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What are the benefits of using a chisel grind?

Joe Duder

Joe Duder

Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
3,003
I see a lot of chisel ground blades. Most with a katana grind or a saber grind on one side and flat on the other.

Is there any benefit (for the user) in this grind?

What is it good for?

What are the downsides?

Just curious.
 
Benefits...you only have to really sharpen one side...although I run the opposite side of my on the stone and strop to get any burrs off....benefits aside from that? Can't think of any.
Negatives? It doesn't cut in a straight line...It will always pull to one side.
 
Most chisel grinds are terrible.

They are not easier to sharpen, in fact harder IMO.

But my chisel grind is MUCH sharper than any of my other knives. It only cuts fish flesh.
 
I've never been a fan. I find them a pita to sharpen, and agree with the not being able to cut a straight line. Then again, I can't walk a straight line, let alone cut one.
 
They are great if you need a wood chisel...and if they happen to have the correct "handedness" for you.
 
They have always worked well for me. It is my personal experience that a lot of chisel knives can get a bit thinner while still maintaining robustness due to their geometry. That is, they are a right angle triangle versus an acute angled triangle maintaining a single edge along the length. IN MY EXPERIENCE, this has led to a stronger cutting edge for things that you are not supposed to do with a knife, i.e prying and digging. I wouldn't say that there is a huge advantage, just more of a personal preference. I find that chisel grinds are a bit easier to sharpen using a traditional stone or a diamond hone, you just sharpen the one side and then scrape off the bur, you don't really have to worry about evenness. Some people seem to detest chisel grinds, but unless you are doing some sort of very delicate work, I doubt you would notice the difference. I tend to buy knives that I like regardless of features that I am unfamiliar with or have had negative experiences with in the past. I think part of being a "true" knife fan is trying out all that the cutlery world has to offer. If there is a knife that you like and it has a chisel grind, then try it out.
 
Honestly, I don't know if there really is a benefit to anyone but the maker - a chisel grind is far easier, and there's a reason they are almost always flat ground - ease of grinding and edge strength.

A 30 degree angle is a 30 degree angle no matter how you arrange the intercepting planes. I could be wrong, but I would say that it is a matter of preference and not a matter of performance.
 
From a past thread. You will get no clear answer just pages of debate.


Esav Benyamin said:
I should make a short and sweet thread out of these two posts and stick it as "All you really need to know about chisel grinds".
Click to expand...


Originally Posted by Nic S. View Post
I bought an Emerson mini CQC-7 just so I could try out the all and controversial chisel grind. In my opinion, for EDC use it is fine. I can sharpen it easily, it takes a good edge, and cuts just fine. It holds up like any other knife I own in an EDC realm. No better, no worse. If you really want to know how it performs just get one and try. Thats what I had to do, every time I looked for info on the chisel grind I found the treads all ended up in arguments. Just try one out and see how it fits in to your cutting needs, thats the only info I would suggest.
Click to expand...


Originally Posted by darrin sanders View Post
I find it humorous when people think that chisel grinds are automatically sharper than other grind types. If you take a piece of steel .100" thick and 1" wide and chisel grind it to .005" at the edge then do a full flat double-bevel grind to .005" on the same size piece of steel they will both have the exact same geometry. The only difference is that the spine will have a slightly different angle. It all boils down to simple geometry.
The only difference between a full flat grind and a full height chisel grind is that the full flat grind is on the same plane as the tang and the chisel grind is canted x number of degrees depending on the height and thickness of the blade.
Simple as that.
Click to expand...
 
I like them a lot. They cut well, very very easy to sharpen and they generally have little shouldering effect. Some are convexed some are flat etc. Just depends. Only downside I've seen is sometimes you have to adjust your cutting angle because of the flat vs the angled side. No biggie.
 
It depends on what you are cutting. I like it for some food - it can be nice because it only pushes the food to one side - leaving the other side a cleaner cut (straight down), which can be a boon to precision cutting tasks.
 
Joe Duder said:
Is there any benefit (for the user) in this grind?

What is it good for? What are the downsides?
Click to expand...

I always wondered that myself and then I picked up a few chisel grind blades... First off, i found out how to sharpen them. Not too difficult, I just set the angle on my Wicked Edge and now they are easily maintainable with a strop or a Spyderco sharpmaker.

Second....damn the can be sharpened to crazy sharp levels and they hold an edge for what seems to be a long time.

Mike Snody stated (I'm paraphrasing here): You have to remember a 25 degree bevel on a single side is still way more acute than a 20 degree bevel on 2 sides. 25 will always be less than 40.

Like most things, I think it's going to boil down to personal preference... Try one and see if you like it, I won't give up my 2 sided ground blades but i certainly appreciate my chisel grinds.
 
dcmartin said:
Mike Snody stated (I'm paraphrasing here): You have to remember a 25 degree bevel on a single side is still way more acute than a 20 degree bevel on 2 sides. 25 will always be less than 40.
Click to expand...

Of course. But a 25 degree bevel on a single side is not magically more acute than a 12.5 degree bevel on 2 sides. Geometry. Can't get around it.
 
I didn't like chisel grinds at all, none of those that I've tried were pleasant to use, always cutting with a bias. I prefer my knives symmetrical and only really like the look and feel of a linerlock with a full flat or hollow grind.
I've had my mind changed. Over the last few weeks I've been using this -
.
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srm7046ltelkr4_zps72aede7b.jpg

.
for a general round the house EDC knife. I'm still learning the cutting technique of getting a straight cut, the thing that impressed me so much was how freakin' sharp this blade was. I can sharpen a blade, been sharpening them for years so I can get a good sharp edge but this was different, straight from the factory using the front edge push-cut 550 Paracord with little more than the weight of the knife. I've got bald patches on my left arm, all three cutting edges are hair shaving sharp.
I'm going to re-think my dislike of chisel grinds.
 
8steve88 said:
I didn't like chisel grinds at all, none of those that I've tried were pleasant to use, always cutting with a bias. I prefer my knives symmetrical and only really like the look and feel of a linerlock with a full flat or hollow grind.
I've had my mind changed. Over the last few weeks I've been using this -...
Click to expand...

That appears to be saber ground on both sides of the blade, is it not?
 
What bothers me is that most chisel grinds are on the wrong side. If you are right-handed, that is
 
marcinek said:
Of course. But a 25 degree bevel on a single side is not magically more acute than a 12.5 degree bevel on 2 sides. Geometry. Can't get around it.
Click to expand...

Darn you marcinek... you've out geometry'd me! Lol Yessir, numbers are numbers and you cant get around it.
Buuuut, I think a 12.5 degree bevel (25 deg inclusive) would be way too fragile and would chip and or roll easily. Whereas a single sided 25 degree bevel is much more robust so you wouldn't have to worry about a fragile edge. If I plan on using my blade for anything other than splitting hair, cutting curly q's out of phone book paper or slicing fish... I'm not sure i would want a 12.5 bevel (25 deg inclusive) Although it would look pretty damn cool :D
 
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