How to Sharpen a Hunting Knife

Knowing how to sharpen a hunting knife is an essential skill to learn in order to maintain the life of your knife. Having a sharp knife is a must for any hunting situation. For example, you'll use your knife for such things as cutting rope for tying down your hunting "trophies" and removing cords from decoys.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lubricant
• Moist cloth or sponge
• Knife sharpener

Find out How to Sharpen a Hunting Knife

1. Look closely at your hunting knife blade and determine the blade angle. When sharpening your hunting knife, you must sharpen it at the same angle that the blade was previously sharpened to.

2. Lubricate your sharpener if necessary. Arkansas stone and diamond sharpeners require a form of lubrication. General purpose or honing oils are excellent lubricants for Arkansas stone sharpeners. A few drops of soap and water can be used to lubricate diamond sharpeners.

3. Place the sharpener on a sturdy surface. Do not attempt to sharpen a hunting knife by holding the sharpener and knife in your hands and sharpening the knife without support.

4. Put the hunting knife in or on the sharpener and draw the blade across the edges in a slow bottom-to-top rhythm. Start with the base of the blade first and pull the knife towards you against the sharpener.

5. Make sure that you keep the correct angle of the blade while dragging it across the sharpener. Do not get carried away with trying to make the blade sharper while not paying close attention to the angle that you are sharpening from.

6. Sharpen each side of the blade the same number of times. Try doing 10 repetitions on each side. By doing the same amount of sharpening repetitions on each side, you will ensure that the blade edge remains even.

7. Clean the hunting knife blade with a moist cloth or sponge and test it to see whether it is at your desired level of sharpness. Handle the blade with caution in order to prevent cutting yourself on the highly sharpened blade.

8. Clean your blade thoroughly and lightly oil it if you are satisfied with the level of sharpness. If you feel that it still needs more sharpening, continue with repetitions of sharpening until it is sharpened to a level you are satisfied with.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose wisely. Arkansas stone sharpeners are very inexpensive, yet are considered among the best for sharpening hunting knives. Ceramic sharpeners are incredibly durable and can last a lifetime, but are not very effective at sharpening extremely dull blades.
• Keep in mind that lubricants are not used to enable the blade to move easier while using a sharpener. Instead, they are used to remove the tiny steel particles that are left on the sharpener.

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[RJHough]

on 5/12/2008 Very helpful article