Knife angle
- Thread starter Gcckoka
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I've measured the total included bevel angle of every edge I've bought in the last 15+ years.
All the gouges are 20 degrees (10 each side for a double bevel edge.)
The majority of my tools have single bevels, one side only.
Knife edges for carving are all in the 12 - 15 degree range.
Some people insist on adding a "microbevel" but I've never done that.
When I change a farrier's hoof knife to wood carving, I go from the original 25 degrees to 12 degrees.
I open the hook at the tip with a 7/16" chain saw file.
I don't have very many knives to carry on any sort of outdoor excursions anymore.
They are all 25 degrees.
All the gouges are 20 degrees (10 each side for a double bevel edge.)
The majority of my tools have single bevels, one side only.
Knife edges for carving are all in the 12 - 15 degree range.
Some people insist on adding a "microbevel" but I've never done that.
When I change a farrier's hoof knife to wood carving, I go from the original 25 degrees to 12 degrees.
I open the hook at the tip with a 7/16" chain saw file.
I don't have very many knives to carry on any sort of outdoor excursions anymore.
They are all 25 degrees.
I didn't report all the other bevel angles that I have found on wood working edges
such as spoke shaves, draw knives, hand planes and so on. Knife edges only that I have measured +/- 1 degree.
Never found anything bigger than 30 degrees.
36 degrees is a monster wedge to push wood open.
Not for actually cutting anything.
A splitting axe, maybe, not an adze or even a hand plane.
My bone cleaver is just 40 degrees.
such as spoke shaves, draw knives, hand planes and so on. Knife edges only that I have measured +/- 1 degree.
Never found anything bigger than 30 degrees.
36 degrees is a monster wedge to push wood open.
Not for actually cutting anything.
A splitting axe, maybe, not an adze or even a hand plane.
My bone cleaver is just 40 degrees.
36?? wow thats completely different number then whats on the net
Personally I think a scandi grind is a carp edge to have on a multi discipline knife.
If you're going to use it exclusively for carving fine but if you want it for food prep, skinning and butchery etc then don't bother with it.
I used to have a knife with a scandi grind and was forever having to maintain it. As soon as I had it ground to a sabre grind with a micro bevel it became much easier to keep sharp and was a far more efficient knife.
That is what I have been writing in many posts.
The Scandi grind is a commercial grind, done because it is easy and quick to create with machines.
The first sharpening session, we put a micro bevel on.
Degrees? More than the original grind. Varies person to person, I personally like a secondary edge of 1 to 1.5mm
The angle put on a scandi grind, depends on the thickness of the blade, and the required height of the grind, anyone interested if you pm (giving your email addy) me I will send you a programme that will determine the angle for you, you put in the thickness of the metal and the required height of the grind, and it tells you the correct angle to grind to.for example 3mm thick blade, and a grind height of 10mm =an angle of 17.25 degrees divide by 2 =8.6 degrees on each side., for example if you used a grind angle of 30 degrees, 15 degrees each side, this would give you a grind height of about 5mm on a 3mm thick blade, it woud be in my opinion unusual to use an angle of more than 30 degrees on a scandi, The Wilkinson Ray Mears Bushcraft 3mm thick with a grind height of 7mm is ground at an angle of 12 degrees each side or 24 degrees overall which is about the standard for a normal bushcraft knife.
Forget the who's who of knifery for a moment.
Stop to consider what that edge, your edge, is expected to do in service.
And, you must have enough steel behind the edge to support it to do that job.
Obviously? there's enough steel behind a razor blade edge to cut wet protein hair.
Same is true for scalpel blades. That just won't do for chopping short ribs for a braise.
For hand work, 25 degree skew chisels are a BIG push in wood. Hit with a mallet? Fine.
Scrub those skews down to 20 degrees like other wood carving edges and you can mess with them all day long.
My wood carving knives are all 12 degrees or so for a reason. The adze blades are all 25 degrees for the same reason.
The gouges are likewise all 20 degrees. . . . and so on.
I have a wood splitting froe which was smithed for me. I smash that with a 44oz alder log mallet. Probably 40 degrees.
Edge? less than 1mm wide, maybe drawn 1"/3cm up the face? Not your kind of sharp but for the same reason.
