For kitchentasks a flat grind is perfect indeed, so I take an Opinel for that. For the rest I love a scandi.
Whats the best grind for your ideal bushcraft knife?
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Reminds me of the old joke about blonds and brunettes, which are more fun, the answer is: both but the point is in the testing ...
My opinion is firmly: it depends ...
By the way here the "old" scandi grind was actually very slightly hollow done on a large diameter wheel. After a few sharpenings it its proper shape of a narrow flat at the edge followed by the slight hollow. When the hollow was eaten up by sharpening a new cycle was started on the wheel.
Personally I prefer on most knives very slightly convex because of the added edge strength but if easy cutting is required I use the flat/hollow.
My opinion is firmly: it depends ...
By the way here the "old" scandi grind was actually very slightly hollow done on a large diameter wheel. After a few sharpenings it its proper shape of a narrow flat at the edge followed by the slight hollow. When the hollow was eaten up by sharpening a new cycle was started on the wheel.
Personally I prefer on most knives very slightly convex because of the added edge strength but if easy cutting is required I use the flat/hollow.
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For me the angle matters more than the grind.
Flat grind is ok if the blade isnt too deep but on a very deep blade it means the cutting angle is too acute and more liable to edge failure.
Thats just plain geometry and a deep blade with a flat grind is basically a kitchen knife.
Great for slicing veg and meat but far to weak an edge for cutting wood.
Flat grind is ok if the blade isnt too deep but on a very deep blade it means the cutting angle is too acute and more liable to edge failure.
Thats just plain geometry and a deep blade with a flat grind is basically a kitchen knife.
Great for slicing veg and meat but far to weak an edge for cutting wood.
I voted scandi... but only up to around 3mm stock. Otherwise I prefer flat, but that's just a personal preference.
Worth a revisit.
8 years ago I said these little Scandi knives uncle Ray had been giving oxygen to were a fad.
I noticed this year at the Moot and Gathering that more of you were starting to carry bigger knives, I suspect with a secondary bevel. I chipped a lump out of an Elmax Scandi blade removing a bear tooth on a Canadian bush adventure. Had it converted to a secondary bevel.
I carry a Wilkinson Sword Survival Knife on such trips and often a Little neck knife (which is a scandi). EDC is a Buck pen knife. There is nothing a big knife, well handled, cannot do that a small blade can but there is stuff a big knife can manage that a small knife cannot. My Wilkinson can do jobs of a hatchet or parang. It’s saw back is good for notching. It was designed to build shelters and process firewood.
Historically you would have had a “camp knife” for all the big jobs around camp.
So interesting to see so many people adopting “Bushtools” and “Parangs”.
I wonder if the fashion is passing as the hobby matures?
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8 years ago I said these little Scandi knives uncle Ray had been giving oxygen to were a fad.
I noticed this year at the Moot and Gathering that more of you were starting to carry bigger knives, I suspect with a secondary bevel. I chipped a lump out of an Elmax Scandi blade removing a bear tooth on a Canadian bush adventure. Had it converted to a secondary bevel.
I carry a Wilkinson Sword Survival Knife on such trips and often a Little neck knife (which is a scandi). EDC is a Buck pen knife. There is nothing a big knife, well handled, cannot do that a small blade can but there is stuff a big knife can manage that a small knife cannot. My Wilkinson can do jobs of a hatchet or parang. It’s saw back is good for notching. It was designed to build shelters and process firewood.
Historically you would have had a “camp knife” for all the big jobs around camp.
So interesting to see so many people adopting “Bushtools” and “Parangs”.
I wonder if the fashion is passing as the hobby matures?
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Experienced and skillfull persons can do more with a 11 cm scandi grind blade than with a bigger knife and that's why they don't carry such a big fighting knife around if it's unlikely to get into a close combat situation.
Full size Bowie knives are totally outdated in my opinion, and so far I know not issued in any modern army, machetes have their place in a jungle. The bayonet was outdated already in WW2.
Full size Bowie knives are totally outdated in my opinion, and so far I know not issued in any modern army, machetes have their place in a jungle. The bayonet was outdated already in WW2.
A....scandi grind is designed for woodcraft..so yes...using it to remove a tooth will chip the fine edge.its a fine edge for cutting into wood and NOTHING compares to this grind for that purpose.
each grind is designed to do different tasks as any knife efficianado will tell you.
however...there is NO KNIFE designed to split wood...thats just the sellers telling you it is to SELL you it.a knife is designed to cut or slice or.....NO BLADE is designed to "baton" with....NO KNIFE.
the 3 way stress a knife suffers when "batoning" is savage.....then on top of this its struck with a log on its spine causing the 4th stress and then people wonder why they fail? REALLY???
look up ANY knife on you tube and type in FAIL...youll find it..ANY KNIFE
and the one thing in common???
BATTONING!!!
And that’s the problem. As an allrounder it doesn’t hold up. A camp knife would have a secondary bevel to support edge strength.
