Quote
Nice review. Sorry you damaged yourself. Not sure if its any better or worse that the fighter of the group is the one that zinged you. Is it your impression that if both had the same finish and convexed edge they would have been even closer together in performance?

I have often wondered a bit at convex edges. There seems to be quite a large proportion of people on the boards who say it is the end all be all of edge treatment. Convex edges would be ultimately stronger and can be very sharp. I just wonder if V-grind can be made sharper overall because it has less blade material behind the very edge (not counting the transition to the secondary grind and all that).
No actually,I think if the SOD had a V grind it would have done even better & if the Hook had a conv.edge it wouldn't have done as good as it did.The V ground Hook bit deeper & took bigger chunks off the side of the notch but would bind at the bottom of the notch whereas the SOD with the conv. didn't bind,but it didn't bite deeper/slice as well either.On the other hand the front belly of the Hook would bite before the recurve back half & the SOD bit the full length of the blade that came into contact with the log thereby removing more wood.So yeah the Sod appears to be the better chopper,but I don't think the difference is worth worring about.And I don't think convex edges are worth the trouble.You don't need a belt sander/mouse pad/strop for v ground edges.You can kick back in your favorite chair & sharpen a V grind.And with Bussekin steels strength isn't really an issue.
Or even modern non Bussekin steels.Sure a v edge will roll more or even chip,but you really have to be abusing it.
I would love to hear other opinoins/points of view,because my experience is pretty limited.
I still say stick with the Guard because it's prettier.