My stubborn knife sharpeneing solution

[dipbait]

I dont have a sharpmaker. Just a diamond stone and some ceramic sticks. I was having a devil of a time sharpening an old hickory knife. I used the sharpie trick that I learned here on blade forum , and painted the cutting edge. Then rubberbanded the diamond stone to the ceramic stick and ground a new edge at the proper angle. When the sharpie was no longer visible I finished with the ceramic sticks. Total time 10 minutes. The hair now floats off my arm. Heres a pic of my setup.

 

[dipbait]

A question for you experts. Do you think I could use the above setup to put a good working edge on a machete? Or should machetes be honed differently than knives?

 

[Sparljo]

Old Hickories sharpen for me like butter.
I have an old butcher knife I use for a camp blade.
Love em!

 

[Zeasor]

I don't "wear and tear" my stones on my machete. I use a file.

 

[siguy]

i use a small belt sander (the trusty 1x30) for machetes... but most people like a file. i like to finish my edges to a mid-grit...around 300 sandpaper grit. i use them for chopping wood too sometimes, so i don't want a burr or too toothy edge.

nice job on that sharpening setup by the way...good way to work around your difficulties.

if you work at it with a cheapie knife for a while, you won't need to rubber band the stone to the ceramic sticks anymore, you can just do it totally freehand.