Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the
KnifeCenter and welcome to KniFAQ episode at the knife
series where I answer all your questions whether they're sharp
or dull. This week amongst several topics we're going to be
discussing we're going to be talking about saber grinds, flat
grinds, Scandi, grinds the difference between them. We're
gonna talk about serrations are they all they cracked up to be?
Or should you leave them in the dust?
Let's check them out (KniFAQ) Alright folks, if you're new to
the series, the deal is, you all leave your questions in the
comments section below.
I go through them, pick out a few that I think sound
interesting to talk about and we'll pull them out for a future
episode. So that's what you got to do if you want a chance to be
featured in the future. First question today comes from ni mo.
When does a scandi grind become a saber grind become a full flat
grind? Question mark. All right, let's dive right into this
because there can actually be and it's no fault of anyone's
out there who who thinks that these thinks of these things
certain ways but there's a lot of confusion sometimes about
saber grinds and flat grinds, less so between Scandi and
those, those other two grinds but we'll get into all of that.
We're gonna start with skandi we'll get that out of the way
right up front. And we talked about flat grinds. Technically
saber grinds are flat. These these ground portions should be
a flat bevel. However, a Scandi is different from a knife with a
grind and a secondary bevel like you would see kind of more
typically on a folder. You don't often see Scandis on folders
like this tops, many skandi flipper right here, but the edge
on a true skandi comes right down to essentially I would say
comes down to zero there's no secondary bevel along the edge.
With some exceptions on some manufacturers will go in and put
just a micro bevel or at least a little micro convex on the edge
to make things a little tougher. Because Scandi grinds can be a
little bit more brittle when it comes right down to zero with a
you know 11 or 12 degree angle which is kind of typical of most
scanners but not all really great at working with wood. I
always like to refer to this as kind of like a double planed
chisel works fantastically on that stuff especially which is
why bushcraft users appreciate it a lot. The confusion as to
when does a Scandi become a saber. Again, we're talking
technically some different terminologies here there, the
saber grind, doesn't actually refer to the geometry of the
grind itself. You could have a saber grind that is flat, you
could have a saber grind that is hollow, you could even have as
is the case on this actual saber where the terminology comes from
a convex grind. And really what a saber grind refers to. Again,
it's not the shape, it's more about the height of the grind
along the side of the blade. Typically it's somewhere around
halfway up the blade. You can see it here on this, this cold
steel saber. What's the name of this model, the French officers
saver, really impressive thing. Convex ground not quite halfway
up the height of the blade, but you get the picture anyway, I
think a perfect example of a saber grind nowadays that's very
common on the market is something like the ESEE five.
Here you have a flat saber grind. The grind is halfway up
the height of the blade. And that's why when I use the term
saber grind on this channel, I always will have flat or hollow
or something in there to describe what the edge is
actually doing. Because saber only describes really the
height. Now some companies will use the term saber grind no
matter where the the height or where the top of the grind line
is, which is why sometimes you'll hear me say something
like a high saber grind if it's higher up, but typically in that
sort of case, I'll actually I'll try to refer to something more
as like a high flat grind or a high hollow grind. Like on this
Civivi conspirator right here you can see the top of the grind
line poking out in front of that fuller right there. And full
flat grind as you see on the Spyderco stretch 2 XL literally
is a flat ground, the full height of the blade, you can
also have full hollow grinds. That's really what it comes down
to. You can say saber grind, but it doesn't describe the actual
shape of the edge and what the cutting geometry is going to be
like at least not wholly without adding things like flat hollow
or convex along with that saber descriptor. So hope those points
help you out sir. All right, next question. comes from
Kanukkarhu are blades serrations at really any more effective on
certain materials as some claim than a properly quote unquote
sharpened plain edge. My personal experience is that
serrations saw through stuff long after the plain edge of a
knife is dull. And that gives people who can't or don't
maintain a proper edge the impression that the serrations
cut some materials better. I maintained that and
appropriately sharpened edge cuts as well or better than one
with serrations. Care to weigh in on this. Sure thing.
