Sharpening Edge Tools With Natural Stones

Today I'd like to talk about sharpening your axes and knives with rocks and stones you can find in nature. It has been an interesting subject to me because in a long-term stay in the wilderness your minimal list of tools might not include sharpening tools. Your tools would still get dull though.

Here's how to sharpen your edged tools with stones.

Stone selection:
Stones found in river or creek beds are usually good choices. They should either be mostly flat, or kind of puck shaped. Usually they will have medium to heavy grit. I personally like mine medium grit for ax and knife sharpening. After selecting your stone, clean off any mud or debris. Then get it wet with water or oil. Now you can use it to sharpen your tool.

How to use:
Use a circular motion when using the puck on your axe and sweep the blade of your knife across the flat stone to sharpen your knife.

Here are some explanatory pictures.

The tools that I sharpened with my stones were an
Old Hickory deboning knife and my Fiskars Hatchet
along with my CT Boys Axe.
Notice how the stones are dry. 

Here's the dry puck shaped sharpening stone I used.

And the dry flat stone I used.

Here it is wet with water. 

And the puck is wet with water. 

The tools I sharpened. Notice the stones are wet.

Thank you for reading Arctic Fox Bushcraft! Come back soon for more posts about knives, axes, and bushcraft.

Fiskars X7 Hatchet Bushcraft Review

The Fiskars X7 Hatchet has been a tool that I have had for almost a year now. I have used it for numerous fire preparations and carving projects. It has even helped me build 3 semi-permanent shelters and has held up well! It is very comfortable to use for long amounts of time. It also comes very sharp with it's own sheath, which is definitely great. Here are the specs:

Fiskars X7 Hatchet next to Morakniv Companion

Length: about 14 inches
Handle material: fiberglass
Handle grain: none
Cost: $25 USD
Overall rating: Gransfors-Bruks Predator (in other words 5 out of 5 stars)
Steel: medium to high carbon steel
Steel hardness: medium, not super hard. But not as soft as some people say.

The Handle

The handle is a special type of super strong, light-weight fiberglass that is also very comfortable to hold, unlike most fiberglass handles. Fiskars also has a lifetime warranty just in case the nearly unbreakable handle breaks. And Fiskars show amazing chopping and splitting performance for the price. Overall I am very pleased.

The Fiskars X7 comes with a practical hard plastic sheath with an orange toggle.

Chopping Performance

I don't use this to chop big stuff. On soft wood species, it chops quite well. It can chop pretty good up to about 5 to 6 inches in diameter logs.  I usually only use it for 2-3 inch though. I usually use it to chop boughs of trees to help with shelter building and for bough beds. I also use it to limb trees that I cut down to build shelters or firewood. You can also use it to split kindling for your fire.

A few chops into a seasoned pine log

Carving
This is my favorite carving hatchet. I have used it to carve rough spoons/ladles. It also carves points on to the ends of poles for shelters and shelter stakes really well. It's almost like it has a Scandinavian grind. It debarks wood very well.

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Uberleben Zunden Swedish Fire Steel Review

This is a great traditional-looking fire steel. It has a wooden handle and it's overall length is about 3 inches. It also comes with it's own striker tied on by 550 paracord.

My Uberleben Swedish Fire Steel

Specs
Cost: $16 USD
Rod length: about 3 inches

Cord: 550, 7-strand paracord

Making Sparks

This with throw large amounts of sparks if used correctly. You can use the back of your knife but the striker supplied will usually work better. The best tender for this would be dryer lint, cotton balls, cotton balls smeared in petroleum jelly, bird and mouse nest fluff, dry shredded grass, and charcloth.  The dryer lint is my personal favorite. You can also use wild weeds or plants that grow fluffy cotton-like ball, cattail fluff, birch bark plain, or birch bark covered in highly flammable birch oil.

The Striker

I like how the striker has a few useful utilities. It included a can opener, a wrench, and a measuring stick. It is made of high carbon steel so in a desperate emergency it could be fashioned into a small blade, or you could take a piece of chert, flint, or quartz and make a spark by striking the two together. I usually use chert or quartz to make sparks as they are the easiest to find.

In conclusion, this is a great fire steel that I will be taking on many trips to come. Thank you for reading the Arctic Fox Bushcraft blog and please comment below!