sweater. You know ... "give a man a fish, teach a man to fish"
 
Convex!:D:thumbup:

I feel your pain when it comes to beefcake eating survival knives. After using things like Moras and swiss army knives, it can be hard to warm up to the performance of a brutishly thick "survival knife's factory edge." I feel that convexing is the answer.

I used a RC-6 (now ESEE) as my learning pad a while ago. It sure wasn't a pretty job, but this knife works way better than it did before. I used sand paper on top of leather.

After testing the new edge a few times, I found out it was too thin around the apex. It worked well for carving, but after chopping/ hacking, the edge was catastrophic. After that, I reground it to be more obtuse at the edge. Now it can handle chopping and carving. As far as hitting rocks, I don't expect any of my blades to handle that very well.

You can see in the reflections on the edge how the convex starts off as a very slow and steady curve, then, as it approaches the edge closer and closer, the curvature increases exponentially until it reaches the apex. This quick increase in obtuseness makes a huge difference in toughness.

771a2fbe.jpg
 
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