Not really OT -- Sharpening a knife blade while not at home

Norm Dresner · 2005-11-25T16:07:44+00:00

Recently while I was traveling in a foreign country (Italy if it matters), I had occasion to need to make the 1-1/2" knife blade on my pocket knife as sharp as possible -- ideally "scalpel sharp". It's night-time (about 10 pm local time) in an urban area and we're heading back to our lodging. There are no nearby open stores. [Note: there was an open pharmacy but it's just that -- they don't carry razor blades there].I finally decided to use a stone, brick, concrete, or similar surface as a sharpening stone -- and I didn't have any facility for either flattening whatever I choose or even measuring flatness except by eye or feel. I finally found a small area on the corner of a stone building that felt smooth and flat enough and I used some available moisture to perform a honing operation until the blade felt smooth and sharp enough -- measured totally qualitatively by running it across the surface of my thumb-nail.We went back to the lodging, boiled water which we used to "sterilize" the blade and performed our makeshift surgery fairly successfully -- the blade was, in fact, sharp enough that there was no pain when used to create a 1/2" long, ~1/8" deep incision into a section of calloused skin and the underlying healthy tissue.Enough of the medical saga and onto the real question: Are there any suggestions for sharpening a blade under these conditions that would have been either easier or better than what I did?TIA Norm

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Larry Jaques 20 years ago

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 16:49:38 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Norm Dresner" quickly quoth:

Good reason. Ouch! Whuffo you let it get infected, huh, huh, huh?

While it might work once, you'll have to buy her another one when you're done. But if it's anything like the one Mom gave to me, it won't be allowed on the airplane. It had a point and was 6" of metal. My sharp 9" pencil sailed right through. Go figure...

That's what the PTB want: total control of the population. (Powers That Be)

--- - Sarcasm is just one more service we offer. -

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Norm Dresner 20 years ago

I hadn't been aware of anything wrong in the morning and around noon something slammed against my finger. It hurt but again I didn't notice anything until about 5 PM it was starting to really hurt and swell up. I tried some antibiotic cream but it couldn't get in there and by 11 PM we cut it open to let it drain.

Yes, OUCH!

Norm

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jpolaski 20 years ago

Has he finished them yet?

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Leo Lichtman 20 years ago

"Gerald Miller" wrote: In a pinch, freshly broken glass can provide a cutting edge. Grandfather used to use a piece of glass to finish wooden handles, also to remove the glaze and improve the grip after much use. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I can see how a broken glass edge might make an excellent scraper, but for surgery, I doubt it.

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James Askew 20 years ago

Actually, obsidian glass is used to make a very fine edged scalpel for surgery on eyes and other very small parts as it can cut a very clean (no tearing) cut with almost no resistance.

Jim

Leo Lichtman wrote:

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Leo Lichtman 20 years ago

"James Askew" wrote: Actually, obsidian glass is used to make a very fine edged scalpel for surgery on eyes and other very small parts as it can cut a very clean (no tearing) cut with almost no resistance. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I was referring to the edge *as broken.* Thanks for the info. I'm sure most of us didn't know that obsidian was used to make fine scalpels.

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Gerald Miller 20 years ago

Ever heard of obsidian scalpals? See:

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Gerry :-)} London, Canada

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Don Foreman 20 years ago

Believe it. The trick is in getting a edge rather than a shear break. Whacking a pane on a rock as if to slice the rock with the pane can result in sharp shards. This is best done holding the pane in cloth because smaller shards will fly. The cloth also makes the process quiet if that matters.

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Gunner Asch 20 years ago

Yall may find this of interest..some of us survivalists tend to delve into the estoteric....

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Btw..the second link has other interesting things on it..recommended

Gunner, who never could flake worth a damn using deer antler..

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the s*it out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

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jim rozen 20 years ago

You should go talk to my brother. He does that sort of thing...

He used to have to haul trashcan loads of stone debris to the dump from his house in tucson....

Jim

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Adam Smith 20 years ago

Great Link!

Thanks for that one.

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jpolaski 20 years ago

Thanks, Gunner. cavemanchemistry.com is a really interesting site.

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Gunner Asch 20 years ago

btw..I used httTracker to suck down the entire section. Took a while..lots of data there.

Gunner, who will burn it to cd

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the s*it out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

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Not really OT -- Sharpening a knife blade while not at home

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