Sheath maker with grit question.

[Razathor]

Hey guys, new member here. I've done a bit of Googling trying to refine what I'm looking for, but I much prefer the opinions of people with real experience sharpening. I am a leather worker with a customer project that requires a special stone because the alloy is so hard. I have a survival knife, made specifically of 6.5mm Bohler K340 ISODUR tool steel. I'm crafting a sheath for this knife and attempting to incorporate a stone pouch into it. The challenge has two components. One is that because it's a survival knife, I can only fit one stone in it, which due to it being a survival environment; won't enable the use of multiple grits to refine it to a polished cutting edge. Mind you, the purpose isn't to have a surgical razor in the woods, but to maintain as good an edge with one grit as possible. The other is that I need the stone to be very small, no more than 1 1/2" wide and 6" long. I simply lack the technical expertise to choose which grit or stone would be most ideal for a "one stone fits all" purpose. The idea being that if you had a steel this hard, and had to walk into the apocalypse and could choose a stone to take with you, which would it be? I sincerely appreciate any and all insight, as this is just not my area of expertise.

 

[Blues]

A double sided diamond hone, 320/600 would be pretty ideal IMHO. You can probably find a DMT or other brand with the combo, like the Diafold offers.
If you couldn't find one without the handles, you could remove them yourself.

 

[Razathor]

Fantastic, brother. I appreciate you, thank you.

 

[thebrain]

Any steel can be sharpened with diamond stones, but many new steels cannot be sharpened with conventional stones. So any good quality known brand of diamond stone will work. There are a few companies that make small folding or "pocket" diamond plates that would work for the size and application you are talking about. The wallet size ones would be nice because they are thin and flat and can be had in different grits and would allow you to fit two in one pocket with a divider between and give you the opportunity to use two different grit plates giving the owner an option for edge care.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'd also echo the recommendation for a pocketable diamond hone like the DMT DiaFold. The folding handle on those makes them very easy to use. Either single grit or double-sided as mentioned. DMT's older version of the Dia-Fold had somewhat less bulky handles, if that's a consideration for fitting into a sheath pocket. EZE-Lap also makes them in a similar configuration as the DiaFold. Both brands are of good quality. I have a slight bias toward the DMTs, as I feel they leave a cleaner working edge with minimal burring issues, when used with a very light touch. Anything from 325 (Coarse) to 1200 (Extra Fine) in DMT's line can leave a great working edge with just the one chosen grit. And either the 325 or the 600 DMT are also aggressive enough for major edge repair (chips, rolls, etc.) if needed.