Hunting knives are usually designed to cut with a single sharp point. For most models, the blade is slightly curved, and some knives may have a blade with both a curved skin section and a straight component for cuts. You can easily Sharpen Hunting Knife like any other knife.
Valuable hunting knives are usually made of either carbon steel or stainless steel blades. Each blade form has advantages and disadvantages. Carbon steel blades rust, and they need special care. Using the hunting knife regularly is the best way to prevent the formation of rust on the blade, but you can also coat the blade to prevent rust. To coat your carbon steel blade, clean the blade thoroughly, allow it to dry completely, and then apply the silicone-containing wax. Carbon steel blades tend to be sharper than stainless steel blades and stay sharp longer.
Stainless steel knife blades are resistant to corrosion. This makes them extremely popular with hunters hunting in areas with rainy conditions. Nevertheless, it is harder to sharpen stainless steel knives and more expensive than carbon steel knives.
Equipment required before you Sharpen Hunting Knife
When you are going to sharpen your hunting knife until you are supposed to handle the sharpening tools, it is going to make your job so easy and fast. Such tools are very popular with you at home, or sometimes you can buy them from a knife shop. Here are the basic but useful elements for sharpening all hunting knives.
Soft cleaning cloth:
Before sharpening your hunting knife, clean the place/stone where you want to sharpen the knife. Using a warm wet cloth is the easiest way to clean it, not only that you can clean the blade after a full sharpening process.
Water:
This is a very common method for sharpening hunting knives, and people use water as a liquid. Since there are no costs involved and this means very fast sharpening. Yet before you sharpen your knife, you need to learn the water or other liquid is safer. Even if you are using a knife sharpening tool, all methods are available for oil and water tools.
Oil/liquid:
Additional liquid is not needed to be used; however, if you have already used any sharpeners that work well-used oil or liquid so that you can use it. Most sharpeners are mainly for sharpening by using oil and other material, so it may be a costly method since you have to buy extra oil.
What methods are available to Sharpen Hunting Knife?
Currently, there are a number of brands of a hunting knife and making knives now and then. Many examples of a fixed knife used for skinning, but the butcher knives or Machetes are used in several different ways. And different knives have different job meanings, and this is why their sharpness is dependent on brands and materials. So it depends on the scale of your blades so your experience that you can pick the right one.
Pocket hunting knife sharpeners:
It is not a very technical method of sharpening. Yet you can hold this sharpener in your pocket comfortably. Yet a small pocket knife sharpener cannot handle any big knife. This is a great choice, particularly for skinning and a pocket knife. And another good explanation is that it is very cheap and easy to use. Any new person can use it without much practice to sharpen the hunting knife.
Whetstones:
Whetstones may be either natural or artificial with artificial stones, allowing them to cut faster than their natural counterparts. Each type comes with a double-sided pattern, one side consisting of a rough grit for sharpening and fine grit for finishing and shaping.
Whetstones, both natural and artificial, are suitable for sharpening low-to mid-grade steel as well as carbon steel. We also use oil or water for lubrication when sharpening to gather steel residues that help sharpen the knife faster. It should be remembered that whetstones do not need the use of lubricants.
After positioning, put your knife on the stone and slowly move back and forth at a 20-degree angle. For better sharpening, 10-15 slides are appropriate for each hand. And it could be a hard-working job for your hand. Yet you can change your place for the comfort of your hands. Keep in mind that your knife has a very thin edge, and you are not allowed to place a lot of pressure on it. You can apply more pressure and glide if you have a long, heavy knife whose edge is totally blunt.
You can get them in all sorts of shapes and sizes, including small pocket stones and bench stones.
Oil stone:
There is no significant difference between oil and water blocks. Since both approaches have the same characteristics, but oil stone is an alternative way of using lubricants instead of water, but it would be a very costly sharpening process. And for better results, you need extra honing oil.
Yet the use of lubricant creates slick friction, so there is no need for high pressure to move the knife. But there is no big difference between water and oil stone in the angle of sharpening. And Arkansas sharpening stones are very popular with professional hunters.
Strengthening rod:
Hunting knife sharpening rod is not, in general, for a straight blade. It just operates with a relaxed blade and a gut hook knife as it is very hard to sharpen which knife has those features. Gut hook and serrated both have a significant role to play in hunting.
Yet if you pick a pocket sharpener carefully, you can get this with it. You do not need to buy an extra sharpener. Due to the multifunctionality of certain pocket knife sharpeners, a small sharpening rod to sharpen the gut and tightened knife are included and very easy to use.
Diamond Stones:
Diamond plates are improvements to whetstones that are often vulnerable to flattening or wear after years of use. Not only are they durable, but they are also good for high-grade steel sharpening.
Diamonds are bonded to the ground surface and come in various sizes and grades. Gross grits are used to strip large layers of metal in sharpening while fine grits are used to polish the bottom.
Monocrystalline diamonds are the best diamond sharper, providing your plates long life and easy sharpening.
Diamond sharpening stones are distinct from other standard stones as they have a different size and texture and are very dry. And, of course, you have got to use water or oil.
Yet the diamond sharpening stone eats more metal as you sharpen it. Yet it does produce a very good performance. Use a 20-degree sharpening angle; you can use your hunting knife to sharpen the diamond stone. It is very expensive, but it never breaks easily and gives the last longer results.
Ceramic stones:
If you sharpen your kitchen knives, sometimes, you may already be familiar with it. Perhaps it is not very successful in which knives have gone too far. Yet it is a smart choice with a small budget if you want to sharpen your knife daily.
As it works pretty well, this knife already has a decent edge, so you can apply for a better sharp-edged blade. For example, a skinning knife is an excellent option for sharpening because it has a very small and thinner edge.
Use the right grit for the job
Most knife enthusiasts think they need to start with the coarser grit first and move on to the finer grit after that, but that is not always true. Here’s what you need to do:
When your knife is made of lighter materials, it can wear faster. If that is the case, you should certainly start with a rough grit and work your way to fine grits. When you leave the edge rough, it is going to wear down in no time.
Harder knives are more durable, but they wear slower. If you have got one of these blades, a fine or medium grit is required to get it right.
When you are going to start with a bigger grit, you should know that it could take too much material out of your knife, and that is never pleasant. Yet how do you know when you are going to make it to a finer grit?
The material will grow on the other side of the blade if it is sharpened on one side. This is what we call a burr, so you can see it when you are dealing with a big grit. The finer the grit, the easier it is to find the burr. That is why a lot of licensed sharpeners work with magnifying glasses.
Even if it is hard to find the burr, you can feel it under your nails. Just do not run your finger down the blade, because you are going to cut yourself. Run it from the spine to the edge of your knife to check your progress. If you cannot see or feel the burr, it is time to shift to a finer grindstone.
Conclusion
It is not a difficult task to Sharpen Hunting Knife, we hope that this guide will prove to be useful for your hunting knife sharpening.
