Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How do you sharpen your knife in the field?

I'll have one or both of these, my pocket knife because I have pants on and sometimes the Havalon which I've still never used in the other pocket or daypack.....and all I hunt is deer.

I don't bother. Unless I were on a truly extended hunting trip .. say african safari .. the size / weight of the sharpening tools needed to get the sort of edge I demand is greater than the size / weight of a second, and probably a third, already sharp knife. That backup knife is a lot faster to get rolling than stopping to sharpen a single knife, too.

Tom

Sharpening is removing metal to create a new edge. That wears a knife out. Do so as little as possible. The knife I use daily gets sharpened once or twice per year. My son has a Mora I've never actually sharpened since he got it a couple years ago.

The thing is you never let it get dull so you never have to sharpen it. Knives are not for cutting bone. When the edge loses it's keenness, straighten it back out. Think straight blade of grass vs one the wind has blown over a little. You can see and feel this.

There are different means to straighten the blade of grass. A few have already been mentioned. The only skill is being able to match the angle of the edge to the steel or hone or whatever. Real simple.

It's only a knife, it not like it's chisel or plane iron. Flesh is easy to cut. I haven't yet done this, but I keep thinking about buying half a dozen skinning knives at a butcher shop wholesaler. Hitting moose hair is the same as dragging the blade across a rock.

I have started using the Outdoor Edge knife with replaceable blades.The blades dont weigh as much or take up as much space as sharpening devices, and when one gets dull, you just replace it and carry on. The nay sayers will point out that they dull easily and aren't good steel. Probably true, but the convenience makes up for it.

I have a Diamond EZ Lap with me when hunting.
Small light and good for a touch up if needed.

I wish more of my acquaintances that can't sharpen
would do that. If I couldn't sharpen, I'd already
have one or more and blades enough for the
rest of my life

Carry a Havalon. Replace the blade in less than 5 seconds when it gets dull.

I use a regular knife for field dressing and a replaceable blade knife for skinning. I've rarely needed to sharpen my regular knives in the field, but skinning will dull an edge, and for that I just replace the blade. I do carry a small stone, but have never needed to use it since I started using replaceable blade knives for skinning.

A Latigo & green stropping compound tunes a nice blade like a razor.

Stones (most anyway under 3000) are for setting an edge or fixing damage not for making a razor edge.

Use your strop or tile or glass in a light feathering reverse and your blade will be sweet.

I have 1 of these so would probably use it for an away hunt




https://lansky.com/index.php/products/blademedic-knife-sharpener/

For deer?
What the hell are you cutting?
I can see needing to sharpen to work up a moose.
Maybe an elk.

But deer.

I've bones 2 and gutted on in one sitting and the knife was workable.
Not real sharp, but not dull enough to be much trouble.
If a steel had been available, it would have been used.

Heck we used to kill several cows in a day with only stealing
the knives to keep going. That was skinning and quartering.

Czech10/22: Consider this - and never have to sharpen afield again!
I carry 2 (two!) knives at all times when I am afield Hunting.
The 2 (two) knives I carry on my Hunts have 3 (three!) blades total.
Even after much use and work on game I do NOT have to worry about sharpening "afield".
I carry a LARGE Buck Model 315 (with two long robust blades) and a BuckLite Model 110 with a single very adequate blade.
I of course have a carbide type "sharpener" back at my camp/vehicle at all times as well.
Yeah, take two knives along with you on your treks afield - works for me and has for a VERY long time.
Good luck with whichever you choose to solve your "problem".
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

V block style sharpeners, like the Spyderco Sharpmaker, are the easiest way to ‘manually’ sharpen a knife in my opinion. Here is a pretty compact version that should easily fit in a pack with your gear.

https://agrussell.com/knife/A-G-Russell-Field-Sharpener--AG3750

[quote=ironbender]https://www.kroger.com/product/images/large/front/0002792519004


These are super light and quickly make a dull knife usable. Not quite like at home, but will keep you cutting. Just a few pulls on each side. Often just need the ceramic side.

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That's what I use and it gets you back in business quickly and will keep you going. That's important with a big animal like a moose.

I carry several.

One is always a Case Trapper and the others are various different blade types.

I also carry something to wipe the fat off the blade to help it cut better.

I have a crock stick and a diamond sharpener that fits in a shirt pocket.

My preferred steel in a hunting knife is 3V. I also prefer to have a knife with a fully convex edge. 3V has enough edge retention i can field process multiple deer before needling to touch up the edge.

When I feel the need to carry a way to touch up the edge in the field I have a compact strop loaded with abrasive compound. I find a convex edge much easier to maintain by hand.

If I was really concerned about being able to restore an edge in the field, a few pieces of wet/dry sandpaper could be included with the strip. Wrap a piece of sandpaper around the strop, secure with bands/tape/etc. and then sharpen away. This is similar to the sandpaper on a mousepad technique. Basically, with a strop or sandpaper you are always “pulling” the blade edge and never pushing.

But frankly, I just carry an extra knife so with two blades there’s no way I’ll need to sharpen anything in the field for a single deer.

On the edge of my truck window.

I use a Havalon with replaceable blades now, takes about 15 seconds to replace.