“A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one.” – Ancient Proverb
That old saying is true on many levels:
- A dull knife is harder to control than a sharp one.
- A dull knife requires more force to cut with, and thus lends itself to slipping and injury.
- If you cut yourself with a dull knife, the wound takes longer to heal.
- And of course, a dull knife is less useful for survival situations, when you need it most.
Pocket knives are one of the most useful survival tools.
Across the millennia, knives have proven their usefulness.
It’s an invention, both elegant and versatile in its simplicity. But keeping your knives sharp is extremely important for survival.
You should never allow them to slip into dullness and disrepair.
And in a survival situation, you NEED your tools to function their best; otherwise, you’re tempting fate.
Pocket knife sharpeners come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and styles these days. So there is no excuse not to have one.
Back in the day, whetstones used to be the only option for effectively sharpening blades.
Whetstones are made from a fine-grained stone known as Hornfels. These handy rocks are still a reliable way to sharpen knives. But this is the modern age; we have fancy pocket knife sharpeners designed for survival purposes.
Lots of manufacturers make them, and this guide is going to give you the inside scoop on which ones are the best.
So today we’ll be covering the following knife sharpener topics:
- Best Pocket Knife Sharpeners On The Market Today
- Best Pocket Knife Sharpener Features
- How To Sharpen Your Knife To A Razors Edge
- Last Resort Knife Sharpening Techniques (without a sharpener)
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Best Pocket Knife Sharpeners On The Market Today
In this section, you will find a list of the highest-rated pocket knife sharpeners.
Each has a short description so you can compare them to find out which pocket sharpener will best fit your needs.
Smith’s Abrasives PP1 Hunting Pocket Knife Sharpener
This is one of the best options available and the one I personally own.
Smith started as a stone company and has evolved to become one of the best knife sharpener makers in the world. Their products are made in America and manufactured to meet their high-quality standards.
This sleek and slim pocket knife sharpener was engineered for outdoorsmen and survivalists.
It features a foldable diamond-coated sharpening rod. This rod allows for sharpening both serrated and straight-edged blades.
It also has one set of carbide blades for restoring edges on dull or damaged knives and shaped ceramic stones. These carbide blades allow you to add a finished polish to any blade.
Both the ceramic stones and the carbide blades are reversible and replaceable. So you can extend the life of this sharpener indefinitely.
SHARPAL 101N 6-In-1 Pocket Knife Sharpener
This SHARPAL pocket knife sharpener is also a multi-tool because it serves several different purposes.
First, it is an excellent knife sharpener.
It features tungsten carbide blades for quick edge setting and ceramic blades for fine honing.
And it includes a diamond coated rod.
It also includes a fire striker, fishhooks, and a high pitched survival whistle.
Rada Cutlery Quick Edge Knife Sharpener
This knife sharpener is made from durable black nylon plastic and two steel wheels. Plus, Rada Cutlery makes this sharpener right here in the USA.
It comes with a plastic case to make portability easy and convenient.
But, by far, the best aspect of this small pocket knife sharpener is its lifetime guarantee!
If ever it breaks or malfunctions, return the product and get it replaced.
Gerber Bear Grylls Field Sharpener
Gerber Gear designed this sharpener with two different shaped diamond coated rods to evenly sharpen any blade.
It has a grippy rubber handle for comfortable and safe handling. And it comes with a smooth hard-plastic case to protect it no matter where you store it.
At only 4.5 inches, it fits snugly into any pocket or backpack. And with its hard-shell case, you don’t have to worry about what else gets thrown in there.
Knife Sharpening Stone Kit – 2 Side Whetstone Set
This list would not be complete without at least one whetstone option. What this sharpener lacks in portability and sleek design, it makes up for in sheer utility.
This two-sided whetstone comes with a bamboo base to set it in during use.
A rubber base to hold it in place, and even an angle guide to help while you’re using the whetstone.
One side of the stone is coarse to shave off any dullness or damage on a blade. The other is fine-grained to polish the job off and fine-tune the edge after you have used the coarse side.
While this option comes with some handy extras, the best part of it is you do not have to use them. The stone is all you need to sharpen a blade, and the stone by itself is “relatively” portable. But it’s too large to be considered a “pocket” knife sharpener.
But if you put it in your backpacking backpack or inside of your bug out bag, expect an increase in weight. You’re packing a rock!
This whetstone option is usually best to store in your survival gear, a survival vehicle, or at a bug out location.
Somewhere you won’t have to carry it very far.
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Best Pocket Knife Sharpener Features
There are a few qualities that every good pocket knife sharpener should have.
First and foremost, you want to make sure it lasts.
Read reviews, try them out, but make sure you can rely on the knife sharpener to do its job when the time comes.
There are a lot of sharpeners out there that wear out quickly, or utterly fail to put a real edge on a blade.
A useful survival knife sharpener also needs to be lightweight.
The most prominent reason whetstones are not more popular is because they are heavy. Having one of those bad boys in your bug out bag will weigh you down.
Along those same lines, you want one that is small enough to fit in a bug out bag, get home bag or survival pack.
