Looking for Some Christmas Present Guidance

S

Snow Walker

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Jul 3, 2014
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With Christmas just around the corner, I'm beginning to look for Christmas presents. One of my sons recently moved to Colorado to work as a firefighter for the US Forest Service. Along with the move out West came an interest in some new outdoor activities. Along with more outdoor activities came a need for more and varied knives.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it...the more knives I mean. The firefighter job is actually tough...

I'd like to get him a more advanced sharpening system than the rough stone he currently carries. Manual please...no powered devices. So far, I've looked at Lansky's Sharpening System and the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System. I've also wondered about a more varied set of stones with a sharpening guide.

Any thoughts towards one of these? Pros and cons other than what I read for online reviews? Any other systems I'm missing? He's in a rough environment for 6 months a year, so durability and simplicity are pluses. If you're a fan of stones, which would you recommend? I did read the "Good Sharpening System Advice" post. It wasn't originally there when I made this post. Lots of good discussion there...

Thank you for your help! May your holiday searches be joyful!
 
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What kinds of knives / types of steels / intended purpose for the knives?
 
Most of his knives are cheap and used in the woods. Mora Companion, Buck 112, couple of old carbon steel butcher knives for deer. His fanciest knife is a Benchmade work knife from the USFS.
 
I have a Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System and I like it. The Pivot Response System actually works as advertised for sharpening blades with curved tips. One of my biggest problems with sharpening before I tried this system.

Having said that, The Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener might be a better option based on your comments.

The guides on my Guided Sharpening System will scratch my blades but that isn't a problem for me anymore as I quickly learned to keep an even bevel after using the guides two or three times. I probably could have learned that on my own without the guides but they helped me get there nonetheless.
 
Smiths DRET Diamond sharpener and a Arkansas ceramic rod or a Work Sharp Guided sharpener.

As for knives, you can't go wrong with a Buck 119 or 120.
 
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Snow Walker said:
One of my sons recently moved to Colorado to work as a firefighter for the US Forest Service.
Click to expand...

Thank him personally with a warm hand shake next time you can from me.
I have had big embers blowing across the highway (where the fire was wiping out the side of the mountain) and had to live with a town full of dense smoke for days.

If it wasn't for people like him I might have lost all I own. I know people who lost everything.
AND TO ANYONE THINKING OF SETTING A FIRE IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME OR WITHOUT THE SKILLS TO DO IT . . . PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THINGS GET OUT OF CONTROL.

These were all over the deck and landing on the roof. They were carried on the wind across the highway probably like a mile or so from the fires.

IMG_1790.jpg
 
Spyderco Sharpmaker. Easy to use (my grandparents bought and use one and love it as well). It is compact and self contained. I love my Edge Pro but with the water and everything it is much more of a stationary tool. The Sharpmaker will serve him well.
 
If a guided system is absolutely required, and given the steels indicated, I would second the Spyderco Sharpmaker. He can do everything he needs with that. I've been playing with my old one recently even though I'm now into freehanding, and I really like how the SM simplifies sharpening other things that are harder to sharpen on traditional rectangular bench stones. It makes sharpening scissors, shears, serrations, recurves, and various tools that have complex non-straight edges to sharpen, SM just makes short work of them. Watch the Youtube 4-part official SM series put out by Sal Glesser: it is an ingenious design for a sharpening system that costs a measly $55 to $60. And if later your son gets knives in various modern super steels, it's easy to upgrade the SM with add-on stones that could sharpen those steels.

However, I'd suggest a simpler and, I think, better alternative. Given the knife steels you listed that are conventional steels not high carbide super steels, I would suggest you consider the Baryonyx Arctic Fox field stone. I have one, and even though I have a number of sharpening stones and full-size bench stones including some nice DMT diamond plates to choose from, this little 6" $18 stone is the most-used stone in my collection. It has 2 grits: 240 for profiling and edge repair, and 400 which is a versatile coarse-fine grit for general purpose sharpening and finishing. With just a little practice, your son could easily learn to freehand sharpen all his knives on this one stone, and another advantage is that he can easily throw this stone in a pack and use it in the field, which you cannot do as easily with Sharpmaker. It's pretty compact, but much larger and heavier, I would not want to put it in a pack to field sharpen.

So if guided is required--Sharpmaker is a great choice. But if your son might be open to learning freehand sharpening, I'd get the Arctic Fox field stone, it's cheaper, it's more versatile, he can carry it with him and use it everywhere.
 
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