My Field Sharpening Kit


I hate having to use a dull knife. It takes longer to do things and more effort to do things. Whereas a sharp knife is a joy to use and makes me look for new tasks to take on. In short I like to keep my knives that I use sharp. This of course requires the occasional sharpening and although I like to do so with my full home kit sometimes it is just too big to take with me so I have put together a smaller field kit.


The first part of this kit that I purchased was the DMT Diafold Double Sided Sharpener. Mine came with a blue coarse side and a red fine side. I like the size, durability and the fact that you can use it wet or dry. However the handle does get in the way sometimes, it takes a steady hand to get good results and the fine side still leaves a fairly rough finish. I have marked mine with a C and an F so I can see at a glance what side to start with as I can never remember what red and blue stand for. Also if I have a flat surface to use it on I find it works well with a strip of drawer liner keeps it from sliding around and gives me something to keep this kit together with.


The next piece of this kit that I purchased was a Speedy Sharp. This sharpener is basically a carbide blade that peals away steel. It is super aggressive at taking away steel. As such I would only use it on the dullest of blades or if you needed to improvise a blade and need an edge fast. That being said the simple and robust design has several uses outside of sharpening such as: It will shred a magnesium bar very quickly or can be used with a ferrocerium rod, as a scraper or bark peeler, etc.


The final piece of my kit is a Camillus Glide Sharpener. This is a bit of a multi-tool with a flat screwdriver, Torx bits, carbide and ceramic sharpeners. The only feature that I have used is the ceramic sharpening hone. Since I generally keep my knives sharp this allows me to touch up blades as needed and this is the most used part of my kit.


That sums up my field sharpening kit let me know if there is anything you would add.





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