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The Wilkinson Sword Dartmoor Survival Knife. Clue is in the name. It is designed to build shelter and process firewood. I can’t tell you how much battening I’ve done with it. Thing is massive and strong with a flat behind the tip designed to be hit.
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its not really a problem as such? if used for what its designed for...as in you wouldnt expect to be handed a butter knife with a fork to eat a steak.
carry a scandi for your woodcraft....and a spare " multi use" in your kit
I remember the kids being taught to bend and cut wood with a little woodlore style blade.
Bend and cut, bend and cut bend and cut vs slash (one sapling), slash (two saplings), slash (3 saplings). point is here these were to be issued to our forces for use when finesse wasn't high on the agenda. In the cold fine motor control is first to go. I have to disagree.
Nobody it talking about the combat effectiveness of a knife here. Only that a longer stronger knife is a better tool for Bushcraft than an 11cm Scandi grind.
Combat is a separate and different conversation and I’m not sure what experience you base your comments on. The Army still issues bayonets (similarly sized to a trade bowie), they were used to good effect still in Afghanistan by our forces and in Iraq. In Chris Ryans book "the one that got away" he talks ruefully about not having deployed with a knife big enough to kill an enemy without a fuss and resorting to his Leatherman.
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So I carry a big knife for Bushcraft and a little Scandi neck knife for those little craft jobs. Just the priority is different. If I forget the neck knife in the back country on a trip carving a spoon may suffer. If I forget the big blade it will slow me making shelter, processing wood, building a smoker etc. I hasten to add I go places where people get turned around and lost for a month.
Anybody seen Arctic Alone? Not many folk rocking a little Woodlore.
Scandi’s do have advantages in being a no brainer to sharpen but I think they are fad over function.
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im sorry but thats just sellers hype....yes you may well have battoned a lot...it may well be as tough as boots...but its a knife....itll suffer the same stress as ANY knife used this way....the blade will attempt to twist along its length against say a knot....it will attempt to bend 2 ways...length wise AND width wise....this causes the 3rd stress against itself...then youre beating it from above FORCING it through.......heat treatment of knives is an important factor in EDGE RETENTION....so unless its been differently heat treated?....as in like an axe???
your knife IS under undue stress and if it is your "survival" knife? would you really want to put it under duress in case you ever DO end up in a survival situation?? your primary tool??.....that just setting yourself up to fail......the very name the sellers have sold it to you under is just hype.......over 30 yrs ago kephart were8 going on about this...EMPHASISING no knife...NO KNIFE...is designed to split wood and they endorsed the use of a wooden wedge.today though it seems the "cool" look of forcing your primary blade through wood has captured the imagination....and people believe now knives are not only ok to do this but have been DESIGNED to.ill bet if your knife broke and you sent it back your guarantee would be invalid....i cant believe a compant would actually say its " designed" to??? theyve opened themselvez up for lawsuits when...not if...WHEN one fails
anybody seen a history show?...not many of our ancestors rocking anything but a piece of bone...and i think they had more to contend with than any of us ever will.....my point?....they used their cutting tool as a cutting tool and developed tools for the purpose.....
For me there's a sweet spot between 3"-4.5" (7.5cm-11.5cm roughly) where the most useful knives lie. Then there's a (sour?) spot up until around 8" (20cm) where knives are too big for fine work but generally too small for chopping or slashing. Arguably a hatchet is better for chopping anyway. I would argue that a correctly designed chopper has its place for certain tasks, e.g. billhooks that have been used for centuries. For snedding I MUCH prefer a long knife because it's, more controllable, safer and has more cutting area = versatility and longevity.
This was designed for battoning.
This was designed for battoning.
An 80s Revival: Surviving with the Dartmoor Knife
The Dartmoor Knife CSK185 is a redesign of the Wilkinson Sword Survival Knife. I headed to the woods with little else to see how this survival tool served me.
paulkirtley.co.uk
This.
I don’t need a hatchet. Why use it for battening? Why not? It’s not let me down in over 20 years.
Uncle Ray laid down the pattern for this knife in the 1980’s. It was designed as a Survival tool. So what do you think changed?
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The Sami used a big knife and a small knife, the big one used for whacking things and the small one for everything else. All things considered it was/is a fairly satisfactory combination both in the open tundra and upper Taiga environments. I have seen some carry two smaller knives or actually a mid size one and a small one. (There is no such condition as too many knives)
I dunno why people get so excited about knives...
But I do have a theory of how it started.
Two opposing armies of men ( ...and women TeeDee.... P.F.J. reference.. ) milling around on, standing guard on borders arguing over which the two armies design of sword is the best for.. < insert term of bloodshed >
The Kopis vs the Falchion etc...
I can only imagine this is how wars started.
But I do have a theory of how it started.
Two opposing armies of men ( ...and women TeeDee.... P.F.J. reference.. ) milling around on, standing guard on borders arguing over which the two armies design of sword is the best for.. < insert term of bloodshed >
The Kopis vs the Falchion etc...
I can only imagine this is how wars started.
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