Steel and edge geometry are crucial with scandi grinds. I have had a Tomi blade by the Finish bladesmith Jukka Hankala - a rhomboid profile with very high scandi grind and convexed edge, made of Silversteel. That blade remained shaving sharp after chopping through a pig leg bone.
Thanks for the input guys! If I'm understanding everyone, what I should do is give the Scandi grind a few passes to maintain the grind then since the RB3 is softer, give it a small edge bevel or convex. That's pretty much the procedure I've used for my Carbon Mora and it's always been plenty sharp for my needs but before I did that to the RB3 I wanted to check with those in the know. Ruining a $10 Mora is different than a $100 ESEE.
After a few sharpenings the edge would be convexed anyway, I would personally not change the geometry and would let it to be "naturally" convexed
Excellent! Thank you very much for getting that info! I'm going to spend a little time just touching it up this evening I think.
I sat down yesterday evening with my Arkansas stone and strop and just touched up my RB3. It's not shaving sharp yet but it made quite a difference, not that the knife was bad or anything to begin with. I am apparently out of honing oil so I was using a little Rapidtap cutting oil with it. I'll need to get some lighter sharpening oil sometime and I think that'll help. I also ran my Zancudo over the strop and got it shaving clean. Thanks for the help guys!
Perhaps the stone can be used with Balistol or WD40? I am not sure for the Arkansas, but I use these two oils on the Norton India. WD40 makes the stone work a bit faster, but I only use it outdoors and inside I use Balistol, as it is non poisonous.
I considered WD40 but opted for the Rapidtap since it doesn't stink as bad and I store the stone in the house. I'll just grab some Smith's oil this evening. I've got to make a grocery store run this evening anyways.
WD40 can also be used for really good cleaning of the stone surface as it kind of removes the previous oil and with it - the remaining metal particles.
Unless the blade was chipped or severely dull, would it be best just to strop the rb3? And just a bit of info for ceramic stones/attachments. I use the Lansky sapphire attachment and to clean it I use a magic eraser. It works like a charm. Anyone use something different?
For the stropping - it really depends on the used compound. Diamond compound works on dull edges and fixes small flat spots on the cutting edge, but from my experience regular black and green compounds are good to refresh an edge after using it, so it is hair popping sharp again, but not good for real sharpening on a moderately dull edge.
The edge had a rough spot near the handle I wanted to smooth up a little. It is a second hand knife and I don't know it's history. I'm trying to get acquainted with it so I know how to care for it down the road as well. Plus I had done a little batoning with it over the weekend just playing around in the yard. The Zancudo is a new knife with only a very few light uses under its belt.
Still working on my Fiskars hatchet. A little time this evening with my axe puck, Arkansas stone and strop and she's popping hairs. Not a perfect edge by any means but SO much better than the OE.
These little axes are awesome! I have had GB, Wetterlings and Husqvarna but sold them all and only use Fiskars now. They are bombproof and very easy to sharpen and also great performers.
I'm pretty happy with them. I have this one and a Wal-Mart Ozark Trail (which appears to be made by Fiskars) and carry one in my pickup and one in my Xterra. I also have the Cold Steel Trail Boss axe in my Xterra as well. You can hardly buy a decent handle for the price of that axe. It has been a nice one to have as well.
I have an older one, at the time it was the largest splitting one they made, it is sadly no longer available. I am using it for 15 years to split around 10-12 cubic meters of wood each autumn and it is still going strong with only minor scuffs. I also have X5 and X7 for hiking and X10 for camping. Awesome axes
