What to use for shipboard life?

G

Goozle63

Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
45
Hello there everybody,

I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I think you all can help. I no longer have my old sharpening stones and I need to start fresh. I'm clueless about all those fancy systems out there, mostly because all I have ever used was my old stone. That being said, I don't really know what to look for. And as some of you may know, they're isn't much space for personal things when living on a ship. So, what do I need?

I'm guessing a small stone would be best. It's small, easy to use and effective but I don't know what to look for! If someone could point me in the right direction that would be a great help.

Thanks :thumbup:
 
Goozle63 said:
Hello there everybody,

I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I think you all can help. I no longer have my old sharpening stones and I need to start fresh. I'm clueless about all those fancy systems out there, mostly because all I have ever used was my old stone. That being said, I don't really know what to look for. And as some of you may know, they're isn't much space for personal things when living on a ship. So, what do I need?

I'm guessing a small stone would be best. It's small, easy to use and effective but I don't know what to look for! If someone could point me in the right direction that would be a great help.

Thanks :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum! :)

Since you're already accustomed to using a small stone, I'd say you've got a LOT of options. Here are a few of my favorites:

DMT Dia-Fold (wide range of grit choices)
Fallkniven DC3 or DC4 (medium diamond grit on one side, ceramic on the other)
Spyderco Double Stuff (medium & fine ceramic; better suited for light touch-ups, but still quite useful)

I'd recommend any of the diamond options in particular. They'll handle any steel you choose, and they work very fast. DMT and Eze-Lap offer a lot of options there.
 
Great suggestions! I just looked at all of them and I quite like the DMT you mentioned. Now I've got some pondering to do :thumbup:.

J.D.
 
Goozle63 said:
Great suggestions! I just looked at all of them and I quite like the DMT you mentioned. Now I've got some pondering to do :thumbup:.

J.D.
Click to expand...

I have all of the grits of the Dia-folds. They're easy to use - just like in the videos on YouTube. You don't need much pressure just lightly pass them on both sides.

Check out this XM-18 - start at post number 37 and follow his link to how he did it - hair whittling sharp! :thumbup:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802801&page=2
 
If you would like to keep it on you then a diafold would be my first choice. If you only need to sharpen when your done for the day a 6x2 or 8x3 benchstone or two would probably serve you better.

I'd be guessing that your preference is for a coarser edge with the types of things you typically cut? The coarse and fine diamonds are 325 mesh/grit & 600 mesh/grit, both easily capable of producing shaving sharp edges that are clean and aggressive.

If your on a tight budget a Norton combo stone for about 20 dollars would also work well.
 
Some very good suggestions I've gotten so far. I was in the exchange today and noticed a Lansky's diamond sharpener. It's pretty similar to the DMT Dia-folds, with a medium and fine side. I'll give it a go this week and see how I like it and share my findings. Thanks :thumbup:
 
DMT or Smiths diamond benchstones would work well.I would get some ceramics also,like the Sharpmaker rods.I use them freehand for burr removal and polishing.
 
So I was thinking last night, and I had a good idea. I'm probably going to be one of the fews guys to think of having a knife sharpener on the ship. I know there's going to be some dull knives and people needing to use a sharpener. Well how about a sharpener that's just super easy to use, with almost no practice or technique. Is there such a thing?

I'd like to be able to share my sharpener, but I don't want to have to teach everybody and coach them through it. I think DMT might make an attachment for their Dia-folds that holds the knife at a precise angle. Once attached, the user just slides the blade along the surface and doesn't have to worry about holding that angle throughout the swipe.

Does DMT (or other companies) make such a thing?

J.D.

Edit: I believe I just found it, the DMT Aligner and the Magna Guide. It looks like the aligner is more suited for a pocket knife while the Magna Guide is geared more towards large knives. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anybody have a experience with these?
 
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I would suggest a fine/extra fine or medium/fine double sided diamond stone and a small ceramic or hard arkansas finishing stone, or other hone or strop for finishing. I used a DMT aligner for years...still have it... and it's OK if you respect the fact that it is made of plastic and clamps onto a fairly small amount of blade spine. If you are ham-handed it is not that hard to vary the the angle of the knife within the clamp...on the plus side the aligner guide rod rides on the bench top so it takes up no space on a small stone. I use a Razor Edge Systems Cub guide now, but that does take up about 1" of space on the stone.
 