Stop to consider what that edge, your edge, is expected to do in service.
And, you must have enough steel behind the edge to support it to do that job.
Obviously? there's enough steel behind a razor blade edge to cut wet protein hair.
Same is true for scalpel blades. That just won't do for chopping short ribs for a braise.
For hand work, 25 degree skew chisels are a BIG push in wood. Hit with a mallet? Fine.
Scrub those skews down to 20 degrees like other wood carving edges and you can mess with them all day long.
My wood carving knives are all 12 degrees or so for a reason. The adze blades are all 25 degrees for the same reason.
The gouges are likewise all 20 degrees. . . . and so on.
I have a wood splitting froe which was smithed for me. I smash that with a 44oz alder log mallet. Probably 40 degrees.
Edge? less than 1mm wide, maybe drawn 1"/3cm up the face? Not your kind of sharp but for the same reason.
I smile when internet based experts show you how they can shave with their knife.
Carve a toothpick from a dry piece of birch and you need to spend toiling for 10 minutes to hone that edge back.
You only need the edge to do what you want it to do.
I do not use my blades to cut strips out of writing paper.
Last night we fished some coal fish for our supper. Sone swore as his blade was blunt. Being jet lagged, tired and lazy, I took a couple of swipes on the back of my own knife. It worked.
Will use a stone today to hone it better though.
Carve a toothpick from a dry piece of birch and you need to spend toiling for 10 minutes to hone that edge back.
You only need the edge to do what you want it to do.
I do not use my blades to cut strips out of writing paper.
Last night we fished some coal fish for our supper. Sone swore as his blade was blunt. Being jet lagged, tired and lazy, I took a couple of swipes on the back of my own knife. It worked.
Will use a stone today to hone it better though.
My steel is 3,2mm thick
I don't know I have had all grind knives and two of my favotire are full flat and scandi grinds , my trusty mora is very often with me and I have done more with it then many , I have carved with it prepared food , prepare pikes , skin a freakin moose , cut meat , skinned a few more animals and etc and I never complained about it , I sharpen it with a 1000 grit stone every month or two and after almost every use I strop it when I get home and it keeps a razor sharp and durable edge , I have literary shaved with it in one of my videos , so no complains there really....
I just don't know what angle the woodlore has , mostly what I found on the net people say 22 11on each side
I don't know I have had all grind knives and two of my favotire are full flat and scandi grinds , my trusty mora is very often with me and I have done more with it then many , I have carved with it prepared food , prepare pikes , skin a freakin moose , cut meat , skinned a few more animals and etc and I never complained about it , I sharpen it with a 1000 grit stone every month or two and after almost every use I strop it when I get home and it keeps a razor sharp and durable edge , I have literary shaved with it in one of my videos , so no complains there really....
I just don't know what angle the woodlore has , mostly what I found on the net people say 22 11on each side
Gcc, do you sharpen your Mora to maintain the factory angle and grind, or did you create a secondary bevel?
It came with straight scandi and I managed to maintain it over the years , no secondary bevels, however the mora 510 came with a secondary bevel and for that reason I don't use it that much, I also have some Finnish puukko knives with high scandi grind and micro bevel haven't use them that much and havent abused them but they are razor sharp and cut very well.
Hi Gcckoka,
I have edited your post with your mail address. It is a very bad idea to post email addresses like that on open forums. There is a high chance of it getting picked up by scammers. Certainly used to be the case and it isn't worth risking. Share email via private message, or try to alter the address so that it isn't readable by the bots the scammers use to scan the net.
If you can't make up your mind, err on the side of making the bevel shallower rather than steeper. Shallow bevels can be made steeper while you sharpen them. Steep bevels require re-grinding across their whole face before the new angle hits the cutting edge.
I have edited your post with your mail address. It is a very bad idea to post email addresses like that on open forums. There is a high chance of it getting picked up by scammers. Certainly used to be the case and it isn't worth risking. Share email via private message, or try to alter the address so that it isn't readable by the bots the scammers use to scan the net.
If you can't make up your mind, err on the side of making the bevel shallower rather than steeper. Shallow bevels can be made steeper while you sharpen them. Steep bevels require re-grinding across their whole face before the new angle hits the cutting edge.
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