Survival Sharpening Article: Natural & Man Made Abrasives?

[JD Spydo]

Our well appreciated Forum Brother Michael Janich just recently did a great article on survival type sharpening in "OFF GRID" magazine and I encourage you all to read it ( "Improvised Knife Sharpening Methods"). There truly is some valuable information in the article and a list of items you can use to sharpen your knife when conventional sharpening equipment is not available. It's been a while since we've talked about "survival sharpening" and I'm wondering what new tips you all might have picked up over the past few months ( or years).

Apparently nature and many common hardware items have more to provide for sharpening than most of us realize. Also in Mr. Janich's article it suggested the use of automotive window glass among other items for some sharpening jobs ( serrated & Plain edge) which I found interesting. My own Brother a while back gave me some tubular quartz bulbs for high wattage halogen lamps which really did quite a nice finishing job when used like a butcher steel.

OK let's talk survival sharpening and compare what we've all learned about natural stones or even man made items that can be used to sharpen knives or tools in an emergency type environment or if you are stranded somewhere in the wild. Michael Janich's article touched on some good sharpening items and I'm sure you guys have encountered some yourselves. So what natural or man made items have you all found to work well for sharpening knives and tools?

[hoimin]

I can't say I've done any of this before, but I've come across some great videos on the topic.

From Andy Tran/InnerBark Outdoors: Field Sharpening and Blade Maintenance in the Jungle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT-WzXgvXSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkpQAjz71fs

From MCQ Bushcraft: a clever little strop and stone kit he made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7CX6xlL9Uo

The most I've done is honing a very well used kitchen knife on the bottom of a ceramic mug, and truing up a paring knife on the flat of a shard of brick I found outside.

[anagarika]

I recall Murray Carter also did a video on the same, discussed at cliff’ forum:
http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/forum/read.php?5,12093
He also showed a natural stone quarries in Japan.

HeavyHanded over BF, mentioned using ash from firewood to strop hatchet. I forgot if it’s him that found a natural pebble that is usable as well (or was it David?).

I think it’ll work for simple steel (carbon, 420HC, AUS8 for example), with rough working edge for high vanadium carbide steel such as S110V. I have tried the ceramic mug & glassware on simple steel with good results for EDU.

But then again, bringing a small pocket man made stone with you works too.

[JD Spydo]

Great feedback so far guys. Those are some interesting videos and it's really interesting all the materials you can use for stropping. Michael Janich in his recent article in OFF GRID magazine touched on the value of using the bottom of ceramic mugs. He also extolled the virtues of using glass out of junk cars for different types of sharpening as well.

On the "Moh's Hardness Scale" it probably wouldn't be too hard to figure which rocks & Minerals in your locale that would make for good abrasives. Diamond of course is at the top of the scale but we have rocks here in Missouri that are really hard>> now whether or not they have good abrasive properties remains to be seen.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Wow thank you JD and others for this. I need to read the Michael Janich article. This is great information.

[Doc Dan]

Great topic JD. I have never "had" to do survival sharpening that I recall at the moment. However, I have sharpened knives on the top edges of car windows, the bottoms of ceramic cups, drinking glasses, and smooth stones. I would think something like obsidian would work to give a fine finish, but I have not tried it.

Probably very fine sand particles or clay particles put on a flat piece of wood with a tad of moisture would probably work, too.

I am dubious of sharpening S110V, S90V, Maxament, and their ilk like this.

[JD Spydo]

Great topic JD. I have never "had" to do survival sharpening that I recall at the moment. However, I have sharpened knives on the top edges of car windows, the bottoms of ceramic cups, drinking glasses, and smooth stones. I would think something like obsidian would work to give a fine finish, but I have not tried it.

Probably very fine sand particles or clay particles put on a flat piece of wood with a tad of moisture would probably work, too.

I am dubious of sharpening S110V, S90V, Maxament, and their ilk like this.

Interesting you would mention "obsidian" because it is very similar to the material used for Arkansas Stones which is a quartz related rock known as "novaculite". I don't know if this is true with obsidian but novaculite can be found in several different grits and grades. Many old woodworkers swear by the very fine grades of novaculite for putting edges on chisels, gouges, carving knives and many other woodworking tools. I've had woodworkers tell me that most of the really high grade novaculite is getting hard to find because much of it has been mined out over the years. However I've noticed that Garrett Wade Co. claims to have some of the opaque grade which is super fine and harder than most novaculite.

But I've personally never tried obsidian for sharpening. The only obsidian I own is some arrowheads I found a few years back. But they also made arrowheads out of novaculite too.. As far as using sand for various types of sharpening there have been a couple of recent articles in two of the popular knife magazines about using sand>> I'll have to look up the author's name but I did read one of them and I'm anxious to try it.

For sharpening some of our newer/better supersteels I've yet to try any of the other sharpening methods. I've found that diamond is about the only thing I can reprofile steels like M390, S110V and so forth. Some of these newer/better blade steels have so much resistance to abrasion that diamond may be the only option. But I'm open to suggestions on that one.

[standy99]

Fine Sand pressed on a wet branch.
Remove bark, place log/branch about as thick as your wrist in water for a bit with a stone on top. 10-15minutes later pull out. Whilst wet put a handful of sand on still wet log and hit in with a rounded pebble or flat rock.( no need to bash it just enough for the sand to be embedded in the wood ) rub across with a diagonal draw starting at the handle finishing with the tip

[xceptnl]

I have used the car window and mug before to test the theory before I ever had to put it into practice in a real survival situation. It is a valuable skill to have, but I still feel more comfortable carrying my few pocket stones for true sharpening when I am away from my benchstones.

