Sharpening A Knife

[Adios]

LOL ok you guys that just keep going till you can shave your arm.

I use a bit of spit to help.

Now be honest, how many of you roll the edge over and break it off?

Now i say that because its a problem of mine, and you can see the edge flopping about.

And there lies the reason why i sharpen to 15 deg.

You dont roll the edge over.

I can still shave with it in fact i can strip off 1mm strips of paper from an A4, with no fury bits on the cut. They will cut through under their own weight.

Now who rolls the edge over, i do if i dont control the angle.

Nice bit of gear Cam but a bit iffy mate.

I think mine cost me 20 bucks lol.

And the diamonds come with a free carbide sharpener.

Which i used for the first time in my life on a brand new knife.

The bloody thing works it can even strip off paper.

Im not into powered sharpeners. Im after the home brew stuff.

Keep it coming boys.

Some good pointers here. An edge has to be suitable to the job . So you may be able to hone a super sharp fine edge that will shave a gnats ass but will it stand up to striking a few bones or the grit in fur etc.

An edge has to be durable as possible for the job. Quality of steel helps a great deal but how you sharpen it also helps get the right kind of edge.

You could have a finer smaller angle edge on a small drop point skinning knife than you might use on a boning knife or camp knife that could be used for much rougher work .

Most rec hunters will not do enough work with a knife to require constant resharpening in the field .

[optic]

I use to hollow grind my field knifes, then sharpen them.

I leave about 5mm of un ground steel and thats the bit i sharpen.

The reason i hollow ground them was due to their thickness of blade.

Not any more, i find that 15deg keeps a great edge for breaking down beef sheep and pigs.

This is on butchering knifes.

However 20 deg in the field last longer on rough fur and bone with a field knife.

Each to their own i guess.

What im after is ideas so those that dont have much luck with an edge get some idea of how the rest of us do it.

Something that we can take with us and use in camp.

I have carted a 75mm diamond steel with me for years and to date not used it in the field.

But its there if i have a bad day

[cameronpatrol]

Disposibal Havalon knife blades

If shes rooted swap it.

Do you cut from the inside out? blade fasing up/out

i figure you experienced blokes would i never thought about it till i watched a dvd or two.

especialy for capping out a better finish is had due to not cutting the hair well bugger all compared to cutting down throught the hair first then skin and meat.

[optic]

I may have got the pics to work.

This is the second unit, im still trying for a fast simple and portable thing to pack when i head off.

You will get the general idea from the pics.

Its only a bit of hard wood and half a removable hinge, along wit a bit of threaded bar.

Not much to it, but i would like to refine it even further.

Cheers

[cameronpatrol]

whats that rectanglular coloured thing? stone?

[optic]

whats that rectanglular coloured thing? stone?

Thats the 4 sided diamond block, i use to use cards they were about 4mm thick x 50mm wide.

The block keeps fingers well away from the edge.

Its a simple set up.

Not sure its right yet, but it works.

[cameronpatrol]

Ok nice

Will the block be able to move higher or lover so you dont wear out one spot?

[optic]

Mate the bar slides through the knuckle, so you get to use the width and the length of the pad.

No flat spots, unlike what you get with a stone and by hand doing a figure 8.

Its a good thing but im still after other ideas to refine this.

Cheers.