Decent Knife

Nope, not me, I just don't get scandi grind sharpening on wetstones. Like I say, I've flattened the stones and checked them against glass, I take my time pressing down on the bevel only - IT JUST DOESN'T WORK! I can get them sharp, just not scary (shave-the-hair-off-arm" sharplike I can with lansky and flat grind or wetstone and chisel or plane blade with an angle guide. I keep my moras for larder bone work (e.g. chopping head and feet off)
You are correct, if you are only working on the main bevel.

The cutting edge of a Mora is actually an almost invisible secondary bevel, at a few degrees greater angle than the big primary one that you are keeping flat against the stone.

To actually sharpen it using only this method you would need to grind away a lot of metal until the blade edge had retreated sufficiently to remove the secondary bevel altogether. This would take ages, and leave you with a scandi-zero profile.

Which would be quite impractical. The edge would be weaker due to the smaller included angle, but most importantly the only way to properly sharpen it would be to remove more of the primary bevel, highly laborious.

By having an almost invisible secondary bevel the actual cutting edge can be maintained by stropping, even with a steel, but if you want to touch it up on a whetstone it is vital that you do it at the correct angle and take off the bare minimum of material, otherwise you will just blunt it. Mora publish the angles applied at the factory. It barely takes a couple of strokes. The more you take off, the more work you will need to do in the future to knock back the primary bevels.

Skilled people can maintain a Mora indefinitely by stoning both primary and secondary bevels each time, keeping each in proportion. To reiterate, simply stoning the primary bevel by pressing it flat against the stone will not sharpen it. You must then lift the blade a tiny amount, a couple of degrees maybe to touch the secondary bevel, which is the actual cutting edge.

I think this has been very clearly described, earlier in the thread.

BTW, hunting knives don't need to be sharp enough to slice unsupported sheets of paper, or cleanly shave with. Nor do they require full tang or enormously thick blades, keep those for bushcrafters to baton logs for their fires, and those who think they might not be able to "survive" without one.
 
Have you lost 3 expensive custom made knives ?
2 reasonably expensive custom knives and one mora.

Strangely, I still have the knife I bought when I first started stalking in the UK (a Fallkniven F1). It’s an ugly old thing, and I’ve never really loved it. But I always come back to it - it’s a true workhorse. I’ve learned to sharpen it til it’s dangerous to man and beast, the handle stays very grippy even when cold, wet and bloody, and it is fantastic to use with a ferro rod.

After going through a LOT of knives, I now just alternate between this and an Enzo Trapper.

I could very easily buy any number more, but usually manage to control myself!
 
Nope, not me, I just don't get scandi grind sharpening on wetstones. Like I say, I've flattened the stones and checked them against glass, I take my time pressing down on the bevel only - IT JUST DOESN'T WORK! I can get them sharp, just not scary (shave-the-hair-off-arm" sharplike I can with lansky and flat grind or wetstone and chisel or plane blade with an angle guide. I keep my moras for larder bone work (e.g. chopping head and feet off)
Scandy grind should be maintained exactly at the set bevel angle pushing away from you then flipping and coming back on the opposite bevel . Do not change the angle, do not try and create a second micro bevel .
The knife will feel blunt when its ready as you should have raised a burr , thats actually sitting on the edge giving thecimpresion of being blunt when you touch the edge . What you do then is strop it on a flat strop ( leather strip raw side up . Draw it in reverse like your buttering bread ( again feeling the bevel flat down ).
The idea is to knock off the burr and polish the edge all of a sudden your blunt knife turns scary sharp
Scandi is a great going for green wood and many jobs and will work well enough on game but its brutal and a high friction edge . Deervknives are at thier best with a full flat and a tiny secondary bevel , yet this will not beat a scandi on green wood .

The very worst thing is to change the angle when sharpening a scandi the angle will be even steeper again than the original and your unlikely to get it even both sides and true to dead centre along tge whole blade .
Just bear in mind that most pro butchers employ the services of a pro sharpener periodically to bring thier knives back to full sharp as stopping on the steel only polishes the edge (re aligning it straight )
 
Scandy grind should be maintained exactly at the set bevel angle pushing away from you then flipping and coming back on the opposite bevel . Do not change the angle, do not try and create a second micro bevel .
The knife will feel blunt when its ready as you should have raised a burr , thats actually sitting on the edge giving thecimpresion of being blunt when you touch the edge . What you do then is strop it on a flat strop ( leather strip raw side up . Draw it in reverse like your buttering bread ( again feeling the bevel flat down ).
The idea is to knock off the burr and polish the edge all of a sudden your blunt knife turns scary sharp
Scandi is a great going for green wood and many jobs and will work well enough on game but its brutal and a high friction edge . Deervknives are at thier best with a full flat and a tiny secondary bevel , yet this will not beat a scandi on green wood .

