Feather Sticks and a Sharp Knife

[Emdiesse]

I should say that once you have the edge you want then regular stropping on the the leather means that you hardly ever need to go back to the coarser papers unless you ding the edge of your knife - the papers do wear a lot faster than a stone in hours of actual usage

Cunning, so along with bushcraftmyway's advice as well. say at the end of the day, if you get out your leather belt, pull it taught and then give your knife a few strops either side with some mild abrasive on the back of the leather the knife is more likely to stay sharper for longer. Unless of course you ding it during the day!

 

[ged]

As I understand it (and each time I think I do something else crops up to tell me that I don't) a micro bevel is a very small version of a secondary edge and the micro bevel is important (?essential) if you are to have a long lasting edge in a carbon steel knife, regardless of the grind (except possiblly convex, which in effect has a built in long-wearing design). They may be less important with a stainless steel knife which is harder wearing.

(sits back and waits to be corrected and so learn the next bit of knife knowledge)

Stainless is good for those of us who like to cut wet things and not have to bother drying and/or oiling the blade. Chemical reactions act faster when the reactants are finely divided, and a fine, sharp edge of a blade is pretty finely divided. It's not only physically delicate but it's also chemically delicate.

A carbon steel blade can go blunt just sitting in a drawer if it isn't protected by a film to keep water and oxygen from attacking it. The film doesn't need to be much, just the oily base of the grinding paste can do a decent job. Obviously if you sharpen with water stones you'll probably need to apply something oily.

Stainless blades are just more resistant to chemical attack. To be honest, compared with the humble O1 some of the stainless steels aren't all that great for taking and holding an edge but they can be neglected more with less resulting damage. On the other hand some of the more recent (and often very expensive) stainless steels are just all-round fantastic. I'm currently in the middle of a torrid affair with S30V, and that isn't even the top of the range.

You're right about a convex blade having some advantages, and I've lightly convexed a few of my blades, but if it's taken to excess I find the thing can become very awkward to use. Anybody got a Falky F1?

Having no secondary at all can leave the edge very fragile. I can't be doing with sharpening a blade every time I use it, but then as you know I don't do carving.

 

[Sappy]

A microbevel on a scandi defeats the point of it being a scandi.
A microbevel will strenghen the edge if your only batoning but if your only batoning you probably should have went convex not scandi.

The scandi can go blunt quickly if you baton a lot but a scandi is better for feather sticks and fine work etc.

If you blunt it in the field it can take a while to get it razor sharp for tasks like cutting rawhide lacing, in that case its often easier to just put on a microbevel.

Best solution is to keep your knife scandi ground, get a 2 bladed pocket knife for skinning or working with animal products and use an axe for cutting big bits.

Otherwise just use a scandi and deal with it.

Luckily not many folk go out for longer than a week so these problems rarely arise.

 

[mountain arctic warrior]

I rarely sharpen my Knives to 'Razor sharp' and keep quite a steep angle on them too. A 'Razor' edge goes 'dull' very quickly and to maintain that edge over time will cause unecessary ware to the Knife itself. The angle I try to keep my edges at, is around 30 degrees. This gives me a strong edge, sharp and it works well for 'splitting' Wood and times I use a 'Baton'. I find that guys like to show off a little and shave their Arms and Hands, giving themselves satisfaction in their ability. If you use your Knife as it should be used, 'a Tool' for survival or Bushcraft, why do you need to cut paper or shave the back of your Hand?! I buy fairly expensive Knives, always over £100 and want them to last as long as possible.
A couple of tips, don't use excessive force when sharpening, you can feel it when the right pressure is being used........It's not a workout! Second tip, keep your angle the same every time you sharpen, use a 'jig' or your Fingers or something to help guide you. One more for good measure, keep your edge central to the Knife right the way along it from the Heel to the tip, remembering to de-bur at the very end.

 

[NikolaTesla]

I can make feathersticks pretty easy, split wood into half, then half again so it ends up shaped like a triangle then try, you don't even need a very sharp knife I find scndi grinds best for feathersticks though.

Just make sure the piece of wood has a pointy edge which is easy to shave.