View Full Version : Sharpening a Puukko
What sharpening stones do you suggest for the lapp puukko or the finnish puukko? any advice on technique?
What sharpening stones do you suggest for the lapp puukko or the finnish puukko? any advice on technique?
I'd suggest a medium grit ceramic stone like the one Spyderco make:
http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=441010
Anything a little cheaper perhaps?
Try Ebay, I picked up a spydie sharpmaker for abour $45 (yes dollars) incl shipping from a seller in the US.
Cheers
David
C_Claycomb
10-05-2004, 11:50
Japanese water stones do a cracking job. Axminster and Tilgear (to name but two) do them, and they are cheaper than ceramics. Thing is, all those are bench sharpeners, not field sharpeners.
Woodlore/Ray Mears recommend taking a waterstone and sawing in half. Other than being murder on a hacksaw, the resulting brick is still heavy, relatively messy to use, and needs quite a bit of water to work well. Water stones do cut fast and give a good edge though.
The Fallkniven sharpener that Stuart has looks good, diamond on one side, ceramic on the other. You don't want a rod type sharpener for a flat scandi, you need something with plenty of flat surface. Spyderco also do a dual sided ceramic sharpener, a bit lighter than the Fallkniven. Again, dunno what it is like, have heard good things though.
DMT folding sharpeners are pretty good, but the red grade is a bit too coarse for fine blades, you really need the extra fine as well. and that is more £££. They are light though.
At a push, for field sharpening, you can use 1200 wetndry and any hard flat surface. But that really is pushing things :roll:
I use water stones at home, carry a DMT and leather loaded with stopping paste in the field, and wet and dry if I am going a long way (air travel) and may have to rework an edge.
Woodlore/Ray Mears recommend taking a waterstone and sawing in half. Other than being murder on a hacksaw, the resulting brick is still heavy, relatively messy to use, and needs quite a bit of water to work well.
Add to that that waterstones break easily when carried. The only thing I now carry is a Fallkniven DC4 ceramic/diamond stone from www.heinnie.com or a medium grit and fine grit mini DMT sharpener. Unbreakable and easy to use.
Add to that that waterstones break easily when carried. The only thing I now carry is a Fallkniven DC4 ceramic/diamond stone from www.heinnie.com or a medium grit and fine grit mini DMT sharpener. Unbreakable and easy to use.
I'll second that...very easy to use, and the first sharperner where i managed a razor edge!
Any sharpening system you have will do, be it oil stone, water stone or whatever as long as it has a medium and fine side to it.
Some will say water stones are best and this is genreally true but they do tend to wear out quickly - where as a honest to goodness oil stone will last you into old age.
Be wary of diamond stones as these will sharpen your knife quickly but will take off far more metal than is needed and as such shorten the life of the blade.
As for sawing a water stone in half - make sure you have an afternoon free and about twenty spare blades! Besides why ruin a good stone when you would be better served by a little pocket Arkansas stone or similar.
That's the nice thing about the Fallkniven DC4 Gary ... coarse/medium diamond one side, medium/fine ceramic the other.
ChrisKavanaugh
10-05-2004, 15:37
www.ragweedforge.com has extensive files and a brief,informative section on sharpening. If you have one of the nicer scandi knifes; I would invest in some Moras. @ $9 USD I bought several as gifts, backups and knockabout blades. I was able to hone my skills at honing without fear of damaging something nice.
C_Claycomb
10-05-2004, 16:18
I second CK on having things to practice on. I dread to think what I might have done to a good knife when I started out :shock: :lol:
I don't like "fine" diamond for touch ups, but it does well when a dink has to be worked out in the field. I am experimenting with an extra fine diamond hone, so far so good. Ceramic is a much gentler hone.
I used to use oil stones but like the lack of mess using water instead of oil.
Indeed it is Adi but us peasants will have to stick with our Arkansas stones for now!!!
Unless........................ .... :-D
Indeed it is Adi but us peasants will have to stick with our Arkansas stones for now!!!
Unless........................ .... :-D
I thought it was only lottery winners who still bought Arkansas stones ... natural stones seem dearer than synthetic everywhere I shop!
ha --- I wish! :shock:
If I won the lottery Adi I'd buy us all a forest to play in - and I'd run free courses there too - as for the arkansas stone well I picked it up year ago in Canada so I guess that explains things!! :oops:
Adi
Attleborough Supplies have a £4.00 pocket arkansas stone (http://www.attacc.com/acatalog/Attleborough_Accessories_Knive s_Sharpeners.html)
i'll second or third the vote for the fallkniven tool. for a scandi ground knife it could well be the only stone you'd ever need. 8-)
but a sheet of wet'n'dry on a board would still last quite a while and cost pence.
cheers, and.
for a scandi ground knife it could well be the only stone you'd ever need. 8-)
I feel I have to agree with you ... a great bit of kit!
I'll vote with sargey's idea. Sandpaper has become my preferred method for field sharpening scandis. You can cut a piece of wood to any size you want and you have a wide variety of papers to choose from for grits and they weigh but a pittance. And sandpaper cuts like crazy and when it wears, just chuck in another piece. Besides a worn piece of sandpaper can be used hundreds of times: it just becomes a finer and finer grit as it wears down. Wet/dry sandpaper is fine for the field because it's even designed to be used when wet.
