Mirror polished edges in the field

hiwa

hiwa

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Jun 7, 2009
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I mainly use my knives in the bush ( camping/hiking) and I bring a portable sharpening kit with me. It consists of a DC-4 and a Eze-lap diamond rod. I have some knives I've polished with compound ( very polished edge ) that I use , and some that just have been sharpened with perhaps a 600 DMT.

What I'm wondering is, when I have a knife with high polish that I use out there and it gets dull , I have to sharpen it. As soon as I hit it with my DC-4 , or especially a diamond rod, that high shine is removed. Do some of you go through the effort to maintain that polished state ( bring a strop or mousepad), do you do it again when you get home, or just don't bother and sharpen it with portable stones, rods , or whatever of coarser grit?

What I'm getting at is the extra time and effort it takes to keep a knife at that state. I'm getting good results from the DC-4 as far as being able to keep my knife sharp enough to do all the things i need of it , and polishing the edge very shiny and then getting a coarser scratch pattern from sharpening it in the field kind of defeats the effort I put into it bringing it to a high polish. What do you guys think of this and what is your level of grit or polish you put on your user blades that you use in the field? Thanks:)
 
I generally polish mine reasonably highly, I am of the personal opinion that a finely polished edge lasts longer and does more work before needing to be re-worked. My working knives will be either V-beveled and polished to about 8K JIS, or convexed, and worked down through 9 micron, then on a couple compound-charged leather belts. It's actually quite rare that I HAVE to sharpen in the field, but if it needs some touch up I do so, then just polish it out again once I have the chance.
 
I use my Junglas for everything from trimming, splitting wood, chopping limbs, etc. I keep a polished edge on it as well. I have found that when I put a polished edge on it, the edge stays usable much longer for the ways I use it. If I am out in the field, I will put a micro bevel on it if it gets dull with a sharpmaker, and put the full polish back on it when I get back. I have also stropped it on my pant leg, and that polishes it right up if I don't have a sharpmaker in my pack. Just get a little clay, rub it on your jeans, and strop it. That seems to work very well in the field for a quick touch up. I am not skinning animals with a huge blade like that, so it works perfect.

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That's interesting. Putting a micro-bevel on it instead of polishing the whole bevel again. I agree the cutting drag is lessened a lot with a polished edge , but with my choppers ( Junglas, BK9, Kabar cutlass) I don't really notice it , only on smaller knives when I'm carving or slicing something.
There are a few improvised ways to polish in the field if you need to.
 
This is one reason I like using sandpaper for both re-profiling (to convex) and for maintenance. Once the bevel has been shaped, and the edge made sharp & polished initially (through 2000 grit), the 1000/2000 grit paper is what gets used for periodic touch-ups, if stropping doesn't quite get it done. Those two grits, used in sequence, will automatically take care of the polish. Makes it a no-brainer. If scratches from use are deeper, simply stepping back to 600/800, then finishing again with the 1000/2000, will handle it. Takes just a few minutes.
 
Thanks David. I also use a 1000/2000 grit for stropping . As far as all my gear goes , the finest I use is a 4000 Imanishi. In the field , I find the DC-4's ceramic does a pretty nice job ( That's why I didn't bother to get the Spyderco double-stuff ceramic) I will pack some wet/dry paper with me next time I'm out, as I've never really done that. It should be useful when I have my Fallkniven F1 with me , instead of putting a straight micro-bevel on it that I would possibly have to convex- out later.
 
I have a DC-4 also. The ceramic on that one is unique, much more aggressive than the Spyderco ceramic. Gives an edge a nice 'bite'. I can see it's value for very quick field touch-ups, if you're not too concerned about the polish.

I've been using the sandpaper on my strop block, with about 1/16" thick leather as the backing. I've also been experimenting with a balsa block, as backing for the sandpaper. That works quite well too.
 
DC4 ceramics can get way finer than stock just by lapping it with a XXC or XC dmt. it also looses quite a bit of its speed obviously ...
 
pwet said:
DC4 ceramics can get way finer than stock just by lapping it with a XXC or XC dmt. it also looses quite a bit of its speed obviously ...
Click to expand...

I've already done that with a Spyderco DoubleStuff hone, using a Coarse DMT Duo-Sharp hone. Definitely made it finer (almost glassy). I actually like the aggressiveness of the DC4, so I don't have any plans to lap that one. It has sort of it's own 'niche' among my ceramic hones, so I'd like to keep it that way. ;)
 
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