The very worst thing is to change the angle when sharpening a scandi the angle will be even steeper again than the original and your unlikely to get it even both sides and true to dead centre along tge whole blade .
Just bear in mind that most pro butchers employ the services of a pro sharpener periodically to bring thier knives back to full sharp as stopping on the steel only polishes the edge (re aligning it straight )
What you say is correct for scandi-zero, but that is not what Moras are, from the factory. By design.

If you want to maintain them in that state then what I said is correct. But the change in angle when lifting the blade to touch the secondary for the last few strokes is very small, over-do it just slightly and you'll blunt it and make repair tedious.

When you strop a scandi-zero on a yielding leather surface using compound, you are actually creating a minute secondary bevel, slightly convex. As would be evident under a microscope. A very good edge can thus be started and easily maintained.

Regarding burr formation, yes it is part of the process but also highly dependent on how you use the stones. And the characteristics of the blade steel. Pushing the knife into the stone minimises this. Dragging the blade back along the stone maximises it. Swishing it about in a circular or figure-eight manner is a bit of both. If you sharpen progressively up through finer and finer grades it's less of an issue, but still needs dealing with.

Butchers steel their knives continuously to reset the edge where it may have rolled a little. Not actually sharpening them by taking off metal. Eventually they do need the edge put back by grinding, which as you say is often outsourced to a specialist.
Scandy grind should be maintained exactly at the set bevel angle pushing away from you then flipping and coming back on the opposite bevel . Do not change the angle, do not try and create a second micro bevel .
The knife will feel blunt when its ready as you should have raised a burr , thats actually sitting on the edge giving thecimpresion of being blunt when you touch the edge . What you do then is strop it on a flat strop ( leather strip raw side up . Draw it in reverse like your buttering bread ( again feeling the bevel flat down ).
The idea is to knock off the burr and polish the edge all of a sudden your blunt knife turns scary sharp
Scandi is a great going for green wood and many jobs and will work well enough on game but its brutal and a high friction edge . Deervknives are at thier best with a full flat and a tiny secondary bevel , yet this will not beat a scandi on green wood .

The very worst thing is to change the angle when sharpening a scandi the angle will be even steeper again than the original and your unlikely to get it even both sides and true to dead centre along tge whole blade .
Just bear in mind that most pro butchers employ the services of a pro sharpener periodically to bring thier knives back to full sharp as stopping on the steel only polishes the edge (re aligning it straight )
I think that you are describing how to sharpen Scandi-zero. Which a Mora is not, it was made with a micro bevel quite intentionally to serve as an accomodating utility knife, and requires some sort of approach similar to what I described if it is to be kept similar to how the factory intended. Which I suspect most owners have no interest in learning, maybe just scrape it through a blade tech until it can deliver no more, scrap and buy again. A perfectly valid strategy, which also keeps Mora going, I mean how many knives per year do they and the others make ? Why are we not buried under a mountain of such affordable and usable knives, but blunt beyond salvaging ? Does it make sense to bother sharpening a Mora using the same expensive equipment and time as a more premium knife deserves, unless it is a hobby in itself ? What I said is not incorrect.

But but but, investing in a better quality knife and learning how to look after it with some further investment in simple equipment, will more than pay for itself over the years c.f. a handful of neglected Mora beaters and be much more satisfying to own.

Of course it can also be a blank canvas to try out other ideas before trashing a better knife when they don't work as hoped.

I am not dogmatic about "mine is the best and only way to sharpening nirvana", there are seemingly at least as many peculiar ideas about how to do it as there are different ideas about how best to clean a rifle barrel, and with which products, or not.

I defer to your knowledge as a maker of premium knives. I think we are in agreement that a scandi grind is probably not the best for a modern hunting knife.

Or you can simply treat a Mora as an inexpensive blank canvas to practice on or to try out pet ideas.
 
I defer to your knowledge as a maker of premium knives. I think we are in agreement that a scandi grind is probably not the best for a modern hunting knife.

Any good knifemaker would tell you that if you was discussing having a knife made for stalking.
 
