how do they sharpen knives in remote areas of the world

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blademaster01

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i have seen many tv shows, documentaries, etc and have often wondered how the people who wear the loin cloths,women go topless,dont know what electricity is etc,tribal really remote,cultures sharpen their cutting tools, anybody with first hand knowledge,i too can speculate thanks ps...especially eskimos
 
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With stones tools, often just breaking them to produce sharp edges with harder stones :P

With steel, and iron etc:
Water stones found in some rivers. Sometimes even some more common stones can be used at times.
 
They mail their blades to a guy in the USA who own a Wicked Edge system!!!!:)

Just messing with you!!!

I have been to various 3rd world places from Mexico to Africa and I saw a lot of flat stones and round river rocks of diverse origin being used.

Keep in mind their knives are usually made of softer non hardened steel that is much easier to sharpen than our high tech super steels. Most blades I saw of 3rd world origin were made from truck leaf springs, be they axes or knives. Some of them were quite well made. I traded for a few BUT the best were not for sale for almost any price. In austere locations a good knife is a valuable commodity.

AND they don' need their knives to be hair shaving sharp like us knife geeks demand, just sharp enough to chop up goats for dinner and dispatch you ex BFF
 
250px-Hand-cranked_knife_sharpener.jpg
 
What I want to know is how they shave, or how anybody shaved without superfine quality water stones.
 
Nebulae said:
What I want to know is how they shave, or how anybody shaved without superfine quality water stones.
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Hair shaving is possible with even 300 grit~ paper. So I am sure most stones they kind will leave them with a hair shaving quality.
 
I have observed that people will either use a stone or ceramic bowl at home, or take it to the local knife sharpener to have it touched-up on the grindstone.
 
I've seen some really cool video of non-powered or home-built sharpening gear. I think one of my favourites so far was a fine wheel, mounted on a shaft on the handlebars of a bicycle. When the bike was peddled, a belt driven from the rear wheel near the rim turned the stone at high speed. The bike was ridden to the location, then propped up so that the rear wheel was off the ground and used for sharpening.

There are also plenty of non-commercial ways to sharpen, a piece of sandstone will do fine for a coarse stone, then slate or smooth basalt for a finer one. Stropping or polishing can be accomplished with fine dust on cloth, cardboard or wood. No, the edge isn't going to be as good as a 15K/30K/.125u edge that we like to play with around here, but for everyday use, it'll work just fine. I mean, honestly, aside from the fun and the challenge of getting it perfect, what's the point in having an edge that you have to inspect under a scope for scratches? That's not to say that MY knives don't have those edges, but that's because it's a fun hobby, not a necessity.
 
years ago when i was teaching myself how to sharpen, i bought an 8"-10" chef's knife at a thrift store (possibly a dexter stainless). the edge was beaten to death, i re-profiled it and gave it a basic sharpening using a cobblestone that was in my garden. i finished the edge with a $2 aluminum oxide stone.
 
Sharpening knives is an integral part of making them. If there were no way to sharpen knives, they couldn't be made.
Many stones will work for sharpening, as long as they are smooth.
 
In some areas of the world, two pieces of sandstone are rubbed against one another until flat, then wetted, and used in the same manner as a waterstone.

And quite often with equally acceptable results!:thumbup:
 
Nebulae said:
What I want to know is how they shave, or how anybody shaved without superfine quality water stones.
Click to expand...

Interesting factoid. The earliest razor appear to have been made of copper or bronze. (Though perhaps flint or obsidian was used to some extent, it leaves an edge more than sharp enough) I think the lesson is that shaving does not require very high tech, or even very specific materials.
 
I was in Uganda for a while, and I have observed they don't care much. Sometimes another knife's back was used to somewhat "steel" the edge, but else than that I haven't seen much sharpening action. On the street, simple machetes are used to chop up pretty much anything, it's really more smashing than cutting. But it works well enough, meat and fish doesn't offer much resistence.
Any of the knives/machetes I took a look at were dull as butterknives measured by a knife nut's standard.
 
blademaster01 said:
who knew? i`m just saying...even though thats the proper forum, i`m pretty sure it would get sidetracked,withinin nanoseconds, i`d kind of like to hear from the non specialist
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precisely. you should at least thank the guy for being so damn helpful lol...
 
just yesterday i watched,beyond survival,there way up there where there is nothing but snow,they shot 2 caribou,a seal,caught some arctic char,they processed em out ,wow those knives are sharp,
 
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