What do you use to keep your knife sharp on the go?

define "on the go" lol
anyway my RRS would be captain awesome for on the go. either the silver one or the blue one, your preference.
 
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For me, in this case, "on the go" means everything from in between cuts as the knife dulls (remember I like SAKs, they dull) to bring with me to the cabin. But mostly something I can have in my backpack for hiking and camping.

When it comes to my skill level; I'm not that bad.

The selection from DMT seems very random here. I can find a red, green and blue DMT Diafold, but the store does not say anything about the difference. Price is 90 USD + shipping.
 
SKT said:
For me, in this case, "on the go" means everything from in between cuts as the knife dulls (remember I like SAKs, they dull) to bring with me to the cabin. But mostly something I can have in my backpack for hiking and camping.

When it comes to my skill level; I'm not that bad.

The selection from DMT seems very random here. I can find a red, green and blue DMT Diafold, but the store does not say anything about the difference. Price is 90 USD + shipping.
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For the simpler steels you're using, most any aluminum oxide hone of decent reputation, i.e., ceramics or other stones like the Norton India stones, can work very well. Nice thing about Victorinox's stainless SAKs is, even though the steel is considered 'soft', it still responds very well and takes a fine edge using most any sharpening media. That's a mark of a good quality, fine-grained cutlery steel and makes it very maintenance-friendly.

For the S30V and other similar steels with more vanadium content, if you can get the Fallkniven hones at a fair price where you are, you could still do pretty well by that. You might find the ceramic side of the DC3/4 hones to your liking or not - it's had a reputation for being rough and extremely variable in factory finish over the years. A lot of the reported issues go back maybe 10 years or more - but maybe the newer versions have improved upon that, hopefully. In the short-term, a ceramic can be decent for these steels in a touch-up capacity, but will struggle if more extensive edge repair is needed. That's where a diamond hone really excels for S30V, making it very simple to maintain these knives, even as simple as using a decent AlOx stone for the SAK blades.
 
I’d rather carry one or two properly sharpened spare knives than that a field sharpener. Those field sharpeners are too small and coarse.
 
For minor touchups, I use my Lansky crock sticks. Super easy and quick to use. For reprofiling and shit, I recently picked up a Worksharp angle guided sharpener.
 
DeadboxHero said:
None, I just use a knife steel that actually holds an edge 😜
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I've heard them stories of peoples grandmother's who haven't sharpened their kitchen knives in 40 years. Lol. My dad used to be like this. And then I left a dmt coarse/fine at his house. If I don't see him for a few days he needs a touchup. He likes to cut on a ceramic plate. Can't change old habits.
 
Bill3152 said:
I've heard them stories of peoples grandmother's who haven't sharpened their kitchen knives in 40 years. Lol. My dad used to be like this. And then I left a dmt coarse/fine at his house. If I don't see him for a few days he needs a touchup. He likes to cut on a ceramic plate. Can't change old habits.
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Its an interesting journey.

Step 1- knives are dull and don't know any different, can't lose an edge if you have no edge.

Step 2- introduction to an actual sharp knife either through a quality knife or someone sharpens it for ya but still treating it like the dull knife and losing the sharpness fast due to abuse/misuse

Step 3-beginning to aquire a taste for sharp, start to comprehend abusing any sharp edge makes dull faster so change habits and techniques to make the edge work better.

Step 4- Get into sharpening to chase that lustful sharp edge, steel is irrelevant, just sharpen em more.

Step 5- Begin seeing that some steels/knives just flat out perform better and are worth the time investment into making a good edge, using and appreciating. Begin to despise junk steel and knives.

Step 6- Argue online about steel and sharpening all the time.

😜
 
As many have mentioned before, I get a lot of utility from DMT Diafold products.

They work fast and can be effective on most steels. Not super refined edges, but rather working edges.
 
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Mostly find myself stropping on cardboard at work - have a DC4 with me on most trips but have mostly used it on other people's knives. Not enough heavy use to get a properly sharpened knife dull before I get home... even Chinesium.
 
Bill3152 said:
I've heard them stories of peoples grandmother's who haven't sharpened their kitchen knives in 40 years. Lol. My dad used to be like this. And then I left a dmt coarse/fine at his house. If I don't see him for a few days he needs a touchup. He likes to cut on a ceramic plate. Can't change old habits.
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This sounds very familiar. My parents used an old walnut-handled Chicago Cutlery set for 30+ years at least. I'm certain those knives were never actually resharpened - at least not properly. The set came with a cheap kitchen 'steel' for maintaining them, and I think either Mom or Dad may've attempted using it a few times. But the edges on those knives were all very well rounded-off on the knives that actually got used, and the dull(ish) factory edges on the rest of them had never been touched. When my mother handled them, she had a habit of rubbing her thumb along the apex of the edge, just forward of the handle. She could do this without worry or fear, because the knives were never sharp enough to cut her when handled like this. After developing habits like that, it was no surprise that Mom cut herself within 24 hours after I'd sharpened a couple of those knives to a crisp apex, for my own uses.

Dad used the paring knife from that set to cut & quarter apples on the ceramic tile countertop. Just pressed the blade firmly down into the apple and THWACK! on the tile. Always flat-spotted or mushroomed the edge on the forward 'belly' portion of the blade. I'd sharpened up that paring knife at his request, after he'd noticed I'd sharpened one or two of the others in the set. But his habit for cutting those apples on the ceramic tile countertop didn't change. I just gritted my teeth and touched up that blade after the fact.
 
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For simpler steels the Baryonyx field stones ... or for much smaller size the pocket stones work well and are inexpensive. I like the Artic Fox stones. Work great on simple steels that just need touch ups or a light sharpening.

For steels that are a big tougher to sharpen the DMT Diafolds are great, and not crazy high priced. You can get a combo Diafold that will tackle most anything you'd need in the field.
 
I have a few each of both a Smiths and a Worksharp field sharpeners 1x4 with coarse and fine diamonds to keep in my pickups and tool boxes. I did have a worksharp pocket size but gave it to my son. I also have a few diamond bench plates 6x1.5 and 8x2. And I bought a Ken Onion belt sharpening system but I don’t like it as well as the hand sharpening plates and save it for when I have to reprofile a lot of steel to shape. I can get a much better edge and keep it symmetry by hand and it doesn’t remove as much blade steel. 4FF56470-F755-43FE-9CF6-D09386DA85AA.jpeg
 
Regarding the Fallkniven, how does the ceramic side compare to say the shapton or suehiro gokumyo stones? The reason im asking is im thinking maybe about getting one. But if the edge is similar then i dont need to feel like im missing anything.
 
The DMT Diafold HC sharpener has 2 sides: fine 25 Micron 600 mesh and extra fine 9 Micron 1200 mesh. It is supposed to withstand the rigors of ceramic sharpening and also blades with hard Carbides like Vanadium Carbide.View attachment 1710822
 
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