In general though, whatever ya have handy will put a good edge on a scandi. You can buy small waterstones but they are tricky to dress in the field. A nice small India stone is a great choice and this is what comes with a Randall knife when you buy one. Small arkansas stones are wonderful for touching up an edge. Lots of small ceramic and diamond sharpeners to choose from as well.
Sharpen 'er up before you leave and depending on how long you will be in the field and what you plan to do, you may not have to do much sharpening anyway.
Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. :-D
Often when sharpening a scandi grind, I will use a HoodooHone type set up. For this knife, I decided to use stones. I almost hated to sharpen it, since I would be marring the beautiful polsih of JM's waterstones. However, any knife used needs to be sharpened eventually.
I found that by using small stones instead of bench stones, I could follow the built in guide that the single edge bevel offers. I find it easier to hold a consistent angel, and follow the bevel with a hand held small stone, and keeping the blade fixed. THis is nothing new for sure, Japanese swordsmiths have been polishing their edges this way for centuries. I got the stones from Ragnar for just a few bucks, soft and hard Arkansas.
First one side:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20005.JPG
Then the other:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20006.JPG
After the edge was fully formed, I used a fine ceramic Spyderco rod to polish and refine, it is really easy to keep the flat rod perfectly aligned with the wide single edge bevel. They are truly the easist edges to sharpen, virtually fool proof.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20008.JPG
I then gave it a few light edge trailing strokes on a leather strop:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20010.JPG
The results: A hair shaving edge.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20004.jpg
Ihttp://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20001.JPG
http://photos.imageevent.com/chad234/jmscandinavian/large/JM%20002.JPG
cool and simple tutorial chad 8-)
what sort of angle do you hold the knife at for stropping? do you find that this works better than stropping on the flat?
the only thing i do different is holding the knife. one side you can sharpen with the edge away from you. rather than sharpen the other side with the edge pointing towards your stone hand, i hold the knife like i was going to pass it to some one handle first.
i'll try to get a pic later.
cheers, and.
Firstly, I think I'm going to try out the diamond/ceramic DC4 as a few people have suggested it and agreed that its a good piece of kit. Thanks for all your opinions and suggestions though.
Secondly, I was wondering if using a leather belt had any important discrepancies for stropping compared with a specially designed leather strop?
not really. follow chad's tutorial, it's all there. the only issue with the strop is to use it on a flat surface. you could just hang the belt buckle on a broken branch and strop away, but you might find that that gives you an edge too rounded and it will effectively be blunt. the strop needs to be supported.
you could get on to http://www.starkiesharp.com/ they do a great little strop and stropping compound for about a fiver. if you have a belt, the little strop is already redundant. but the compound is well worth having.
failing that, check the contents of the garage or shed at home. experiment with any car polishes. T-Cut scratch remover, Autosol and the like make great stropping/lapping compounds. cut up a cornflake box and put a small dollop on the inside. use the cardboard on a mousemat for a strop.
cheers, and.
Very nice Chad!
I tend to hold the hone in my left hand, lay the knife on top, and move the knife to sharpen--but not always. I generally find it easier to move the hone when I sharpen a hatchet. Six of one, half dozen of another. :-D
Thanks guys.
I usually lay the whole bevel on the strop, that time I was just polishing the very edge as it is quicker and I wanted to use the knife!!
Any piece of leather will work, I like very stiff leather as it tends not to round the edge as much.
I like the polishing paste from Lee Valley.
I have been wanting to try diamond paste on cardboard to do a fast job.
Dave Barker
08-06-2004, 08:34
I have recently started using a LANSKY crock stick.
It's about 6" long and i find it great for touching up edges whilst in the field.
I would agree with the other comments tho. Make sure the blade is sharp before you go out, the pocket rods ( ceramic) are great, and take very little material from the blade whilst maintaining the edge.
I tend to touch up the edge with the stone erery so often whilst out.
gurushaun
08-06-2004, 12:14
I second Sarge's recommendation of the Starkie Strop and paste (the compound comes in the form of a stick about the consistency of a wax crayon), easy and clean to use.
Cheers
Shaun
For home, my first choice is waterstones. They are an elegant solution, producing a fine edge, but at home I have an unlimited supply of water, I can use a large stone on a benchtop, I dont have any time constraints and i have a belt/disk grinder to "dress" the stones when they need it.
I dont know why RM recommends them for field use. They are fragile, they need frequent re-dressing, you need plenty of water, they can be heavy by themselves and are certainly heavy when charged with water, they can take an age to dry - especially in cold conditions and if it freezes when it's wet, it will shatter.
As Adi has mentioned, either the DC3 or DC4 is the perfect field sharpener IMO. The diamond side will hog out metal at an alarming rate (even though it's a fine, 25 micron) so must be used with caution, but useful for repairing damaged or dinked edges and they work well with the (hard to sharpen) fancy alloy stainless steels like S30v as well as plain old carbon. A few careful strokes with the diamond side to bring back a good edge and then polish it in with the fine (and far more gentle) ceramic. For the most part, you can just use the ceramic side, reserving the diamond for more "demanding" sharpening. They wont wear out (OK actually they do wear, just very, very slowly), they maintain thier true flat profile so dont need dressing, they are very tough, they are very light and compact, they wont freeze and you dont need water. Perfect!
I agree you need to know what you're doing with them. You can bugger up an expensive knife pretty quickly with a diamond hone. But if you have a little experience and know when to use what, they are excellent.