Sharpeners

[basharp_1]

Oh Wise INFI Hogs,

This little piggy could use some sharpening advice.

I'd like to stock my camping/survival gear with some form of sharpener.

I currently have two Sar4's for general camp use and I plan to get an SFNO and BM for chopping when finances allow.

My previous sharpening efforts on my other knives has been limited to a Lansky or taking it to someone with buffer/grinder wheels at the gun show,
but I'm afraid of doing something detrimental to my Busse knives.

I want it to be light, portable, semi-dummy proof and hopefully work for all of the knives listed above.

The company website mentions using a ceramic stick. I've also seen posts mentioning the sandpaper/mousepad method and stropping on a leather belt. How well do these methods actually work and would they work for an amatuer in the field?

I've found the following items online: DMT Aligner, DMT Diafold, Spyderco Sharpmaker, AG Russell Field Sharpener and the Smith Retractable Diamond.
Are any of these worth considering?

Thanks for your help!!!:thumbup:

 

[adrock1978]

I'm brand spanking new to sharpening my own knives. Through info from the maintenance section, I made my own strop. I bought a piece of leather, cut a 14"x2" piece of wood, and sanded it. I glued the leather to the wood, and had an excellent strop. I got some diamond sharpening compound (.5 micron) that I haven't used yet. Let me tell you... until now, I would never have believed a person if they told me leather could sharpen a blade. With little practice and after hard chopping, I've gotten several of my busse's back to razor sharp. I'm freakin amazed. I havent even used the diamond compound yet. It seems if you use it often a leather strop is all you'll need. However, I've started looking at DMT's duosharp stones more more dull, out of shape blades.

Here's the strop thread I used: strop!!!!

 

[mikeymoto]

First and foremost: use what works for you! If nothing works yet, then pick any method that's packable and practice with it. Then it will work for you as you get comfortable with it.

I use all kinds of sharpening things - jack of all trades, master of none seems to be my style. I like using a belt sander sometimes, but you can't easily take that into the field. Sometimes I'll use a Sharpmaker for quick fine touch-ups. I've used the sandpaper on leather technique, and it works ok for me. I prefer the DMT dia-sharp stones over the sandpaper technique, though. So I guess I recommend some DMT stones. Get one of those foldable multi-grit ones and practice with it. Use it before your knives get super dull and you won't need to expend much effort each time. Sharpen early and often. Or buy a more coarse stone and use it when necessary. You can take a strop and it can work great for touch-ups but beyond that you'll wish you had a stone or some sandpaper and something flat to lay it on.