You're not wrong, but it's only part of the picture. A lot of
times, yeah, a properly maintained plain edge is going
to be just as good as a serrated edge. But only on certain
things. There are certain areas where serrations absolutely will
hold an advantage. And I'm not necessarily talking about the
longevity of the edge, but the actual cutting interface itself
between the blade and the medium. For instance, like thick
slicks ISIL rope, that sort of thing like the real or thick
note, not Manila, what's the really thick rope can actually
pose a bit of a problem to a finely sharpened, plain edge,
especially if you go with like a mirror polish. Push cuts will
work better for something like that. But if you're actually
drawing along a slicing motion, the serrations are going to grab
into that material better, and actually give more edge a chance
to cut through that material at a given time can be the same
type of thing with like, anything where an edge might
slip as well, such as like hard rubber, that sort of thing?
Absolutely. Is a use case scenario for something like
this. Will a plain edge get the job done? Yeah, most of the
time. But to simply say there's there's no time when a serrated
edge would be better for a given task, which you didn't quite say
it in those words. But that's kind of the the gist you were
going for at least it feels like that, as I read your question,
right tool for the job. And sometimes iterations are
absolutely what should be called for. Now when it comes to the
subject of maintaining a serrated edge, they definitely
are going to going to require more care. And a serrated edge
will dole out eventually, but it is going to cut more
aggressively as it dulls, then a plain edge knife, you can get
rods sized to essentially these these particular servation
patterns, there's even some some products out there that are
specifically designed for specific companies servation
patterns. But if you're going for ease, I'm gonna bring this
ESEE five back up. This is kind of a an interesting hybrid
duration that you have going on back here, you've essentially,
this may not be exactly like the VEF flat tops operations, but
they're pretty similar. You can see rather than points we have
some flat sections, and then the serrations are grounded. And
when you look at the back, you still have the full secondary
bevel there on the serrated edge. So you can sharpen these
serrations without actually sharpening the serrations in a
way, when you go in with your flat stone on each side, you're
going to be removing a little bit of that flat top and eating
further into the half moon scoop out of the servation itself. And
that might be enough and in many cases will be enough to keep
that serrated edge biting and doing what serrations are good
at kind of cool. Next question comes from Max the maker DCA I'm
looking for a knife to carry with my paramilitary 2 here are
the requirements under $50 under three inch blade and a different
handle material than my rgt micarta scaled pm two. So this
one I did kind of latch on to most of the time. This type of
question is doesn't make it through to the final cut when we
when we shoot these because he left things like so wide open.
It's almost like well, what do you you know, so many different
things could fit this. But something stuck on me on this
one. I was like, Alright, if I had a paramilitary to if I was
carrying a paramilitary to what would complement that blade. And
you know what I started thinking about what's a cool small,
little wharncliffe style blade and I tried to go for something
a little less obvious like cold Steel's many tough light and
tough Light series immediately came to mind. But how about the
Boker Joule 45 bucks for these two and a half inch D2 blade
with that wharncliffe shape. Three finger grip can slide it
in your fifth pocket if you want that watch pocket on your jeans.
Nice little precise utility knife and as a very different
kind of character than your Paramilitary Two might. What do
you think of this guy? It's really nice full flat grind on
it. Talking about grinds earlier. Frame locking knife
folds up quite nicely. You've got washers in the pivot. So
even if you're carrying it in that, that dusty pocket or
you're putting it through some heavier, dirty, your cuts,
pivots gonna work well, it still pops open quite nicely. Nice
precise stuff you can do with the tip as well. What do you
think? And what do you folks think out there?
All right, next question comes from Chris Clodfelter. Got a
noob question on several forums I follow. They're all they are
always talking about reprofiling the blade and adjusting the
angle of the shoulder. What does this mean? And why would someone
choose to do this? Wouldn't that affect the life of the blade?
Sure, let's go through this bit by bit. On a lot of forums,
you're gathering together some of the most passionate of a
given subjects, you're going to hear a lot about, you know,
reprofiling blades. And the reason is, what you can do is
improve the performance a bit depending on what you're going
for. Because the thinner you go, of course, and remember, we
talked about the scandi grind, which has a very technically
thin edge, something like 12 degrees per side, give or take a
typical sharpened knife, let's say it's a 20 degree edge. The
thinner you go, the more brittle the edge is going to be, but
more efficiently, and the more kind of satisfying way it's
going to slice. And lots of folks would like to do this
right out of the box to improve the performance and get more out
of it right from the get go. The other thing is after you've
sharpen that knife several times at 20 degrees, think of like a
flat grind here, they were talking about this, the flat
saber grind. Anyway, on this essay, the more you sharpen this
edge, the thicker that edge is going to get. So after you've
sharpened it a few times, if you're noticing a difference,
you can thin out the shoulders either just by removing a bit of
the shoulder or going all the way down to the edge at a
steeper degree maybe like 17 or 15 or something like that.
