Somewhere in the mist-shrouded reaches of my distant past, I acquired a ceramic sharpening rod. It's about 4-1/2 inches long, and 3/8 inches in diameter (11.5 x 0.9 cm).
Thinking it was too short for anything but the most emergent of emergency sharpening tasks, I fell into the habit of parking it in my desk drawer at work. Over the years, however, I grew quite proficient with the little rod, and came to think of it as a useful thing to include in my hiking or emergency survival kits.
The only trouble with the rod is that it's difficult to sharpen the very tip and the very base of a blade. Recent posts about an aluminum-cored ceramic sharpener sent me to the web to research ceramic sharpeners with composite shapes.
As a result, I took a closer look at the Spyderco ProFile stones. The stones are about 1/4 x 3/4 inches (0.7 x 2 cm) and come in 4 and 8 inch (10 and 20 cm) lengths and in two grits (fine and medium).
The ProFile has a quarter-round radius on both edges, a groove down the midle on one side, and a featureless flat on the other side.
I find this to be an improvement over a simple rod, as it lets me handle the tip and base of the blade on the flats, rather than on a radius.
Bear
Thinking it was too short for anything but the most emergent of emergency sharpening tasks, I fell into the habit of parking it in my desk drawer at work. Over the years, however, I grew quite proficient with the little rod, and came to think of it as a useful thing to include in my hiking or emergency survival kits.
The only trouble with the rod is that it's difficult to sharpen the very tip and the very base of a blade. Recent posts about an aluminum-cored ceramic sharpener sent me to the web to research ceramic sharpeners with composite shapes.
As a result, I took a closer look at the Spyderco ProFile stones. The stones are about 1/4 x 3/4 inches (0.7 x 2 cm) and come in 4 and 8 inch (10 and 20 cm) lengths and in two grits (fine and medium).
The ProFile has a quarter-round radius on both edges, a groove down the midle on one side, and a featureless flat on the other side.
I find this to be an improvement over a simple rod, as it lets me handle the tip and base of the blade on the flats, rather than on a radius.
Bear