Sharpening on the go, best method?

[Leo Barr]

Have you considered the mouse pad method? Get a small length of flat wood glue a mouse pad to it then fix wet and dry sand paper to it with elastic bands start at about 600 grit and perhaps have a sheet of 1200 it works very well use it as a hone it will convex the blade edge just apply little more than the weight of the knife if you press too hard you will change the bevel.
You can also staple denim over the mouse pad and and coat the denim with liberal amounts of liquid metal polish once it is saturated add more until you have a smooth surface make sure it has set (dried) this is also great for honing .
These methods work surprisingly well provided that you are careful and methodical – place blade flat on surface then slowly lift the spine until there is no gap between the bevel and the surface you can even put a cigarette paper under the bevel and you will know when you have it since the paper will be trapped or mark with a Sharpie.
It is great method for your own knife when you have time it is just not feasible when you have a stack of knives to do.
Should you not manage to grasp it you will have done little damage and it will take little time on the WE to sort it.

[cbwx34]

If you haven’t totally made up your mind, one that I like that I didn’t think to mention (don’t know why, I use it all the time), is one that Jed also referenced… the DMT DiaFold style. I like them better than the credit card ones, because, like the WE handles, you can hold them in your hand (I ‘cup’ the handle and use my index finger to support the stone), and basically ‘strop’ the edge back to sharp.

You might also google “field sharpening kit”… you’ll get several exmaples of kits that you can buy (or put together yourself for a fraction of what most places charge), if you want something a little more complete.

[Phil Pasteur]

Thanks for all the ideas…..good stuff!

Philip, you always break it down pretty good, don’t you? :whistle:

Not sure how to interpret that..
But I try, 50+ years of sharpening, you have to pick up a few things..
🙂

Recommendations on strops? Again, something portable I can keep with most likely one of the above two without taking WE stuff with me. This will get more use than the stones as 95% of sharpening will be done at home on WE.

You can make a small strop out of a hunk of wood and a piece of leather. Make it any convenient size, maybe cut it so you have a handle. Glue a nice piece of leather on it and you have a strop. Put leather on both sides and you can have a couple of grits. I have even seen where people just used a paint stiring stick as the base material. I think something like 5 or 6 micron and 3 micron would be good. If only one side, I would go with 3 micron.

If you search for “make a bench strop” or “make a paddle strop”, you will find lots of info on doing that.

Personally I have problems with small stones liike the Spyderco or DMT products that you mention. It is just hard to hold them while keeping you fingers out of the way of sharp steel. I have several of the small stones that are packed with “survival” knives. I find them just plain difficult to use. I have done so, but have not been particularly happy with the experience nor the results.

Of course, for light weight and low volume, I suppose that soem compromises are neccessary. It would be nice if you could figure out how to try sone or both of them before you commit.

I have far too much stuff like that sitting in closts or in boxes that never gets used. There was a time when I bought about every shrpening gadget that I could find… most did not get used any more than once or twice.

If you want something cheap that will work in a pinch and is very small check this out.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O8OTNC/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00032S02K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08351ZBHN8BJQK7JA7JH

I am not endorsing it, but I have one righ here in my desk drawer at work. It works OK, especislly if you profile an edge so that you don’t have to remove much metal with it.

[cbwx34]

I like them better than the credit card ones…

Personally I have problems with small stones liike the Spyderco or DMT products that you mention. It is just hard to hold them while keeping you fingers out of the way of sharp steel. I have several of the small stones that are packed with “survival” knives. I find them just plain difficult to use. I have done so, but have not been particularly happy with the experience nor the results.

… and that’s why. 🙂

[Mikedoh]

Sauce
Wondering how your sharpening on the go went.

[Daniel Saucier]

Quick update, bought a strop from Stropman.com after checking out some reviews, mostly influenced from Jdavis’ youtube video…..outstanding. Haven’t needed anymore than it yet while out and about. I bought the pacman model with white and green compounds. No mobile stones yet. Might get the fold out kind that has somewhat of a handle. Phillips previous comments make sense about not having much to grip onto with the double stuff or dmt credit card style.

Sauce

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