Fixing dings and rolls in the field?

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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There's a lot of machete and hatchet users here and I was wondering how you fix the dings and rolls that occur with the softer steel in the field. Do you carry a file or do you just press/steel it out on a rock or something? If you do have a tool for this, what is it?
 
I've a small red slip stone that I take for the golok in case I hit something I shouldn't. Thing is I've only had to use that a couple of times, usually field maintenance is done with a couple of different bits of wet-n-dry paper. I think files are the absolute bowels when it comes to maintaining an edge. I completely agree with Mike Stewart of Bark River in this regard. Files may be quicker at sticking an edge back on but they also guarantee they you'll have to do it more often. Some people seem to like the lock-in of that and constantly file at their machetes to keep them sharp. Despite giving a good amount of relief to mine behind the cutting edge the very edge itself isn't anything like as acute and is a fine finish convex – I have to do something pretty dippy with it before I need to take a hard stone / diamond to it to fix it up. And that's with a #2 which isn't very hard really, more tough.

Never used anything more than paper to fix a hatchet, although I take the same tools for that as I do the #2 just in case.
 
Grooved butcher's steel. Spine of a knife blade or Leatherman or SAK saw for small rolls. Worst case, a Leatherman file. My Blast and ST200 don't have a diamond file-the one on the Wave worked pretty well when I had one of those.
 
I cut one of the nicholson files in half and put some electric tape around one end, and that goes with me in the field....I use it on the machete and my hatchet, other than that it's my dmt credit card sharpeners.....
 
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I use a stropping motion along the spine of another knife to straighten out the edge.. than I take it to the stones.
 
For me a small file goes with me for fixing damage to the edge and small medium stone for light touch ups.
 
I have a DMT credit card like Ratt mentions, some leather and some squares of wet dry paper. I actually put the tip back on a knife with that (about 1/16" broke off)
 
I'll use a file or a rock, or even pavement. at some point, I need to get that video up.
 
Lately I've been using a little HI chakma (honing steel) to fix the edges of my soft Condor machetes-works like a charm! Previously I just used my 1x4 inch arkansas hardstone, which is also efficient.
 
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