Those of you who read my previous post about feather sticks will probably know that I have a bit of a pet peeve about blades. Blunt blades to be precise. It is so pointless having a dull knife or axe as it renders the item mostly ineffectual; unless you are planning on taking down a bear using blunt force trauma (by the way that's really not advisable and would probably just make the animal really, really angry with you).
Each time I'm over at my brother's house to have a barbeque I get heavily annoyed with him because I happily volunteer to chop the wood - but his axe is ALWAYS blunt and it does my head in.
I don't know how many almost arguments debates disagreements discussions we've had about this issue but this last weekend I couldn't stand it anymore so I stole his axe.
Okay fine, I temporarily stole it from him. I do intend on giving it back to him, but I figured if he's not going to sharpen it like he's been threatening promising to do for almost a year...then I'm going to have to do it myself. He has so many excuses to not get out the angle grinder right now and just do it and I haven't been contacted to ask where it is, so doubt he's even noticed that I snuck it into my car. Nothing to see here - move along lol.
I figured I might as well use the opportunity to my advantage by practicing axe sharpening THE HARD WAY.
Most axes these days come with a pretty decent profile on them which you can match up easily and sharpen either with a file or a whetstone, but what if you have your axe but you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere without a whetstone?
Yes, you can use a leather strap but if your axe is as blunt as this thing, that's not going to do enough.
The profile on this axe was almost non-existent and it was as blunt as a badger. When I inspected it before starting this, the edge was rounded off and about 1mm thick. That's a lot of material that would need to come off.
So what do you do if you're out there with no access to the correct tools?
If you can find a flat, course-grit rock, that would be your first prize but what if all you have is sand? You improvise! Why is sandpaper called sandpaper? Yes, you guessed it. It is paper with a layer of grit adhered to it. That's essentially what you need to replicate in order to sharpen your axe anywhere that doesn't have suitable stones.
Here I used a piece of chopped wood as a flat surface. I took a handful of sand and laid it on the top, then wet it sufficiently to get the sand entirely damp and I proceeded to run the profile of the axe against the sandy surface.
Look at this poor thing!
You need to pay close attention to how you hold the axe head or you're going to screw up the profile. Essentially you want to find a comfortable grip on your axe, holding it firmly and then lock your wrists so that you aren't lifting any part of the axe head when you move it across the sand. This way you will ensure that you don't round off the sharp edge that you've just created. You can create a good reference point by using your thumb on the back of the axe head to slide across the flat surface, keeping it level. You can either use a forward and back motion or move the axe in a circular motion over the grit.
It took me approximately an hour to get this axe to have an edge and a further 20 odd minutes to refine that. It is laborious and you need to switch over from one side to the other to make sure you are keeping the edge in the middle and not taking off more material on one side than the other. It does work though, so is a good skill to have practiced and be familiar with.
Much sharper
I'm still going to clean up this axe a bit more by sanding the entire face and removing all the rust. I'll oil both the head and the handle before I give it back, but for now I'm happy that I have a good idea of what to expect if I need a sharp(er) axe but don't have access to tools.
If you want something for your go bag, cut a flat surface plank with a hole drill attachment (at least 5 to 6cm diameter) and then glue a piece of round, course sandpaper to the flat. You will then have a homemade sharpening puck for your axe.
Have you used this sharpening technique before? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments.
Images were taken by me
Jackson to lose running water for unknown amount of time: Mississippi governor
And people still scoff at preppers?
Exactly! 180 000 people are just about to realize how prepping could have made their lives a lot better.
Something similar to me happened recently where a water mains pipe burst and the entire area was without water from 7 in the morning until after 10 at night. I ended up helping out my neighbour with drinking water from my own stash, but most of the area didn't have anything...they didn't have a very pleasant day.
Indeed they do. It makes absolutely no sense though right?
And this is why I never travel without a whetstone...
:D
Note: *I have never used a whetstone.
Spazz.
indeed :D
Haha! I have a whetstone you know. Any guesses as to what your next birthday present is?
Thanks for the heads-up there, I will remember the correct spelling going forward. Much obliged 🙂
Whetstones are good travel companions for axes.
Oh, I didn't realize, I just remember my grandad saying something about the spelling a million years ago.
So are murderers! :D
I'm happy to admit spelling errors when I make them, mostly because I'm a dumbass sometimes (especially after 2pm 😁)
Lol, true that.
Thanks for the help Taraz
I prefer the circular motion for heavy removal, and straight moves towards the cutting edge for the final sharpening.
I have used sandstones locally, but I usually carry a file and a diamond stone; so I can sharpen them right.
Innovative way to fix your brother's dull axe, I hope he appreciates it!
