Fire Forged - Branded Knife ( Pakistan ? ) Scandi

[old4570]

What I got was a locally supplied ( Fee Bay ) Scandi knife . ( OAL 9 inches )
Its not super large , though it is a HULK of steel ! Around 5.8mm thick . Supposedly 1095 Carbon !
My HRC file say's 55HRC - as the file skated and bit ever so slightly the blade steel .
Think MORA on steroids when you see this knife . ( if you see it ) .

The edge failed / rolled at ( started @ 50 slices ) 300 slices . But , a quick wood strop had the edge slicing paper again . I think I paid around 50 bananas for this knife ( Oz bananas ) . And it was re sharpened full scandi . The factory edge was .......................................... Not sure I know where it was ? So I had to put an edge on it myself . 300 slices full scandi is decent / average performance for a bellow average price . Watch the video if you want to know more (?)
Video is uploaded , and VEOH is going to re code it ( not so well ) .

Posted on VEOH

 

[desert.snake]

The other day I was reading a man's book on woodworking (Leonard_Lee_complete-guide-sharpening) and it mentioned magnetic treatment of blades to improve working time

I don't have a rope and so many Scandi knives and, most importantly, I can do it at home, but you could try using some Scandi to measure the effect of magnetostriction on the number of cuts, if you are interested

 

[old4570]

Hmmmm , Generally people try to mod the grain structure thru HEAT & COOLING cycles .. To achieve a desired result !
I don't see magnetism changing the grain structure . I find that if you really want to chase edge retention , then ..

A) Method ..... How you sharpen ! Can have a great effect on the results .
B) Grit ...... How smooth or course you make the blade can have massive effect on results
C) The blade steel it'self . Has a huge effect on edge retention .

This knife was hand sharpened on diamond plate to full scandi .
If mem serves ... 600 grit , 1000 grit , 2000 grit . The fail came from a rolled edge ..
The rolled edge is most likely due to the 55HRC .
If .......... If the steel had been harder , the edge may not have rolled giving a much better result .
I don't know why they make knives so soft ? ( For me .... the wrong side of 60HRC )
The most outstanding scandi I have is NORTH of 60HRC hardness .

For me ....... The biggest fail over the last few years is blade hardness ! Or should that be .... softness !
To many companies letting soft steel out the door !

I took an old IXL lock back ( Mystery Cheap Steel ) and put a 240 grit edge on it !
It did something like 800 on the rope .. ( Ok , it felt like a hacksaw )
Thing is , it made the edge last maybe 400% longer than with a conventional bling edge !
Another thing to try = Dual Grit ! It works .. With the right combinations .
I put dual grit on a Super Steel and went way past 1000 on the rope .

So many things to try ! ( So many blade steels ) ... Cos what works on one , may not work on another !
You need to find what works for your knife , if you are chasing edge retention !
If you only use one sharpening method ? Your at the mercy of that one method .
Because I have seen serious gains of up to 400% by changing things .
Some people are happy at sharp , some people chase stays sharp .
I think 99.9% of the worlds pop is happy at sharp , the remaining 0.1% might want some degree of More !
I might be one of those who want it all .. Every slice the knife has to offer !

End Rant .................

 

[desert.snake]

I have a bunch of different stones, and periodically I try to use different combinations and methods. We had one very cool sharpener, here is his method and some homemade designs





As for Scandi, I think the point is that they were originally created for cold climates and working with wood. That is, steel must maintain strength in the cold and when working with wood. If the tree is twisty, the thin knife will simply break; another type of slope will get stuck in the wood. That is, it should be thick and in the form of a wedge, which is what we see. This is also why mild steel was chosen. If the knife were made of hard steel, then a person would spend too much time removing metal from the slopes

If make a special knife for a rope, then, in my opinion, it should be a wedge with a very narrow angle and straight bevels, like a spyderco is made. And have a lot of teeth. Perhaps the best rope knife is a saw. Japanese Silky are very good

 

[old4570]

Outdoors55 on Utube is worth a look at ..

Scandi ....... Very slice'y edge . Great for processing meat , carving wood ! ( Slice'y things )
Chopping / hacking / whacking - Not so much !
The exception is stronger harder tougher steel . Got some really tough steel , make for some nice scandi .
Also , scandi is relatively easy to sharpen due to the large flat edge .

The knife in this post is a Hulk of Steel , but the scandi edge makes it a nice slicer .
With a conventional edge , it would slice like an axe .
If it had been over 60HRC , it would have most likely been amazing . ( If it's really 1095 )

Sharpening scandi ..
Relatively easy once you have established an edge and all you have to do is maintain it .

How ever ..................... ! If you have to fix a bad edge ( from the factory perhaps ) , then yes .......... it be a lot of work !
But once you have an edge you can live with , then maintaining that edge should be easy .
I have spent over 2 hours fixing poor factory edges that look perfectly fine to the naked eye . The big tell is when you start sharpening that edge and you can see where material is being removed and not .. That how poor the factory edge really is . And one spot that is almost always bad is where the blade starts to curve to the tip . The scandi is almost always fubar here . ( From a sharpening perspective )

I have Elmax scandi and I love it . ( Wish it was harder ) I have one scandi that tops 65HRC and it's awesome .
Magnacut scandi = Maybe one day ....