Ideal grind revisited

[edispilff]

Been hopping around through many of the old posts here looking for opinions on edge grinds . Granted, a majority of the people on this forum are within the same latitude and therefore experience conditions which relate to the region as a whole.

But...
All preference for the limitations of locale aside, would you be prepared to change your edge profile to adapt to another zone/region? What would you change in order to make the knife perform it's best based on the conditions within that area?

For example, would you still keep a scandi edge if you were in the Sahara with constant blowing sand? What kind of edge would you change to for carving a Cocobolo bust of Bolivar in a South American jungle.

Let us know what area you are from (if you're outside the UK), and how you've thought about why your chosen grind is credited to your locale. If possible, give some examples of actual situations where you might have changed your grind if you could have.

Thanks Folks

 

[chris7273]

I would be tempted to say : The ideal knife with the ideal grind will be the traditional knife from the area.

After years, decades, centuries of trials and mistakes, I think that local people should have had the time to finetune their design.

 

[Tor helge]

I use knives with different grinds, but I do not hang myself up in the debate about this grind or that grind.
I`m more into the knives function. Does the steel holds an edge well, is it easy to sharpen, will it chip in cold, is it comfortable to use and so on.
Wether it`s 1095 or G10 steel, well, I don`t care (rather boring headbashing discussions IMO ).
Different regions would, for me, mean different extras. As in axe and/or saw when I`m in temperated regions or machete in jungle regions.
I would probably carry a SAK in the Sahara and a wood chisel and a mallet to carve Simon Bolivars bust .

Tor

 

[Chance]

Not really answering your question, I'm afraid, but doesn't the grind reflect the user as much as the use ?
A lot of it comes down to how much effort you're willing to put into keeping an edge; as well as how you lost that edge in the first place (be it abrasion from minerals, animal or vegetable fibres).

 

[Diligence]

I grew up in Northern Saskachewan, Canada. I had never used a true single bevel scandi grind until a few years ago, and even then, I didn't know how to sharpen it properly.

One of my usual carry knives was a Schrade Sharpfinger (OT152). This has a very upswept sabre ground pointy blade, with a wide blade and lots of belly. I did everything with this, and was blissfully ignorant of edge geometry.

Then I changed to a drop point hunter style...hollow ground, had a delicate edge, but I liked the handle better. Again, blissfully ignorant of edge geometry.

Now - well, now I have too many choices. In reality, any of them are just fine for what I have to do with them. In fact, my blade choice now is selected so as not to scare anybody. As a result, I'm carrying a sheeple friendly folder most of the time. It just happens to be flat ground with a bevel.

I agree with Chance - blade geometry has more to do with the user, than the use.

Cheers,
D

 

[forginhill]

Having lived the first 18 years of my life in the Amazon jungle, I'll just put in my two cents worth about that experience.

Down there we used cheap trade knives and machetes. These tools served well for every task except felling large trees. I honestly don't think the people down there would appreciate the knives we use very much (or the hatchets). They don't have fancy sharpening stones, in fact, there aren't many rocks around period. They use files to sharpen their blades. The carbon steel blades are somewhat soft compared to our blades. We might think they lose their edge quickly, but they also take an edge quickly and easily with a few file strokes.

Todd

 

[dwardo]

Sick of sharpening a large scandi ground knife in high carbon, that and constantly making sure its dry and clean
I have found over the past year or so that i need something that wont rust and something with a nice tough micro/secondary bevel. I take my big shiney (took an hour to clean and edge) bushy knife out everytime and end up only using a little folder and a hatchet/sfa. I am now thinking of a little enzo in D2 i know its more prone to chipping etc but you shouldnt be doing anything that should cause it to chip where as high carbon IMO only needs to be looked at funny !

 

[NatG]

it depends- i mostly carve wood, and so a scandi grind is sensible for me, but if i was a hunter and i mainly cut meat, then i'd use a hollow grind. If i was doing big chopping tasks like shelter building i'd use an axe, but if i had to use a knife i would have a convex grind.

The ideal fgrind and the ideal knife really strange ideas, because the knife is such a versatile tool that no one will do everything. If i was going to have a "general purpose" knife rather than an "ideal" one it would have a flat ground blade with a 22 degree secondary bevel.