Knife Hack #3

Recently, we have been testing some supposed “Knife Hacks”.  Simple little ways to take care of your knife around the house, or out in the woods.  Easy little tasks you can do during any bug out, camping, or hiking trip.  This week we will be looking at how you can go about sharpening your knife using a rock.

First off, you are going to need to find yourself a good rock for sharpening.  When looking for your rock, you are going to want to find one with a flat edge and, if possible, a square edge.  Now, obviously, you are not going to find an absolutely perfect rock each and every time.  Just do the best that you can to meet those parameters.  You are not going to want a rock with jagged edges or awkward shape.  These can make it difficult to hold, and the edges can end up damaging your knife.  So make sure to select your rock carefully.  These knife hacks are about taking care of your knife, we would hate to see you damage your EDC. This is the rock I selected.

When you first start out, I suggest practicing on a knife that maybe does not mean as much to you.  Something that, if damaged, you will not be too upset.  When I was first starting, I practiced on my Lightning OTF.  It’s a knife I have had for a while, and I have even used it for testing knife hacks in the past.

Next, you are going to want to get some water on the surface of the stone.  This will ensure that the dust does not clog up the pores of the stone.

We have several options when it comes to actually sharpening the knife.  The first is to do small circles, keeping the number relatively even on each side.  As you can see, in the video below.

The next option, is to sharpen your knife with a circular slicing motion.  Very similar to if you were peeling a vegetable.  You move the knife, and rock together.  A curved action.   I show this in the video below.

The last option I will be showing is the straight pull.  This is basically just pulling your knife in a straight line, while holding the rock still.  Basically you are just dragging the knife across the rock in a straight line.  I also detail this in a video, to help you understand.

No matter what method you decide to use, don’t forget to strop your blade, to remove any of the built up burs.  As you may not have a piece of leather readily available, you can do this using your pants.  Just make sure to point the blade of the knife away from whichever way you are dragging it.  I also included a video of me doing this, to hopefully help you see how it is done.

So, after testing each of these methods, I was not entirely impressed.  My knife did not seem all that much sharper.  And, I did notice that the rock I chose left some noticeable scratches along my blade, damaging it.  As I said before, it is very important to be very careful in selecting the rock you will be choosing, as it can damage the blade.

After testing this knife hack, I have decided it is probably not your best option.  The 2 previously tested knife hacks worked surprisingly well, however, this one did not.   The difficulty in selecting a proper rock is too risky for your blade, and you may end up damaging it.  The final result was not as sharp as I was hoping.  Although it did sharpen the blade a little bit.  In an emergency situation, this knife hack would work, but if you have other options, I suggest you try those first.  It’s always a great idea to have a knife sharpener on hand, so that you can be sure to always properly sharpen your knives.

Do you know of a different way to sharpen a knife using a rock?  Has this method worked for you?  Or maybe you know of a different knife hack you would like to see tested?  As always, let us know in the comments below.