I have half a century of sharpening experience. I have hard Arkansas stones, soft Arkansas stones, stones with no name that were old when the 20th century was new, whet stones, dry stones, Sears stones sharpening wheels, Lansky rods, strops, a Lansky guide system, diamond stones, sharpening steels, and a bunch of other stuff.
I use (and abuse) knives. I used knives, machetes, and hatchets in construction when I did that for a living. Semi retired I now use them on my ranch with 25+ acres of private woods in which I have hacked jogging trails for the deer that I try to keep clear and mowed. Lots of Kudzu, dead Elms, live Oaks and other stuff. Dig out a Kudzu root with a machete in a clay soil with occasional stones, or hack a vine and find an old barbed wire fence you knew nothing about, and you will see how I can abuse the edge on my blades. Cutting firewood and hitting a nail is also good for an ax blade. Clearing a half mile of wooden fence lines of the raspberry and blackberry brush that springs up underneath is also a good test of a machete's edge.
Rolled and chipped edges (even shattered is not unknown) are not uncommon here. Used to be I would spend lots of times with files, steels and stones to fix things. In the woods with a machete, a big dual surface Sears stone would clog my back pocket, so that as the machete gets dull I could do some repair work on the blade. A good way to kill 15 minutes to a half hour.
I wandered through Gander Mt. a few months ago and found a new product called the Gerber DF6 diamond pocket sharpener. A 30 degree bevel, supposedly suitable for axes. I bought one. Tried it out on some neglected blades. One or two passes didn't seem to do much. But scrub quickly, and, oh wow. You are supposed to unfold the sharpener (did I mention it folds to a little package half the size and weight of a pack of cigarettes?) and place it on a table and draw the blade through it. I don't do that. I hold the open DF6 in one hand and the blade in the other.
I tried an old machete next. In less than a minute of scrubbing with only a little pressure there was a nice beveled edge. On to the old Kabar 5". Sharp. More machetes. All are now sharp (at least one is now sharper than when new). The axe used for splitting wood on concrete (which more than once sails right through the wood log to chip the concrete and the ax blade), I tried that. It took about two minutes, but it now has a bevel (which it hadn't for over a decade) and its sharp. The old hatchet used for last minute trimming on stone of what goes in the wood stove, it is now sharp too. An old Ames sword (which the Lansky guide system couldn't handle (I tried) because of the size of the blade and my lack of three days to spend sharpening 1 blade), it now has an edge it probably hasn't seen in 140 years or so. I moved on to curved blades, an old carpenters knife. It's sharp again. A cheap wall hanger repro cavalry saber. The dummy edge is gone. Its hanging on the wall with a real bevel and a real edge now.
Understand the 30 degree angle is not recommended for something like a leek and I will stay with stones for that, and my steak knives, but if you have axes, machetes, or even swords in need of 'touch up,' consider the DF6.
From now on when I carry my machete or an ax afield, a folded DF6 in my pocket will replace the big coarse/medium stone. It does a better job, and produces a better edge, with a lot less weight, time and effort. I just bought 4 more of them. [I kind of like the product, so this means some marketing idiot will kill it, like they did with the sharpening steel that long ago came with my Gerber Mk II.] I have unpacked one, and will keep the other 3 for future use when the first one finally stops working. What I am seeing is the usual diamond stone phenomena of the larger roughness going away with use, and smaller smoother grit becoming more prevalent. Since I am no longer using this device for initial bevels on the blades, but only for honing, that's fine. If I need to reshape a blade bevel, I still have the other unused ones.
This has been an uncompensated endorsement.
I use (and abuse) knives. I used knives, machetes, and hatchets in construction when I did that for a living. Semi retired I now use them on my ranch with 25+ acres of private woods in which I have hacked jogging trails for the deer that I try to keep clear and mowed. Lots of Kudzu, dead Elms, live Oaks and other stuff. Dig out a Kudzu root with a machete in a clay soil with occasional stones, or hack a vine and find an old barbed wire fence you knew nothing about, and you will see how I can abuse the edge on my blades. Cutting firewood and hitting a nail is also good for an ax blade. Clearing a half mile of wooden fence lines of the raspberry and blackberry brush that springs up underneath is also a good test of a machete's edge.
Rolled and chipped edges (even shattered is not unknown) are not uncommon here. Used to be I would spend lots of times with files, steels and stones to fix things. In the woods with a machete, a big dual surface Sears stone would clog my back pocket, so that as the machete gets dull I could do some repair work on the blade. A good way to kill 15 minutes to a half hour.
I wandered through Gander Mt. a few months ago and found a new product called the Gerber DF6 diamond pocket sharpener. A 30 degree bevel, supposedly suitable for axes. I bought one. Tried it out on some neglected blades. One or two passes didn't seem to do much. But scrub quickly, and, oh wow. You are supposed to unfold the sharpener (did I mention it folds to a little package half the size and weight of a pack of cigarettes?) and place it on a table and draw the blade through it. I don't do that. I hold the open DF6 in one hand and the blade in the other.
I tried an old machete next. In less than a minute of scrubbing with only a little pressure there was a nice beveled edge. On to the old Kabar 5". Sharp. More machetes. All are now sharp (at least one is now sharper than when new). The axe used for splitting wood on concrete (which more than once sails right through the wood log to chip the concrete and the ax blade), I tried that. It took about two minutes, but it now has a bevel (which it hadn't for over a decade) and its sharp. The old hatchet used for last minute trimming on stone of what goes in the wood stove, it is now sharp too. An old Ames sword (which the Lansky guide system couldn't handle (I tried) because of the size of the blade and my lack of three days to spend sharpening 1 blade), it now has an edge it probably hasn't seen in 140 years or so. I moved on to curved blades, an old carpenters knife. It's sharp again. A cheap wall hanger repro cavalry saber. The dummy edge is gone. Its hanging on the wall with a real bevel and a real edge now.
Understand the 30 degree angle is not recommended for something like a leek and I will stay with stones for that, and my steak knives, but if you have axes, machetes, or even swords in need of 'touch up,' consider the DF6.
From now on when I carry my machete or an ax afield, a folded DF6 in my pocket will replace the big coarse/medium stone. It does a better job, and produces a better edge, with a lot less weight, time and effort. I just bought 4 more of them. [I kind of like the product, so this means some marketing idiot will kill it, like they did with the sharpening steel that long ago came with my Gerber Mk II.] I have unpacked one, and will keep the other 3 for future use when the first one finally stops working. What I am seeing is the usual diamond stone phenomena of the larger roughness going away with use, and smaller smoother grit becoming more prevalent. Since I am no longer using this device for initial bevels on the blades, but only for honing, that's fine. If I need to reshape a blade bevel, I still have the other unused ones.
This has been an uncompensated endorsement.
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