Bulky knife sharpeners make for complicated survival accessories to pack.
Finally, some extras are nice too.
It doesn’t have to be a multi-tool sharpener, but many modern knife sharpeners do come with some handy features.
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How To Sharpen Your Knives To A Razors Edge
So you’ve bought yourself a survival knife sharpener. Cool. Now what?
You’ve got all these dull or damaged blades, and now you have the necessary tool to hone those edges. But how in the hell do you put it all together?
Lucky for you, sharpening a blade is pretty easy, especially if you are using one of those fancy modern pocket sharpeners listed above.
So here is the rundown:
With A Pocket Knife Sharpener:
1. First, you use the diamond-coated rod.
Run your blade along the rod at an even 15-20 degree angle.
Make sure that you maintain a steady angle as you run along the blade, evenly sharpening every inch of the edge.
2. Next, run the edge through the tungsten blades affixed to the sharpener.
This is easy.
Just set the base of the blade in the tungsten niche and draw it back through the metal pieces.
The tungsten should squeeze the edges of your blade and sharpen them significantly with only a few passes.
3. Finally, do precisely the same thing as you did in step #2, but with the ceramic sharpener.
Ceramic is finer than tungsten. This step fine-tunes the edge of the blade, polishing them to a near-perfect edge.
With A Whetstone
1. Wet your whetstone.
Dunk it, soak it and make sure it’s sopping wet. Then set it out on a flat surface on top of a dish rag (or your fancy bamboo non-slip base).
Continually re-apply water as you’re sharpening your blade.
2. Start with the coarse grit side of the stone.
Run the blade along the whetstone at a consistent 15-20 degree angle.
Start at the tip of the blade and draw it back towards you, gently moving along the length of the blade to its base. Apply light pressure as you do so. Do not go overboard.
You probably do not need to run the blade over the whetstone more than a few times. Unless it’s significantly dull or you’re trying to rub out some blade damage.
3. Turn the knife over and do the same thing.
4. Turn your whetstone over to its fine side.
Now repeat the exact same process with both sides of the blade’s edge to really finely hone your knife.
5. Rinse off the whetstone and clean off any grinding residue.
6. Wash the blades in hot water.
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Last Resort Knife Sharpening Methods (without a sharpener)
But what if you don’t have anything? No pocket sharpener, no whetstone; nothing? How do you sharpen a knife then?
Stay calm; you can still sharpen your blade.
It just might take a little extra work and some ingenuity. There are a few common resources that you can use to achieve the same purpose.
Ceramic Mug
Get your hands on a mug, and flip it upside down.
Make sure that you can see a ring around the base of the mug of bare ceramic; that’s your makeshift pocket knife sharpener.
Make sure it is wet and draw the blade along that ring at a 15-20 degree angle the same way you would with a whetstone. This technique should sharpen your knife relatively well.
It might not be perfect or the most efficient way of sharpening a blade, but it will do in a pinch.
An upside-down ceramic plate will also work.
Riverstone
Find yourself a stone that comfortably fits in your hand, and has a relatively flat side.
Riverstones work best for this, and the finer grain the stone is, the better. Make sure the stone is wet (as always).
Hold the stone in one hand and your knife in the other. Now draw the blade back along the stone at a 15-20 degree angle.
This process may take longer than it usually would with a whetstone or a diamond-coated sharpening rod. But it will eventually get the job done.
Different rocks will work better or worse, depending on their geologic makeup. So, try a few different ones to get the best bang for your buck.
Leather Belt
Technically this will not sharpen the blade, so much as to make it keener and straighten out its edge. But it will generally make a knife more effective.
Run the knife away from the cutting edge, along the inside of the belt, like a barber sharpening a straight razor.
Be sure that the belt you are using does not have any stitching, or you might ruin it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=une4Zp75gWU
Sandpaper
This stuff is cheap to buy, and you can find it in just about any garage.
Start with a coarser grit to get the initial sharpening and a finer one for the polishing off.
You can wrap the sandpaper around a wooden block and make yourself a poor man’s whetstone.
Vehicle Window
The rough, rounded edges of a car window make for a tremendous honing tool. And there will always be an abundance of cars lying around.
Just roll the window halfway down and draw your knife’s blade along the edge of the window.
This makeshift sharpener will allow you to hone your blade to be razor-sharp.
Another Knife
Remember, steel sharpens steel! So if you’re hurting for items you can use to sharpen a knife, you can use another knife.
Use the spine of another knife just like you would a whetstone and draw your dull blade along it at an angle.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining a sharp edge on your tactical knives is every bit as important as owning the knife itself. A knife is only as good as its blade, and its blade is only as good as you maintain it.
Letting a knife get dull or damaged can be dangerous.
Not only does it make your knife harder to use, but it’s allowing your survival tools to fall into disrepair. A sharp knife is symbolic. If you let your blades get dull, you’re likely not taking care of the rest of your survival gear either.
These days, pocket knife sharpeners come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It’s not difficult to find a high-quality one that easily fits into a pocket or bug out bag.
Make sure that you are prepared to take care of your knives so that your blades can take care of you.
Will Brendza
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