Yesterday I had the day to myself, as Karen went flying with some of the family. Her sisters fella is a private pilot, and they took advantage of the nice day to fly. I chose to stay home and hold down the fort with Pearl, the wonder corgi, as I thought it was just too nice a day to be cooped up in a Cessna cabin.
Pearl and I took a walk in the woods by the house, and as usual we stopped by the fallen tree to whittle a bit. I don't know why, but sitting on a fallen tree in the woods on a nice day, listening to the wood thrush and slicing paper thin slivers from a poplar stick is relaxing as all heck to me. The corgi dose'nt mind, she likes to sit up on the fallen tree and survey her woods for evil squirrels that need to be chased back up trees before something bad happens.
By and by I noticed the knife was not slicing really up to parr, so it was time for a touch up. The day before I had broken down some cardboard boxes, and coragated cardboard is hard on edges. As I always have that little cut down Eze-lap diamond hone in my wallet, touch up was right there. As I slowly honed the blade in small circles from heel to tip I thought about knife sharpening. I'd done it this way since I was a kid, and under Mr. Van's watchful eye, we got good at it.
I understand that now they have all kinds of gadjets for sharpening your knife, like sharpmakers, and do-dads that clamp on the blade and guide it. I've never owned one of those things, and I always wondered if I was missing something. I mean how sharp is sharp? Am I not getting my knife as sharp as I could be by staying with a old and maybe obsolite way of doing things?
Sitting there in the woods sharpening my knife, I thought about it, and my minds eye recalled the picture of Mr. Van sitting by the fire and honing his old Remington scout knife on a small piece of broken off stone, and then finishing on a boot top. All his scouts for years to come always finished off the sharpening on the top of an old Chippiwa or Red Wing boot, or the back of a belt. I guess today with all the gadjets and talk of charged leather strops, it seems stone age to just have a small hone in a pocket or wallet, and just use the back of a belt to finish it off.
A single woof made me look up, and Pearl had chased another squirrel up another tree thus saving the forest again. I told her she was a good dog and to keep up the good work, and I got a tail wag in responce.
I finished up with the knife and tried it again on the stick. I was rewarded by a paper thin curl of white dry wood that made three tight coils before breaking off. That was better. I put the flat little hone back in my wallet and whittled a bit more to give Pearl more squirrel chasing time.
Pearl and I took a walk in the woods by the house, and as usual we stopped by the fallen tree to whittle a bit. I don't know why, but sitting on a fallen tree in the woods on a nice day, listening to the wood thrush and slicing paper thin slivers from a poplar stick is relaxing as all heck to me. The corgi dose'nt mind, she likes to sit up on the fallen tree and survey her woods for evil squirrels that need to be chased back up trees before something bad happens.
By and by I noticed the knife was not slicing really up to parr, so it was time for a touch up. The day before I had broken down some cardboard boxes, and coragated cardboard is hard on edges. As I always have that little cut down Eze-lap diamond hone in my wallet, touch up was right there. As I slowly honed the blade in small circles from heel to tip I thought about knife sharpening. I'd done it this way since I was a kid, and under Mr. Van's watchful eye, we got good at it.
I understand that now they have all kinds of gadjets for sharpening your knife, like sharpmakers, and do-dads that clamp on the blade and guide it. I've never owned one of those things, and I always wondered if I was missing something. I mean how sharp is sharp? Am I not getting my knife as sharp as I could be by staying with a old and maybe obsolite way of doing things?
Sitting there in the woods sharpening my knife, I thought about it, and my minds eye recalled the picture of Mr. Van sitting by the fire and honing his old Remington scout knife on a small piece of broken off stone, and then finishing on a boot top. All his scouts for years to come always finished off the sharpening on the top of an old Chippiwa or Red Wing boot, or the back of a belt. I guess today with all the gadjets and talk of charged leather strops, it seems stone age to just have a small hone in a pocket or wallet, and just use the back of a belt to finish it off.
A single woof made me look up, and Pearl had chased another squirrel up another tree thus saving the forest again. I told her she was a good dog and to keep up the good work, and I got a tail wag in responce.
I finished up with the knife and tried it again on the stick. I was rewarded by a paper thin curl of white dry wood that made three tight coils before breaking off. That was better. I put the flat little hone back in my wallet and whittled a bit more to give Pearl more squirrel chasing time.
