Any former Boy Scouts? Remember sharpning knives old school.

Yes and yes. I still have my grandfather's old oil stone. Used it a couple of weeks ago and it still works great. Followed it up on a leather strop with green compound though.
 
yes that's how I learned and still sharpen some of my knifes. now you can barely have a knife in boy scouts.
 
I have a stone I bought maybe 20 years ago, white in color, very fine. it is duel purpose, as I use it to also sharpen fishing flies.
 
Scouting program was a great teacher of lesson for life. Too bad the program, is no longer in vogue, like it once was.
 
No and yes.

Swap meet knives.. And buck oil.

Know I have 2-20yrs old DMTs
 
I go back earlier than Boy Scout knives. My first knife was a Cub Scout knife. It's what I learned to sharpen when I was 8yrs old. There were no fancy sharpening setups back then. Just benchstones, and the sharpeners built into the back of electric can openers that would chew a blade to pieces. I learned on a dual-sided carborundum stone bought at the hardware store.


Stitchawl
 
An Eagle Scout here. I remember sharpening knives with a small square grey stone. Those early years of scouts really solidified my knife love and usage.
Teaching my nephew how to sharpen was one of the most difficult things I have tried to do.
It is sad about the lack of cutting tool training and usage. My nephew's troop that I volunteered with was more in to video gaming. When they would go camping they would stay in shelters and building rather than camping in tents. It was very disheartening. Most of the boys would not even take the time to learn firecraft or bushcraft skills. I am very glad that in a few years my boys will be old enough to join scouts.
 
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Akapennypincher said:
Remember just using a stone, with oil?
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You mean there's another way!:eek:

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Not only do I sharpen old school, but several years ago I was rooting around in the attic, and found a box with my old boy scout stone in it. I used it on a knife and was surprised how fast and how sharp it got. A few minutes on the stone, a light strop on the back of a Dickies work belt, and it shaves hair. So just for yuks these past few years I've actually went back to using my old boy scout stone. Works GREAT!
 
Akapennypincher said:
Remember just using a stone, with oil?
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Still have my first Arkansas stone, works ok but waterstones have pulled me away from messy oil stones. I've always just used stones, I just use better stones now.
 
stitchawl said:
I go back earlier than Boy Scout knives. My first knife was a Cub Scout knife. It's what I learned to sharpen when I was 8yrs old. There were no fancy sharpening setups back then. Just benchstones, and the sharpeners built into the back of electric can openers that would chew a blade to pieces. I learned on a dual-sided carborundum stone bought at the hardware store.


Stitchawl
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That sends a chill up my spine. My mother used to use one of those when I was a kid, to 'sharpen' her kitchen knives. Even then, knowing absolutely nothing about sharpening, I still knew it was wrong. That grinding noise sounded as bad as a dentist's drill. :eek:

I'm making up for lost time. Didn't get much of an opportunity to learn 'proper' sharpening as a kid; most of what I've learned has come in the last 5-6 years (largely Thanks! to this forum). I was at Sears the other day, and picked up an inexpensive little AlOx pocket stone, just to try it out. Works pretty well, now that my hands have a feel for the process. Sort of 'takes me back' to what I wish I'd learned long ago, if that makes any sense at all. :)


David
 
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I have a sharpmaker,a DMT aligner,and a KME guided sharpening doo dads that have ceramic and diamond hones.They rarely get used,my Norton 8" fine/coarse India stone is what gets the most use,with my 1960 vintage 8" Lily White Washita benchstone and a DMT 10" fine/xfine called upon for certain tasks.A mark1 modO calibrated eyeball and muscle memory serve as a guide.Mineral oil on the first two and tapwater on the DMT serve to keep the surfaces from clogging.A paint stirring stick with a leather surface glued on and coated with green chromium oxide powder is used to finish.I admire the skill and dedication it takes to attain those mirror like bevels and atom splitting edges lots of folks on here achieve via exotic guided gadgets and specialized strop coatings.But I get by fine with the old fashioned ways of honing the old fashioned steels that rust and make apples taste funny that I prefer.
 
Was never a Boy Scout, but some of my older brothers were, we had a seemingly endless supply of the Case scout pattern knives with the bail, punch, screwdriver. I absolutely destroyed one of them trying to learn sharpening, along with an combination aluminum oxide stone (does spit cause the stone to break down faster than oil or water?) that was dished beyond repair. I got a clue, but not in time to save the main spear blade. Was left with a knife that effectively had two punches and a funky smelling halfpipe of a stone.
I still enjoy sharpening with a simple combination stone and some oil - I'll never use spit on a stone again, the smell would be a powerful reminder of some serious frustration!
 
sticknstring73 said:
I have a three stone set, still use it. If it ain't broke...
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Ditto - Eagle scout who was trained in knife sharpening even before I started Cub Scouts. I still use my grandfather's set to this day for the farm work knives. Have a different stone set for my daily non-farm users.
 
Personally didnt know there was another way to sharpen untill a few years ago when i started purchasing nice new fangled knives... my boy scout stone gave up the ghost when something broke it into peices in my pack years ago and has yet to be replaced.. now I have a dc4 lol if it gives anyone hope i am only 25 and still learned how to sharpen by hand first and grew up loving the outdoors. though I never made it to eagle scout.
 
Haha, Yup! I still have my "totin-chip" card somewhere (I saw it recently). That card was more important to me than any rank! I busted my butt on my first camping trip to earn it, because you weren't supposed to carry a knife unless you had it.

I still have the knives I carried in scouts, the stones, etc. And yes, still use them.

I absolutely LOVED being in scouts. I never really cared about rank. Somehow I managed to get to Life. I did mostly high adventure stuff as soon as I could so the merit badges came few and far between. Our troop camped every month, all year long. Some of the best times of my childhood were with the scouts. When we have kids, my son will likely do it too, unless of course they become too PC.

What's this business about scouts not carrying knives now?
 
I have a two-sided whetstone and a rusty can of oil on the bench, I regularly use it for everything from knives to the edges on garden tools. This weekend I'll be sharpening up the plades on a push reel mower with it (and a file, I'm guessing).
 
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