ESEE RC-5 Question

[Meddle]

I was wondering if anyone has experience sharpening one of these in the field with a DC3 (or 4) stone? Is it easy or hard? Would you say this knife holds its edge under hard use?

Thx for the time.

 

[unit]

Never sharpened mine in the field. Never needed to. The knife holds an edge quite well (for what I do).

It is not the knife I might select for cleaning fish or skinning, but for processing wood and hard uses, it is fantastic. I have not had mine on any sharpening equipment in months (probably 6 outings) and it will still scrape hair off my arm (i.e. shave roughly) and (more importantly) make fuzz sticks like a champ...this took some practice though...making fuzz sticks with a thinner blade is MUCH easier.

If I thought I would need to sharpen in the field, I would probably elect to take a few sheets of wet/dry sandpaper and go that route. 1095 seems to respond really well to sandpaper (and a convex edge).

Hope this helps.

 

[1066vik]

have no experience with the DC3/4 -- but have had good results with the folding dual grit diamond stones, like the DMT diafold.
that said, ESEE heat treat is pretty good - it takes some doing to dull them down, unless you're just wanting to give the edge a quick touch to clean off oxidation before doing really fine work.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have a DC4, and I'm impressed by it. Works fast, and the ceramic side is the most aggressive I've seen (compared to other ceramics, like Spyderco). The ceramic side feels very different (rough, actually), but works surprisingly well. As with any diamond or ceramic hone, use it with very light pressure. Bearing down too hard on it will be counter-productive, and will also scrub excessive amounts of diamond off the hone, shortening it's useful life.

Having said the above, my first choice for sharpening and maintaining such a knife would likely be the wet/dry sandpaper on a firm, but forgiving, backing (like leather on wood). You can pick & choose which grits work best for your needs, and both the block and sandpaper can be cut & sized appropriately to your knife. Very inexpensive, too.

One reason I like using the sandpaper method, it's done with an edge-trailing stroke. The downside of using a pocket-sized hone free-hand, it's pretty easy to get 'bitten' by the blade, especially with a large blade on that small surface. Doesn't take much to run the edge off the end of the hone and bite a fingertip or a knuckle (unless you lay the hone down, but you have to keep it from moving somehow). I'm all for developing the skill & touch required for free-hand on any device, but the edge-trailing stroke used with the sandpaper keeps the edge moving away from the fingers & knuckles.