Carbon or Stainless, Convex or Scandi grind?

[lee]

I was wondering what members preferences are in their blades?

I only use full convex and 440c, T6Mov and N695 stainless, my next purchase will be something in 3v.

I find the full convex grind is a good all round knife maybe because I tend to do more food/game prep than woodwork. I do find my large convex blades baton and split wood well.

I gave up the rust battle with carbon blades years ago when I realised I would not win lol.

 

[HillBill]

I prefer a scandi for general bushy stuff, as its the best grind for working with wood. But if woodwork wasn't on the agenda, a fine convex would be my first choice. I use an axe to split with, battoning is not something i do. Only the really fine stuff for fine kindling do i use the knife on.

I'd advise you try an RWL-34 blade Lee. Or Elmax if you want real top end stuff.

 

[lee]

I use to split fire wood with an axe but I mainly baton now, I find it more controlled safer and somewhat relaxing.

 

[HillBill]

I like using the axe... far more satisfying , though it does require a lot more practice to be proficient at it. Quicker too.

 

[leon1968]

I use both Carbon and Stainless. I also use both Convex and Scandi grinds. Both have their pro's and con's. I do tend to find that convex seems to work better on a Stainless style of knife than it does on a carbon though. That may be a characteristic of the alloy / steel though (more wear resistance and higher rockwell hardness) pretty much all of my woodcarving tools are of a scandi style grind. They are easier to control and to teach with.

General woodsman style tools (multi purpose, game prep and splitting) I tend to use a convex grind, it's more utilitarian and a more robust edge.

I don't find maintaining the edge very difficult on any of my knives. I have a number of Stainless knives in many materials, some are flat ground (Gene Ingram #30 & modified #6), some have convex grinds (Custom Fallkniven's F1, S1, WM1, A1 and a Benchmade BM210) and a number of Scandi Grinds (HillBill Mora Classic, a Guy Stainthorp based on the BM210 and a Custom made Grohmann / Russell knife). What I would say is that each metal has a slightly different characteristic when sharpening for instance 12C27 and RWL 34 are almost the same to sharpen except for the amount of time as RWL34 will take a little longer.

As to splitting tools, for choice I am with HillBill on this, I find using an axe a very rewarding and therapeutic experience.