Who likes soft steel on knives?

[Leftoverdj]

Have you ever taken a dull steel knife of reasonable hardness and sharpened it on a limestone rock? If so, how long did it take?

Nope, never have. Could if that was all I had, though. Not much limestone on my side of the mountain. Marble will sharpen, and that's mostly calcium carbonate if I remember my chemistry. Got plenty of soapstone, and that works but polishes up and loads quick. Got a lot of various sandstones that work, some coarser than one would like. Got plenty of sand and silt in the creeks. Got plain old dirt if it came to that.

As I keep saying, anything abrasive will sharpen. Some faster, some better, but given a piece of steel, the necessity for doing so, and a bit of time, you can get a working edge with the stuff all around us. Not something I would do by choice, but nice to know it can be done if necessary

 

[The Mastiff]

The thought of having to sharpen on my local stones depresses me greatly. It's just not in my area, unless perhaps I was to excavate down to see what bedrock was here. Walking around here I noticed some very jagged quartz with iron inclusions. Some crush & run, and not much more.

I guess that's why I have DMT's in my house, car, BOB, just about everywhere I might need them in fact. That's exactly what they are for. They even make key chain & wallet sized ones.

I've got to agree with Gator on the whole steel philosophy.

I have heard the rock sharpening thing before over at a forum populated by bushcrafter types. I never found out if they were serious or not.

Hard and tough are not mutually exclusive in knives. M2, and CPM M4 certainly are evidence of that. Lots of nice carbides too.

Gator, I don't know where you found a 300 series steel knife. They use that stuff as wall plating in industrial/and commercial kitchens. I watched a crew do a new prisons kitchen using that stuff. I never would have thought to make a real knife out of it.

 

[Gator97]

Some faster, some better, but given a piece of steel, the necessity for doing so, and a bit of time, you can get a working edge with the stuff all around us. Not something I would do by choice, but nice to know it can be done if necessary

I think the argument was about that "bit of time" which can become surrealistically long. A while back I was sharpening Aritsugu Yanagiba, Aogami I steel, 65+ HRC. I've spend more than 6 hours trying to grind initial 15deg. bevel on one side using edge pro 120 grit,still couldn't finish the job. I've ordered 120 grit DMT diamond benchstone just for that knife. Then it was less then hour.

I don't claim to be a sharpening guru, and I am sure other forumites could've done it faster, with the same tools, but I can not imagine someone achieving it with a rock. May be if one is serving 15 year sentence in solitary and that's the only thing he's allowed to do...

 

[Gator97]

I have heard the rock sharpening thing before over at a forum populated by bushcrafter types. I never found out if they were serious or not.

You know, the part I do not understand, why would someone spending considerable time outdoors would opt for a lesser performer, to gain questionable ability of rock sharpening. As it was mentioned several times if you are in a pinch, use the rock, etc. Well, why settle for inferior blade for the possibility of the "pinch" when you can also have that sharpener with you in the same pinch. Unless you explicitly plan to get in the pinch exactly when you loose the sharpener and be in that pinch long enough to have the knife dulled and have the need to sharpen it...
I can understand learning the skill, but buying a user knife just for that is beyond me.

Gator, I don't know where you found a 300 series steel knife. They use that stuff as wall plating in industrial/and commercial kitchens. I watched a crew do a new prisons kitchen using that stuff. I never would have thought to make a real knife out of it.

Coworker gave it for sharpening. Chroma cutlery thingy F.A. Porsche design knives as they say, and on their site it proudly says 301 stainless. Once I've looked up the composition of that steel, I couldn't believe it was the right one. Sent them several emails asking if it was indeed type 301 SS, no answer. Later, one visitor on my site confirmed...
Real pain in the neck to sharpen, the steel is so soft, even freehand I had to be real careful.
Quite useless as a knife.

 

[hardheart]

The thought of having to sharpen on my local stones depresses me greatly. It's just not in my area, unless perhaps I was to excavate down to see what bedrock was here. Walking around here I noticed some very jagged quartz with iron inclusions. Some crush & run, and not much more.

ever look into these, come from some notes I have on my 'puter

M’Cauley’s Quarry, 7 mi W of Chapel Hill, stone is soft olive green, translucent horn appearance, hill of chloritic slate

McPherson’s Quarry, Chatham County, 5 mi W of Woodins Ferry on Haw River, light color & soft

Salisbury Rd

supposed to be locations of old whetstone mines. Also in AR, IN, MA, MI, MO, NH, NY, OH, RI, & VT. Dunno if every state has natural stones suitable for sharpening, but some did, and quarried/sold them. I like the bit about the town in Michigan, Grindstone City, where you find them laying on the ground. Now there would be a place to lose your portable sharpener

 

[Sevorius]

If I'm planning to go into the woods for more than a day I take along a small pocket sized diamond sharpener, they're cheap, fairly sturdy, and will handle any steel, be it zdp, 110v, or whatever. Personally I prefer steels that will not chip, crack, or snap, because that is one problem you cannot fix out on the trail. A $25 vic Farmer + a $3 lansky dogbone pocket sharpener will keep me shaving sharp for years.

 

[The Government]

Even when my only knife is a humble SAK or traditional slip-joint, I carry a DMT credit card sharpener in my wallet. I also carry a small "viking whetstone" around my neck very often as a hone. I know its overboard, but it makes everything easy to sharpen with patience. A SAK is extremely easy to sharpen since it takes little patience. I like all steels really -even the ones I have never tried:thumbup:.

 

[The Mastiff]

ever look into these, come from some notes I have on my 'puter

M’Cauley’s Quarry, 7 mi W of Chapel Hill, stone is soft olive green, translucent horn appearance, hill of chloritic slate

McPherson’s Quarry, Chatham County, 5 mi W of Woodins Ferry on Haw River, light color & soft

Salisbury Rd

Hardheart, in twenty years or more here, and being only 25 miles as the crow flies from that area I've never heard of those.

I have to admit it's not really surprising. This state had/has gold mines, panning, and some very large and notable gem deposits since pre US times. Some of the worlds best gem quality Emeralds come from the mountains in NC.

All that seems west of me. All that is near me is a quarry they use for gravel, and lots of scattered quartz crystals just laying around. I live in a small valley that is like a tropical rainforest, yet 5 miles away there is 3-500 foot elevation differences and hills of sand with sparse native grasses. NC has everything from Alpine mini climates, to alligator swamps.

My valley shows a history of being part of the ocean in the past, yet I'm around 110 miles from the nearest real bay or estuary. My valley is close to 150 ft below the average ( around 275-325 ft elevation ASL) for the Raleigh area.

 

[Knife Outlet]

I like my crazy-hard kitchen knives. They take an extremely fine edge and hold it. Weekly touch-ups are easy because the edge bevels are so thin (not much material to remove). I never could get softer steels to hold the level of sharpness I like in the kitchen.

That's what Japanese cutlery is all about - thin hard blades. Nothing better in the kitchen. I don't know that I'd want a hard steel for a camp knife but no question that is the way to go in a kitchen knife.