Travel-Sharp Kit

Some of you, I am sure, travel a lot with knives. I am out and about right now, and I have a Shun and Rodrigue knife with me, but does anyone have a good travel suggestion for keeping blades sharp in terms of sharpening accessories that pack well?

Taking an end-grain board isn't going to happen, but I often travel with an Epicurean board even though they aren't that knife friendly. That is better than that one time I brought knives and only had a glass cutting board in an extended-stay hotel.

A loaded leather strop rolled up? Maybe.

I've even thought of choosing one knife, carving a space out in a balsa wood block that would fit the knife AND into a box and load the other side with a compound. That way I have storage and can flip the balsa over to strop. Just an idea.

I'm just wondering what other people do.

k.

When I am out it is usually only for two weeks at a time...I bring old reliable (a small black ark) with me, anything beyond that will have to wait until I am home.

Strop? Ceramic Rod? One 1k-5K splash-and-go stone, depending on how you like your edge and how often you want to touch it up? This thing?

I use knives for weeks between sharpening sessions on poly boards at work all the time. You should be able to manage. But I think those Epicurean ones are even worse. What about a thin/small end grain board from a maker on etsy? Wouldnt take up much more room than the board you pack now.

I use an old-style barber's strop. Its 2 sided; a leather and canvas combo. I have the leather loaded with some of Dave's .25 micron poly diamond spray. I was thinking of loading the canvas with something coarser, but haven't yet. While it's pretty long, it has the benefit of being very flat so it takes up no room at the bottom of a suitcase. Before I had a fancy shamcy magnetic interchangeable stop system, this is what I used for polishing / finishing. If you lay it flat on a counter and attach the clip end to something solid (like a cord tied around the kitchen sink faucet) and then strop away, it lays pretty flat.

I bring my CCK1303, Idahone Ceramic Rod, and a small bamboo board.

i bring a Victorinox rosewood chef and utility, a cheap MAC white ceramic rod, and a small poly board. that way, i dont care about anything.