The last sharpening stone on earth.....

Tough call, but I'd have to go with a medium India stone; Norton, o'course.

Reasoning: ceramic stones and rod-type sharpeners break too easily, and generally wouldn't be satisfactory for repairing any major damage to an edge. Crystolon (silicon carbide), diamond, and water stones wear too rapidly. Fine India won't really give you any better of an edge for slicing, but is more prone to getting clogged or loaded up (and honing oil might not be in ready supply in this wilderness.)

Would sorely miss finishing up with a few passes on a ceramic rod, but think this is the better trade-off.
 
The medium/fine two sided Norton India stone seems the obvious winner, but......what about oil? And the clean up from the inevitable clogging? :confused: :rolleyes:
 
Ichor -- even though I expressed the same concern, thinking about it now, there's almost certain to be something you can find to use.

For example, most old time machinists will tell you that melted pork fat is a great cutting fluid (in fact, a tech at Monroe Fluid Technology, which makes Cool Tool II cutting/tapping fluid told me it contains highly-processed pork fat, and IMO Cool Tool II is the best honing oil I've ever used.) So, cook up a little bacon over the campfire, do a little sharpening ... :)

Plus you're probably going to have access at least once in a while to motor oil, kerosene, and other petroleum-based products that will work. If not, just keeping your oil-filled Norton India stone doused with water while sharpening will probably keep it from loading up.

Dave
 
Well for the diamond stones, it depends on whether the diamonds are mono- or polycrystalline.

If I could own only one STONE: Nonparaille blue stone which is the size of a brick and can be had for $60, should last you for at least your lifetime, cuts VERY fast for its grit (2500) and gives an AMAZING edge, but like all waterstones needs water and occasionally flattening (but I guess that is true for all benchstones even though arkansas stones need it much more infrequently, but they take a lot longer to flatten as well).

Alone in the wilderness: No question the sharpmaker. Entire system is no larger than a benchstone, it is all you need for a shaving edge and it is fool proof. But it needs water, Ajax and a rough sponge.

Diamond stones fill for me the niche for quick rebeveling, and flattening of my waterstones, even though I prever a rough grid waterstone for rebeveling and removal of nicks (not uncommon since my house mates use my kitchen knives to cut steaks on their dinner plates :( )
 
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