Field Sharpening Report

[Bill Harsey]

Last week about 10 of us made camp at 7200 ft. elevation on Steens Mountain deep in south eastern Oregon. It's said this is as far as you can get from an interstate highway in the lower 48. It's only a 6 hour drive from the shop to the base of this high desert mountain region. Of the men in the camp, all are experienced hunters and outdoorsmen. One has guided trophy bighorn sheep hunters in those mountains on ground that I don't see how the sheep stick to let alone humans walk on because of the extreme slopes. Mr. Chris Reeve joined us this year too. Many of the guys have good factory knives and most have something made by me. In years past I would bring my big Norton two sided sharpening stone to take care of camp sharpening. This year I wanted to try something more like what a military person in the field could carry. I left the big Norton stone at home and packed only the small DMT (Diamond Machining Technology, Inc.) Double-Sided Diafold diamond whetstone. This little tool folds out like a butterfly knife and has two grades of diamond grit, medium and fine. I think it weighs less than two ounces. To use this stone, I sit down and hold the blade still in my left hand and rest it on my knee and "file" the bevel with my right hand. The diamond cuts very well and I don't have to use much pressure. No bench or work table is needed. Using the medium side first on one of the first ever Harsey folders with 154CM steel (R "C" scale hardness 61) It only took a couple minutes of sharpening before I switched to the fine side and was done. The knife had seen some very hard use and had flat spots on the edge. The blade was restored to an aggressive edge from base to point in what I thought was a reasonable amount of time. Yes I can sharpen faster on a bench mounted stone because I can use both hands to put more pressure on the blade. But this was a FIELD test. continued...(after traditional spelling edit)