Those of you who read my previous post about feather sticks will probably know that I have a bit of a pet peeve about blades. Blunt blades to be precise. It is so pointless having a dull knife or axe as it renders the item mostly ineffectual; unless you are planning on taking down a bear using blunt force trauma (by the way that's really not advisable and would probably just make the animal really, really angry with you).
Each time I'm over at my brother's house to have a barbeque I get heavily annoyed with him because I happily volunteer to chop the wood - but his axe is ALWAYS blunt and it does my head in.
I don't know how many almost arguments debates disagreements discussions we've had about this issue but this last weekend I couldn't stand it anymore so I stole his axe.
Okay fine, I temporarily stole it from him. I do intend on giving it back to him, but I figured if he's not going to sharpen it like he's been threatening promising to do for almost a year...then I'm going to have to do it myself. He has so many excuses to not get out the angle grinder right now and just do it and I haven't been contacted to ask where it is, so doubt he's even noticed that I snuck it into my car. Nothing to see here - move along lol.
I figured I might as well use the opportunity to my advantage by practicing axe sharpening THE HARD WAY.
Most axes these days come with a pretty decent profile on them which you can match up easily and sharpen either with a file or a whetstone, but what if you have your axe but you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere without a whetstone?
Yes, you can use a leather strap but if your axe is as blunt as this thing, that's not going to do enough.
The profile on this axe was almost non-existent and it was as blunt as a badger. When I inspected it before starting this, the edge was rounded off and about 1mm thick. That's a lot of material that would need to come off.
So what do you do if you're out there with no access to the correct tools?
If you can find a flat, course-grit rock, that would be your first prize but what if all you have is sand? You improvise! Why is sandpaper called sandpaper? Yes, you guessed it. It is paper with a layer of grit adhered to it. That's essentially what you need to replicate in order to sharpen your axe anywhere that doesn't have suitable stones.
Here I used a piece of chopped wood as a flat surface. I took a handful of sand and laid it on the top, then wet it sufficiently to get the sand entirely damp and I proceeded to run the profile of the axe against the sandy surface.
Look at this poor thing!
You need to pay close attention to how you hold the axe head or you're going to screw up the profile. Essentially you want to find a comfortable grip on your axe, holding it firmly and then lock your wrists so that you aren't lifting any part of the axe head when you move it across the sand. This way you will ensure that you don't round off the sharp edge that you've just created. You can create a good reference point by using your thumb on the back of the axe head to slide across the flat surface, keeping it level. You can either use a forward and back motion or move the axe in a circular motion over the grit.
It took me approximately an hour to get this axe to have an edge and a further 20 odd minutes to refine that. It is laborious and you need to switch over from one side to the other to make sure you are keeping the edge in the middle and not taking off more material on one side than the other. It does work though, so is a good skill to have practiced and be familiar with.
I'm still going to clean up this axe a bit more by sanding the entire face and removing all the rust. I'll oil both the head and the handle before I give it back, but for now I'm happy that I have a good idea of what to expect if I need a sharp(er) axe but don't have access to tools.
If you want something for your go bag, cut a flat surface plank with a hole drill attachment (at least 5 to 6cm diameter) and then glue a piece of round, course sandpaper to the flat. You will then have a homemade sharpening puck for your axe.
Have you used this sharpening technique before? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments.
Images were taken by me