👍🤠🙏💙💵😁😳
Hi Toby
I agree, the circular motion works nicely and it feels easier to keep the correct angle that way too.
I'm going to make myself a sanding puck for this axe for my brother and hopefully he then won't have an excuse lol. I'm sure he'll be well pleased when I give it back to him with an edge. Thanks for coming by and your comment, I appreciate it.
Sharp cutting tools are important! I hope he appreciates the work you have done. Some people don't like to sharpen things, so I hope he learns.
Dull tools are dangerous.
👍🤠💙💸🥦🌿😁💗
I concur with blunt being dangerous, perhaps when I tell him that I spent a gruelling hour plus sharpening it, he'll be quicker to take out the grinder next time 🤣
Thanks for your comments Toby, much appreciated. I'm glad you're getting all your prepping sorted, you can never be too prepared. Have a great day/night.
The only thing I do differently is my file for an axe has a brass ring ahead of the handle. If I slip, it acts like a guard! It also means that my sharpening file doesn't get used elsewhere.
Liked your post, keep after it!
👍🤠💙💗🤕😆😁🙏
Hi Toby
That is genius! What a clever safety function! I like it. Thank you so much for the tip, I think I'll get one of those made for sure.
Thank you, I'm glad it read well, I'm trying out loads of these little things because I do believe that one day I'll need them. It might be a while but if I can practice these things before hand, I have an advantage that many others won't have at their beck and call when the time comes.
Have a wonderful day.
Practice feeds competence, so you have a great idea! Concocting a home made tool, is closer to real life than anything else. Excellent practice.
👍🤠💗🙏🌿🥦😋🤕😳
That's awesome, I know that I've used a dull axe or two in my day! Not fun that's for sure. It ends up flopping to a side and causing some chaos when you're trying to split stuff. Not a good way to be working that's for sure!
There are certainly lots of ways to sharpen these things that we tend to forget. The grinder certainly does it very efficiently but I don't discourage doing things differently, especially because it's good to get accustomed to that stuff so you're prepared for anything. A bit of wood, water and sand looks like it's done quite nicely!
Hi @cmplxty
For sure, we need to fill our toolboxes with whatever we can and this certainly took ages to do but it can be relied on if grinders are out of the question. I quite enjoyed the process (it's quite cathartic really), but the grit isn't great on your fingers. I hate blunt blades and at least now when I return this one it'll hopefully stay sharper for a while.
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.
Thankfully one of the first things I bought was a ceramic whetstone. That thing is going to last forever. That reminds me I need to sharpen my tools. But this is an incredible display of craftiness. I would've thought you could just use concrete to do the profiling and then end with the leather strap. It never occurred to me to you could use sandpaper for this. Let alone actual sand to sharpen though it makes total sense.
I am going to fashion a sharpening puck for my brother so that whenever I'm around, I can
sit and stare daggers at himsharpen his axe for him because I don't think he's gonna do it.It does make sense but obviously a stone works well, I'm going to major extremes here because in most places you'll surely find a stone but on the off-chance you can't, this will work...just takes a lot of time and some endurance.
A ceramic whetstone is a great plan, although I must admit that I haven't seen them around. I might have an adventure ahead of me tracking one down. 😁
That idea is really cool. I mean you can stare at him with the plan of testing the axe on him. 😂
Just a bit of friendly brotherhood relationship.
You better be ready for having bad conditions around yourself. It's interesting to be able to solve problems on a pinch.
I got my stone form Amazon. I wouldn't find something like that here in Venezuela. I had a cousin send it over from Florida. So that's how I got mine. It's been really good since japanese things are top quality.
This part got me laughing hard 😂
Very nice improvisation with the sharpening tool (let's just call it sandwood) but what if there are no woods around you to make that? If I found myself in a situation where I can't get a stone to sharpen my blade, I will probably just give up and leave the blade the way it is until I can find a stone 😆
Bears are scary things lol. I'm glad you liked it.
Sandwood works well. If you're in that kind of situation you have to find whatever you can. Stones will generally work better than wet sand but I'm always trying to take these a bit more extreme, it keeps me thinking out of the box and on my toes.
Thanks for having a read through it, let's hope we never actually need these skills 😄
That's totally what I am also hoping for, there shouldn't come a day we will need these skills coz I know I won't survive a day in the wild 😂 The only axe I know how to sharpen for now is the digital type 🤣 and I am pretty sure that won't help me during an apocalypse
Well you're gaining some tidbits in any case, so you probably could survive a day in the wild if you set your mind to it. You'd be amazed at what you can remember when you need to.
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I saw the image of that axe and thought, oh lordy, what fresh hell is this. But, by the end it started to look better and for that I applaud you.
I'll look forward to your next post about throwing this axe at things and never missing.