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.