Do you have a fixed idea of what makes the best woodcarving knife? Are you heard to say “the best carving knife is a scandi grind, period! “, as I once saw commented on Facebook.
In carving, as with everything else in my life I refuse to state what the best thing for someone else is. I will not suggest constraints upon someone else’s choices. I refuse to direct someone down one path simply because it worked for me.
I have always found that my preferred knife grind has a very slight convexity to it. I love this style for a number of reasons, firstly, when honing or sharpening the amount of metal I need to remove is limited. Secondly, the convexity of the blade means I can do scooping, concave cuts without having the blade dig in. Thirdly, the shallow grind means I can see exactly where my cut will be with a high degree of precision.
My knives are so shallowly ground as to have quite fragile edges but since I use them just to cut wood and not as crowbars I don’t worry too much about that.
But, I am bombarded on Facebook with Scandi grind knives, some spooncarvers out there have this fixed idea that a scandi grind is the only blade to use, possibly because of not having tried another blade that has been carefully thought out or perhaps because this is what they have been told when learning to carve spoons. Knife makers love them because they are easier to make. So I have bowed to the inevitable and decided to give a scandi grind a proper try. I have made this little carver which pushes all of my buttons in terms of blade length, thickness and shape but instead of going with my instinct I’ve stuck with a simple scandi grind.
I
have to say, I like it. For flat planing cuts and for shaping a convex surface it is an absolute joy to use. It is neat and precise and cuts very well.
But
Those hard shoulders where the bevel meets the flat of the blade really bug me.
I don’t actually like honing and sharpening a scandi edge, the amount of self discipline required to avoid producing a micro-bevel is incredible.
And lastly, and for me, potentially the biggest issue, it doesn’t like concave surfaces. The squared off shoulders and the flat bevel mean that cutting into a concave area is uncomfortable. It just doesn’t feel right and I constantly find myself wanting to change knives.
A year or so ago I made a sloyd knife, or at least I made a small knife in the same pattern that many label as a sloyd knife. I have a whole different view of what “sloyd” actually means so I won’t go there in this post.
Anyway, I couldn’t get on with a scandi grind then either and rounded down that blade too. It now looks like this. It’s lovely to carve with now.
Anyway what I suppose I am trying to say is that it is easy to get into the sort of mindset that is fixed upon one type of tool being the best and only logical choice. In my view everyone should keep an open mind about things, try different options and only decide once you have experimented properly. Then you can say with confidence that you have found the best solution for you and you alone. The best solution for you won’t be the best for everyone.
I guess for my own carving I should probably stick with my all time favourite.
This knife is an absolute joy to use. My vote goes for “Curvacious Convex”