That'll bring a bit of that performance back again, at the
sacrifice of some edge stability. But even if you kind
of reprofiled this take take apart even the fact of the edge
is going to get thicker, the more you sharpen it, if you're
starting with a quarter inch thick blade stock here with not
the thinnest edge to begin with. Maybe you want to come in at 15
degrees and thin that out. But when you get right to the edge
when you get it to that, that 15 degree, if you came back at that
point and gave it a 20 degree per side bevel right at the
edge, you're going to get a little more stability back and
you're going to have less shoulder getting in the way when
you go to cut. Will this be noticeable? Not to everybody,
but the more you cut and the more you kind of analyze how
things feel as they cut definitely can make a difference
however, as to would this affect the life of the blade kind of
kind of hinted on that the edge itself is going to be a little
bit thinner. But you are you are going further up the blade but
you're not really sharpening you're not bringing the edge
further up the blade. So in terms of longevity depends on
the use but the actual sharpening part of it not quite
so much. And then on different terms a little bit anyway. So
hope that helps. Now we come to the lightning round for today.
First one is from knife guy 2112. Hey DCA every time I grab
a knife to carry I always open and close it once or twice. It
does not matter if it is a fidgety knife or not I still do
it even a fixed blade. I will unsheath it then reshape. My
wife has called me out on it and I have no quote unquote logical
excuse. Can you or any other viewers relate? Yes. Yeah. Next
question. Fred. The barber Yes 100% Who doesn't do that? Fred
the barber Hey there DCA I recently purchased a Civivi
conspirator. And I love most aspects about it. However, I
chose the wooden handle, which I find to be dangerously slippery.
When flipping it open. I've had it fly out of my hands a few
times. Any suggestions on ways to customize it to add grip so
that my fishing doesn't result in injury? maybe slow down on
your flip. I mean, it's doesn't strike me as a particularly
slippery knife handle like at all really? What are you doing?
Are you like, you put a lot of rest into it. Because you
shouldn't need to. Or you button pressing the button and wrist
flicking it? Yeah, maybe hang on to it a little more. But there
are some things you can do. If it weren't a wood handle, one of
the easy things you can do. I've done this on an old multi tool
that I had skateboard grip tape can be applied and that's kind
of a really aggressive gritty thing. might not look great on
this particular knife but maybe take a length of hacksaw blade
and real lightly you could just score the surface of this either
just straight striations give yourself a diamond pattern if
you want a little fun with it. Do a little custom arising but
curious to wonder to know how this doesn't feel slippery at
all to me. Maybe he's got a long term career at the Crisco
factory.
That's weird. Wash your hands then. Yeah, I don't know,
generally. But hope that helps me I would being wood it's gonna
be really easy to texture that up in some way. I mean, shoot
actually easiest way if you could get some really rough
sandpaper and just scuff up the surface but some carefully done
striations i or diamond checkering done yourself I think
would look pretty cool. Mike Jurnak or Journak says how many
times do you get cut per year? I'm saying an average of five
times. Who can say really? I stopped counting. Most of the
times when there's a band aid in the close ups. It's Thomas. It's
not me, but I get good a few times. That happens. Time flies
when you're having fun. Which brings us to our Most Serious
question of the day from chicken drumstick. What knife would you
choose to slay a fire breathing dragon seem to have gotten a
dragon infestation and the exterminator storm inator says
they don't deal with dragons. I mean, I get that. I mean the
liability insurance alone is probably just you know, OSHA
alone can be a headache. Well as any good Tolkien fan should
know. All you need is the black tipped arrow. There you go.
Ontario Bob dozer arrow folder right there. 65 bucks. Take care
of your dragons. No problem. I betcha. Fantasy nerds. You with
me out there. I'll see you. Anyway, that is all we've got
for today. Remember, leave your questions in the comments
section below this video and you'll have a chance for it to
get picked for a future episode. If you want to check out any of
these knives and perhaps purchase one including that nice
big saber right there at the front. There'll be links in the
description that take you over to KnifeCenter.com Make sure
you're signed up for our knife rewards program while you're
there because if you're going to spend your money on one of these
knives or Sabres medicine, earn some free money to spend on your
next one. I'm David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter That's
Thomas behind the camera and we're signing off. See you next
time. You got a dragon problem don't invest in gold