[anagarika]

An interesting article on natural stones:
http://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info%2020m/g ... part_1.pdf

[Evil D]

If you take the lid off the water tank of most toilets there's a nice flat raw ceramic surface there

[JD Spydo]

If you take the lid off the water tank of most toilets there's a nice flat raw ceramic surface there

That's really interesting EVIL D because old toilets are very easy to find in any landfill here where I live. A lot of times you can get them at a "Habitat For Humanity" store literally for a song if you have one close to where you live. Some of the older bathtubs out of very old houses had ceramic fixtures on them as well which I'm sure would do the same thing that the top part of a toilet tank would provide.

What's cool about the top of a toilet tank is that you could sharpen Bowie Knives and even machetes on something like that. There's enough rough area on the top of a toilet tank to sharpen any fixed blade you could come up with.

You could also add sink and lavatory ceramic fixtures as well. And don't forget the bottom of antique whiskey jugs also work well. Great responses so far guys :)

[RLDubbya]

Thinking about this a bit, I wonder if a good solution isn't to take 2 Wicked Edge stones: one coarse diamond, one glass / cowhide. Then pre-cut a bunch of DLF in various grades, without the adhesive. Place, let's say, 10 strips of the DLF cut to size between the two stones, have the coarse side of one stone out and the glass side of the other stone out. Rubber band them together, and then wrap paracord around for more protection and later use.

You then have a coarse stone for taking out chips, etc. You have DLF in various grades for sharpening - the DLF works with the glass side of the one stone. You also have a leather strop to finish. Note that if you wish, you can carry a couple syringes of diamond paste to use with the cowhide. The rubber bands and/or paracord can hold the DLF strips in place for you on the stone. It would be straightforward to eliminate the second stone, and keep only the coarse stone in your kit if the size /weight is a killer.

The big downside would be price, if you are not already into Wicked Edge and don't have this stuff laying around. You could minimize the cost by making your own handles for the media; i know some Wicked Edge guys get really tricked out in their creations, machining handles themselves.

[jpm2]

I have 2 credit card size diamond plates (coarse 250 & fine 600) that are always in my wallet. They cover a wide range of refinement, will sharpen anything, and last a lifetime if treated right. IMO, diamond is required for the sharpest, most stable edge on high carbide steels.

[arnold ziffle]

my favorite stropping thingy for out and about is a piece of cardboard from a watermelon box. it's almost an inch thick and does a wonderful job.

[JD Spydo]

I have 2 credit card size diamond plates (coarse 250 & fine 600) that are always in my wallet. They cover a wide range of refinement, will sharpen anything, and last a lifetime if treated right. IMO, diamond is required for the sharpest, most stable edge on high carbide steels.

Those wouldn't be the Fallkniven sharpeners by chance? Also BUCK Knife Company had a lot of different small sharpening devices at one time but I haven't heard much about them in the past two years or so.

Also I do remember at one point that the DMT Company used to have a big selection of pocket sized diamond sharpeners and I even owned a couple a few years back and they were handy in a pinch.

I'm really getting excited about Spyderco's newest small sharpening stones>> especially the Doublestuff 2.

[jpm2]

Eze-lap models 200, 201, 202, 203, depending on the grit.
http://eze-lap.com/product/creditcard.htm
They also have a 4 x 3/4" 1200 diamond/ceramic double side model CD4.

[JD Spydo]

An interesting article on natural stones:
http://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info%2020m/g ... part_1.pdf

That is some really valuable information you shared with us "anagarika" That is really a very nice reference source for natural stones and what's available in different parts of the globe. I highly encourage all of you to check out the link that "anagarika" has shared with us.

I do find it extremely interesting that no matter where you are on this great planet that there always seems to be something that mother nature has provided for sharpening our tools.

And please I also encourage all of you to check out that sharpening article that our fellow forum member Michael Janich did in a recent issue of OFF GRID magazine. It really gives you some vital information concerning your selection of sharpening tools available in hard times when conventional sharpening tools are probably not available.

[Michael Janich]

Thank you all for a great thread and your kind words regarding my sharpening article. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Stay safe,

Mike

[JD Spydo]

Thank you all for a great thread and your kind words regarding my sharpening article. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Mr. Janich first of all thank you for a great and very informative article on "survival sharpening". Over the past 8 years or so I've frequented a lot of different knife and survival type forums and I've learned a lot of tips for sharpening knives and tools by using whatever is available at that given time.

I think someone should consider writing a book on the subject of "survival sharpening". As far as I know I don't think there is a comprehensive book on survival type sharpening that has ever been published to my knowledge. I would love to see someone with your expertise collectively gather all the good primitive sharpening methods and put them all in a book. I would bet that some publishing company like Palladin Press who were the ones who dared to publish "The Spyderco Story" by Kenneth Delavigne would love to put out a book on survival sharpening. Delta Press is another publishing outfit that I bet would love to take on a subject like survival type sharpening.

In a book like that a person could gather a list of all the rocks and other materials that can be used as abrasives and rank them all on the "Moh's Hardness Scale" so people would know what rocks, minerals and other materials that might be available in their locale. I wish you would maybe consider that Mr. Janich because you seem to have the resources for it :)

I know there are a lot of us here at Spyderville who would very much like a book like that. I think your article in OFF GRID magazine is a great start but I get the feeling that there is a lot more out there than what we are aware of in regards to materials that could be used for sharpening when nothing else is available.