Sharpening of hunting knives: appliances, angle of sharpening. How to properly sharpen a hunting knife

It is very important to choose the right hunting knife. It is necessary to consider many factors: length, width, shape, material of the handle and blade, angle of sharpening. Much depends on the purpose of the knife.

Types of hunting knives

With all the variety of characteristics of the proposed hunting knives, they can be divided into two groups:

1. General applications that are used to achieve production. The blades are even, the handle is necessarily equipped with a stop.
2. Special purpose (skinning, cutting meat from a bone, cutting an animal carcass or a bird).

They are also subdivided according to the type of blades and sharpening of the upper edge. It can be straight and rounded. Especially original in their performance hunting knives handmade.

Choosing a hunting knife

Currently, a large selection of hunting knives from manufacturers from different countries is offered. Russian manufacturers also are not inferior in quality and variety of the proposed specimens. Their design is quite simple: a hilt and a blade. The blade has a cutting part called a blade and is subject to periodic sharpening. To maintain safety and ensure safety, the case is also very important from a durable and soft material (usually made of thick genuine leather with a wooden or plastic insert). He must have a safety strap to prevent the weapon from falling out of the scabbard.

When choosing a hunting knife you need to be guided by the basic characteristics:

1. The shape of the knife must match the purpose of its application (the blade can be straight or curved).
2. Sharpening of hunting knives depends on their purpose.
3. The handle must be comfortable when cutting the carcass. It can be located as a continuation of the blade, and at an angle to it. They make it from various materials: wood, metal, birch bark, ceramics, plastic. To avoid slipping out of hands, it must have a stop.
4. Method of attaching the handle to the blade. The handle attached with a nut is much stronger than with a glue.
5. Material of blade of hunting knives. The hardness of steel depends on the carbon content. The most valuable brands are damask and damask. For hunting knives it is considered optimal from 50 to 60 HRC (according to Rockwell). The steel must be anti-corrosive.
6. The length and width of the blade. The optimal length is 12-13, width-3-3.5 cm.

Knife sharpening methods

Despite the hardness of the steel from which the knife is made, after a certain time its sharpness decreases. Therefore, you need to periodically restore this function. Sharpening of hunting knives can be made in various ways with the help of:

• Grindstone;
• Musata;
• A set of tools;
• Special pocket sharpeners;
• Grinding machine (mechanical, electric);

In this case, it should be remembered: the smaller the angle of sharpening the hunting knife, the finer it is designed for. For hunting knives, it is 15-30 degrees. For example, for cutting and landslide work - 30, universal - 20, with the removal of the skin and the separation of meat from bone - 15 degrees.

As a rule, the grinding machines are used at the manufacturing plants and at special points for grinding tools. But very often hunters conduct this themselves, using the other aforementioned devices for sharpening hunting and fishing knives.

Sharpening the knife with a bar (stone)

Consider how to properly sharpen a hunting knife with a bar at home. When sharpening the knife in this way, it is necessary to choose a flat wide bar with a length of at least 25 cm with a structurally unstable structure. In doing so, you must follow the sequence of actions:

1. The bar must be fixed on a flat and fixed surface.
2. Lubricate with oil (vegetable, technical) or soapy water so that the metal crumb does not stick to the bar, wait a few minutes.
3. Smooth movements begin to sharpen the moistened bar, stretching the knife under it under pressure along the entire length of the blade. We perform this action on both sides in turn. In this case, it is necessary to observe the initial angle of sharpening of the hunting knife.
4. The process must be repeated several times until a new one appears on both sides of the old edge.
5. Then the bar changes to a fine-grained stone and the finishing is already done without pressure, with slight sliding movements.

For more convenient fixation of the grindstone, you can make a frame in the form of a right angle and fix the bar in it in an inclined position. You can use a special device to fix the emery with an adjustable gradient.

To control the quality of sharpening hunting knives, you can try cutting the newspaper sheet vertically in one motion. The angle of grinding can be checked in the simplest way with the help of conventional scissors. We need to take them in hand, insert a blade between them, gradually squeezing the blade of the knife. In this case, for better visibility, send them to a bright light (lamp) to make sure of the compression density. Then, carefully remove the blade and measure the angle between the scissor blades by the protractor.

Sharpening the knife with musat

Musat - a file with a round or cut from two sides section, with a handle. To produce it, very hard steel or ceramic with a diamond coating is used. Musat usually only correct not too blunted blades. The cutting edge is not damaged even after repeated use. If the knife has completely lost its cutting properties, then this way it can not be sharpened.

The process is as follows:

• One hand holds the musat in an upright position (on a non-slip surface);
• In the other hand we take the blade at an angle of 15-20 degrees, stretch it from the top down (from ourselves and to ourselves) along the entire length of the blade (first with one, then on the other side). Such repetitions should be made from 4 to 6. When using a ceramic or diamond moussat, it is enough once.

Sharpening the knife with special sets and pocket sharpeners

The set for knife sharpening includes several stones with multi-colored handles, special guides and oil. The grinding technology of these devices is simple and does not require special skills. Each compartment has its own fixing angle. The color of the pens distinguishes the granularity of the grindstone. When using this method, sharpening the blade is ideal.

Pocket sharpeners offered in specialized stores are small stones of different shapes (round, square, oval) that fit into the palm of your hand. As a rule, they are made of quality materials. They are located in special recesses made in a plastic casing at a certain angle. Such sharpeners are convenient for taking on hunting or fishing, as they are compact and easy to use.

Dependence of the grinding method on the steel grade

For different brands of steel are not all methods of sharpening are equally suitable. For example, very popular knives from Damascus steel can not be grinded on electric machines, since it has a heterogeneous structure. It consists of alternating soft and hard layers, so the blade should be sharpened with extreme caution, otherwise the edge of the blade will become ribbed and will later crumble. Knives from such steel should be sharpened by hand, gradually changing the granularity of the stones in the direction of decrease.

Damaged steel is characterized by increased hardness. Knives from it must be honed for a long time. Electric and mechanical machines are often used. It is necessary to start with coarse-grained stones, moistened with water, gradually approaching the fine-grained ones.

It should be noted that with the automated grinding method, it is not possible to achieve the sharpness and precision that is provided by manual work. The main advantage is the speed of this process.

A special approach when sharpening the blade requires hunting hand knives, as they can be made from non-standard steel grades. Therefore, they are recommended to sharpen by hand.

We conclude: the correct sharpening of hunting knives is a very important process for maintaining the appearance and durability. This hunting props should only be used for their intended purpose and do not forget to keep clean, periodically lubricating with oil (both blades and wooden handles) to prevent loss of gloss and drying out.