Goozle63 said:
So I was thinking last night, and I had a good idea. I'm probably going to be one of the fews guys to think of having a knife sharpener on the ship. I know there's going to be some dull knives and people needing to use a sharpener. Well how about a sharpener that's just super easy to use, with almost no practice or technique. Is there such a thing?

I'd like to be able to share my sharpener, but I don't want to have to teach everybody and coach them through it. I think DMT might make an attachment for their Dia-folds that holds the knife at a precise angle. Once attached, the user just slides the blade along the surface and doesn't have to worry about holding that angle throughout the swipe.

Does DMT (or other companies) make such a thing?

J.D.

Edit: I believe I just found it, the DMT Aligner and the Magna Guide. It looks like the aligner is more suited for a pocket knife while the Magna Guide is geared more towards large knives. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anybody have a experience with these?
Click to expand...

I use a magna-guide and dia-folds they're excellent! My knives are shaving sharp. Put you query in YouTube there's a few diafold and magna-guide videos. Dont' forget a small strop if you have room. :thumbup:
 
cziv said:
I use a magna-guide and dia-folds they're excellent! My knives are shaving sharp. Put you query in YouTube there's a few diafold and magna-guide videos. Dont' forget a small strop if you have room. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

You just hit on why the DMT dia-fold is a great choice. Not only is it a good freehand hone, but they are used with the magna-guide guided sharpening system as well. That system is pretty compact too, more so than the Lansky clamp-on system.
 
Goozle63 said:
Edit: I believe I just found it, the DMT Aligner and the Magna Guide. It looks like the aligner is more suited for a pocket knife while the Magna Guide is geared more towards large knives. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anybody have a experience with these?
Click to expand...

Actually, the clamp is exactly the same for both. That's the main factor in how useful it will be for large or small knives. Most of the limitation will be at the small end of the size range. A pen blade on something like a Swiss Army Knife will be more difficult to position in the clamp, in order to leave enough of the edge exposed for the hones to reach. The main difference between the Aligner and the Magna-Guide is that the hones for the Aligner kit might be slightly smaller, but not significantly so.

The advantage of the Magna-Guide is, it's set up to use the Dia-Folds, which can more easily be used free-hand (with the attached handles) if desired. Additionally, the Dia-Folds are available in double-sided configuration (2 grits per hone). Most feel the Magna-Guide is a little more desirable for this reason. It's set up to take further advantage of what already are versatile hones.
 
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Well I was cruising around the exchange last night and I stopped by the camping and knife section, like always :rolleyes:. And what do you know, they had one Lansky's aligner kit left. I bought it and tried it out on a butter knife dull, Imperial barlow I got at a swap meet last weekend. I really like this little thing! The barlow needs more work but I transformed it into a good working edge in about 45 minutes. I'm sold on this little kit and it's comming with me for sure!

J.D.
 
I used to work on tugs, where I lived on the boat for 3 weeks. There were 7 other crewmen and we all were required to have folding knives with locking blades. I did all of the sharpening. I kept a smiths 2 sided portable sharpener in my bag for when I was out of the bunk room (one watch would be on deck, the other watch would be in the staterooms, so if you wanted something during your 6 hours, you had to bring it out with you.)

I replaced the smiths with a diafold pocket sharpener. In my bunkroom for when I was off watch (that is when I would do major reprofiling) I kept either a sharpmaker with diamond coarse rods, medium ceramic rods, fine ceramic rods, and ultra fine ceramic rods or a Lansky kit with extra coarse to fine stones and extra coarse to fine diamond hones, plus an extra fine ceramic hone and an ultra fine sapphire stone. Both the sharpmaker and lansky were small enough to carry in my sea bag without much trouble. The DMT diafold was flatter than the more bulky smiths dual sided sharpener. I also had a smiths keychain pull-through sharpener. I would not use the pull through on it but I did use the diamond rod it had for touchups when I was out on tow and away from the boat itself. It came in quite handy and was very inexpensive.
 
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