I was gifted this Helle Harding knife a few years ago. I didn’t like the way that it cut right out of the box so I tried to sharpen it according to the manual which states that it is a Scandi grand. I tried sharpening by laying the whole bevel flat and it would never get any sharper. Then I use my Lanskey and went to town. I obviously overdid it and now this new bevel looks like absolute shit. Plus, I don’t know how I got so many scuffs on the body of the blade.
Can anyone give me advice on how to salvage this knife. Should I try to re-bevel it? Should I just live with this?
I wanted to like this knife, but the shape is so weird and I’ve never had a knife that was so hard to sharpen.
Eesh. What grits do you have? Scandis are a bit of a hassle to sharpen since you have to scrape off so much metal to apex due to the geometry. But I like them nonetheless. They just take longer to apex. Just put on a tv show and grind away, you’ll get there. Though you’ve fucked the bevel so idk now. It’s gonna take a lot to get back to scandi. Low grit and patience I guess.
You could remove enough metal to get it back to a true scandi grind, or you could just use it with the new “macro bevel” you sharpened into existence. Your call. Either way, as long as you get a clean apex it’ll cut stuff.
I dont know much about lanksy systems, but I'd absolutely redo that on a rough diamond stone to get it back to scandi. There will be far more qualified people commenting though, I'm sure.
Buy a cheap Mora to learn on.
Scandi are not hard to sharpen, but you want to work from the shoulder to the edge. Mark the entire bevel with Sharpie and start at the shoulder - grind the bevel as near to flat as you can manage. These are typically mid 20⁰ inclusive with a slight microbevel or strop convex.
Make a few passes and lightly lower the dpine till you just feel the shoulder catch, then elevate the spine slightly to grind just in front of the transition. Do that every so often as you go, as a means of 'recalibrating' edge angle.
If you just try to work on the entire bevel the odds of rounding it go way up, which will negatively effect cut quality.
Maybe this was my problem to begin with. I was just laying the entire bevel flat and it was cutting even worse than it was out of the box. Then I went ahead and did this monstrosity. It cuts, but I hate that I fucked up what was a really good looking knife
You might need to undercut the choil a little.
Mark the shoulder first and grind that puppy flat as you can to the edge, increase the bevel a little. Reapply sharpie as often as you need. You can get it back, just work with a plan. You'll need a bench stone, a small guided kit will take forever.
These are a good intro to sharpening both thinner bevel knives, and full convex hatchets etc. No shortcuts, you first need to work behind the edge every time.
If you can, pick up a cheap Mora and learn better on that first.
I've trashed a bunch of good knives before learning better. It does suck.
Thank you! I’ll report back with results
Step 1: pick a fuckin' angle and stick with it! LOL
Step 2: use a slow belt sander, or a very coarse stone
Get the sharpal 168h (325/1000gritt) diamond plate … it’s 44$ on amazon … an inexpensive strip and compound … watch a few videos on YouTube vids … and send it :)
Just my.02$