I defer to your knowledge as a maker of premium knives. I think we are in agreement that a scandi grind is probably not the best for a modern hunting knife.

Any good knifemaker would tell you that if you was discussing having a knife made for stalking.
I keep a scandi in the larder for the initial larder work on roe deer (chopping off legs, head and opening up the ribcage) which can be quite brutal on more refined blades and tips. Whereas I want a really sharp knife for the gralloch. I know I can use a saw for the ribcage, but cleaning it of all the muck and hair is a pain. Hopefully I'll get them sharper with Jacklore's technique - magnet on order!
 
What you say is correct for scandi-zero, but that is not what Moras are, from the factory. By design.

If you want to maintain them in that state then what I said is correct. But the change in angle when lifting the blade to touch the secondary for the last few strokes is very small, over-do it just slightly and you'll blunt it and make repair tedious.

When you strop a scandi-zero on a yielding leather surface using compound, you are actually creating a minute secondary bevel, slightly convex. As would be evident under a microscope. A very good edge can thus be started and easily maintained.

Regarding burr formation, yes it is part of the process but also highly dependent on how you use the stones. And the characteristics of the blade steel. Pushing the knife into the stone minimises this. Dragging the blade back along the stone maximises it. Swishing it about in a circular or figure-eight manner is a bit of both. If you sharpen progressively up through finer and finer grades it's less of an issue, but still needs dealing with.

Butchers steel their knives continuously to reset the edge where it may have rolled a little. Not actually sharpening them by taking off metal. Eventually they do need the edge put back by grinding, which as you say is often outsourced to a specialist.

I think that you are describing how to sharpen Scandi-zero. Which a Mora is not, it was made with a micro bevel quite intentionally to serve as an accomodating utility knife, and requires some sort of approach similar to what I described if it is to be kept similar to how the factory intended. Which I suspect most owners have no interest in learning, maybe just scrape it through a blade tech until it can deliver no more, scrap and buy again. A perfectly valid strategy, which also keeps Mora going, I mean how many knives per year do they and the others make ? Why are we not buried under a mountain of such affordable and usable knives, but blunt beyond salvaging ? Does it make sense to bother sharpening a Mora using the same expensive equipment and time as a more premium knife deserves, unless it is a hobby in itself ? What I said is not incorrect.

But but but, investing in a better quality knife and learning how to look after it with some further investment in simple equipment, will more than pay for itself over the years c.f. a handful of neglected Mora beaters and be much more satisfying to own.

Of course it can also be a blank canvas to try out other ideas before trashing a better knife when they don't work as hoped.

I am not dogmatic about "mine is the best and only way to sharpening nirvana", there are seemingly at least as many peculiar ideas about how to do it as there are different ideas about how best to clean a rifle barrel, and with which products, or not.

I defer to your knowledge as a maker of premium knives. I think we are in agreement that a scandi grind is probably not the best for a modern hunting knife.

Or you can simply treat a Mora as an inexpensive blank canvas to practice on or to try out pet ideas.
If the grind on a mora has a secondary micro bevel its not a scandi
 
May have been mentioned before but I find my EKA Swingblade a pretty good allround stalking knife.
 
May have been mentioned before but I find my EKA Swingblade a pretty good allround stalking knife.
I got one recently, the blade side seems awfully difficult to sharpen (I used it on all bits of a pricket). Any tips on sharpening? The gut blade was really nice.
 
Did someone mention Puma Gamewarden? Someone gifted this to me many many years ago. Not a knife I've ever actually used which is a shame. Not really a stalking knife for my purposes but nice all the same. I do have a box for knives and it seems rather full. Is that wrong?
Screenshot 2021-01-25 at 16.43.26.webp
 
I don't think you can go far wrong with the Bushwear knife for £4.99 , it's strong sharp and orange handle makes it easy to see in bad light.
 
Did someone mention Puma Gamewarden? Someone gifted this to me many many years ago. Not a knife I've ever actually used which is a shame. Not really a stalking knife for my purposes but nice all the same. I do have a box for knives and it seems rather full. Is that wrong?
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You see versions of this knife all over the place. I have one badged as ‘Schrade’ that has been in the family since at least the 60s.

6F0B1A99-8AB6-413A-B78D-9EC81FB4F0C8.jpeg
 
I got one recently, the blade side seems awfully difficult to sharpen (I used it on all bits of a pricket). Any tips on sharpening? The gut blade was really nice.
I have a lansky system that works well on both blades. So other than use one of those I can't really give any more tips
 
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