field sharpening.

bullet08

bullet08

Joined
Apr 22, 2011
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294
what stones are needed? i always freehand and get working edge. grew up with japanese wet stone, and that's all i knew. now i don't have one and i didn't know they were that expensive. always used kitchen sharpening steel to get working edge and it worked. it's not pretty, but knives i have will cut. but that thing is rather pain to carry around. i'm thinking about some sort of field sharpening stone or two. what is suggestion? i'm going to hold the knife and move the stone. so stone should be small and easy to carry.
 
I use nail files of different grits when I'm not home and I keep a decent sized leather strop in my wallet that I took from an old belt of mine uploadfromtaptalk1347450660851.jpg
 
For sharpening in the field I keep a number of options on me. I have an EZ Lap diamond card stashed away, a small ceramic rod, as well as usually a medium grit nail file like Dramos is talking about. A strop is not a bad idea though to keep in your gear.
 
I recommend a DMT Duo-Fold, in coarse/fine.

And a leather strop roughly the same size as the Duo-Fold. With a charge of jewler's rouge or chromium oxide.

The idea is to pair the two, as no sharpening is complete without a good stropping. For the field edge that you have prepared for, I can think of no better solution.

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Moose
 
doesn't diamond stone eat up lot of metal? i guess that means quicker sharpening.. or ruined edge depends on how steady my hands are :D
 
From my experience Diamond Stones are pretty gentle on your knives.

As long as you don't apply heavy pressure, you'll be fine.
Your supposed to make the stones work for your edge, not the other way around.
 
I just use one of those diamond rods that extend. It has a clip on it to attach to your pocket (like a pen) or a pack pocket.
 
bullet08 said:
doesn't diamond stone eat up lot of metal? i guess that means quicker sharpening.. or ruined edge depends on how steady my hands are :D
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They are setup in coarseness similar to stones, so, nope, you're good. I have them and use the hell outta them.

Oh, and all you need to lube the DMT stuff is water. Man, I love these things.

Moose
 
I have a DMT DUO-fold Course/Fine and a 4 sided nail buffer, I also keep a paddle strop with some green and white compound in my pack for when I'm bored around the fire. I don't use the DMT unless I put a nick in the blade.
 
tincansurvival said:
I have a DMT DUO-fold Course/Fine and a 4 sided nail buffer, I also keep a paddle strop with some green and white compound in my pack for when I'm bored around the fire. I don't use the DMT unless I put a nick in the blade.
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+1 to that. I haven't ever needed more than a good stropping while out in the woods.

... bow chicka bow wow.
 
I like the Smiths sharpener that is two sided that they sell at Wally World for $16. Got a couple rods, but I'm not good with them.
 
Sharpen your knives at home and bring a strop to the field. It's all you need.
 
Translash said:
Sharpen your knives at home and bring a strop to the field. It's all you need.
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Exactly what I do. My little field strop has leather on both sides, one with black compound and one with green.
 
I'll add bring a ceramic rod too. Chances are unless you're using a soft stainless steel knife, you probably wont get your knives blunt enough really need to use diamond duofolds (which are what I use for my primary sharpening of V-grinds btw) in the field. Then again I'm a novice hiker so my knife use in the field is kinda limited.
 
I got one of them DMT coarse/medium ones like in Mooses post.Ed Fowler recommends a Wyoming sex rock,and Bare Grills crushes quartz and rubs it on a stick to make a hone,but this only works if you have a urine soaked t shirt on your head and have just ate the ass of a rotten zebra carcass.A small piece of leather with the green stuff on it would not take much space and would be good for stropping.With those diamond stones don't use much pressure 'specially with the coarse and it will last a long time,water helps also,but can be used dry.My 2 coarse ones are smooth in spots where the diamonds were lost due to my ignorance and heavy pressure on a new dry stone.
 
C_Tanner said:
I like the Smiths sharpener that is two sided that they sell at Wally World for $16. Got a couple rods, but I'm not good with them.
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The long skinny ones? I popped the stones out of mine and keep em in the front pocket of my 9's sheath.
 
i never strop before.. how do you strop with small leather? it seems large leather strop makes sense, but with small leather, so you rest it on flat surface?
 
Just pull more edge across the leather than away from yourself than on a large strop, like setting a small stone on a table and sharpening a large blade with it, except with a strop you don't cut into the leather.
I never let my knives get dull in the field, so I just carry a fine/extra fine DMT and a leather keychain with green stropping compound in my vest/ pack.
 
Honestly, I have never needed to sharpen a Becker knife in the field. I always strop on the heel of my hand or pants before sheathing and that's kept them plenty sharp for a week or two.
 
Sharpen first, have fun in field, sharpen when get home.

None of my Beckers have ever really gotten 'dull'. Chopping, batoning, skinning, etc - they get less sharp, but still useable.

I think for field use, a small stone is pretty universal... many sheaths have a small pocket for one already.
 
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