Knives: Maintenance and sharpening
It all starts with the type of steel and its edge retention, hardness, rust resistance and the ease with which it can be sharpened. In reality, there is no one type of steel that excels in all four aspects.
Therefore, when deciding which steel to choose, you have to take into account the use you are going to give to your tool.
If your use is daily, you are probably looking for a steel that is stainless, holds its edge well and is not too difficult to sharpen. Hardness does not really play an important role when opening boxes or peeling an apple.
The maintenance of this type of steel is quite simple and also lies in the grip and the type of handles it has. As the name suggests, stainless steel can be very difficult to rust, but it will get dirty or rusty if used for many years. Especially if it comes in contact with salt, water, acids... these components of food products often cause rust.
To remove this rust, it is best to use absorbent cotton, which has been soaked in metal polishing liquid. Be careful not to cut yourself!
After several passes we will see results. Remember to clean well with soap before using it again.
An economical option is 5cr15 steel. It is a type of stainless steel that is easy to sharpen, although it is also quite resistant. It can be found in the Solognac Ergonomic Stainless Steel Knife and Hunting Treatment Sharpener Kit, which includes 1 special quartering knife and 1 special knife for filleting and boning.
If you are going to use it for survival and bushcraft, you need a sturdy knife, it is expected not to break and to be resistant. In addition, it must be able to be sharpened in the field, and it must retain its sharpness quite well. Rust is not so important in this case: if properly maintained and/or properly coated, it will hold up well.
For this reason, carbon steel from tool steel is often used for these purposes. Our preferred and most commonly used are: D2, 1095, CPM 3V, Sleipner, A2 and Böhler K720 (widely used by JOKER). They are often incredibly tough and easy to sharpen with limited means when in the field.
We usually carry the 5 FACE GUIDED FIELD SHARPENER from WORKSHARP, it's a super versatile sharpener that allows you to manage the sharpening of all your tools in the middle of the bush.
Finally, let's go for the big blades, the machetes. Designed not to break, we don't care whether they are affiliated or not, since their main purpose is to cut their way through the dense forest.
Plain carbon steel is often used for machetes. It is often simpler than the carbon steel used for normal fixed knives. The most commonly used and our favorites for their robustness are: 1055 or 65Mn carbon steel.
On a side note, when sharpening it is important to keep in mind that a thinner blade does not have to withstand as much resistance when in use, which means that the blade is also less affected and can stay sharp longer. At the same time, a thin blade is more brittle than a thicker blade. So it is less resistant to breakage.
To conclude, we have given you a number of examples and points of interest that you can use when choosing a new knife. It is important to know that we have based our conclusions on the average applications of these types of steel. There are always brands and manufacturers that handle their steel a little differently to make it stand out even more at certain levels.
Also, your preferences may differ from others and from ours. To each his own and with his experience.
Think, for example, of the outdoor knife category. Rust sensitivity may not bother many, but in a maritime environment, on the coast or in your fishing case, it can be tricky to see day to day rust damage to your knife.
Although the current types of steel are much better than those produced 20-30 years ago, you will not run any real risk if you buy "old" steels, in the team we have knives from our grandparents or that we have been buying at flea markets and fairs.
But always and as you know, information is the key to victory, so you should always have as much information as possible to know what you will need for your situation and manage a good acquisition.