Looking for a portable stone for field/pocket knives

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SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

Kyohei Cultist
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I'd like to get a mini stone to touch up my pocket knives in the field, something small that can just live in my backpack. Open to all suggestions.

Something along the lines of this (hopefully the link fills)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ZUN5PA2/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_6?smid=AQU0WRLBLKRI8&psc=1
Most of my field knives are VG10 (Spyderco), 1095, 1075, and one S30V, so I don't think I need anything too crazy. Ideally I'd love a mini s
Shapton Glass 1k I just want something to bring an edge back to enjoyable levels when I'm out of town for extended periods and don't have my real stones.
 
I'm a natural stone guy, so I keep a smallish vintage Washita in my camping stuff. But it's big enough to use with sheath knives as well.

IMG_6791.jpeg
 
Legion74 said:
I'm a natural stone guy, so I keep a smallish vintage Washita in my camping stuff. But it's big enough to use with sheath knives as well.

View attachment 243473
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I found an old Arkansas pocket stone in a drawer at a rental house and it felt really nice touching up a carbon blade, which is what started this whole hunt. Only natural I've ever used though
 
Firstly, are we talking camping, or Air BnB's?

Secondly, what's your cutting application? Food, light bushcraft, etc?

My emergency 'field' sharpening kit, is currently a short Dianova 600/1200 diamond plate that I've broken in, and a little pasted poplar strop in a small plastic bag. It doesn't need water, doesn't require cleanup, hard to damage, not expensive to replace, works on even very wear resistant steels, and in a pinch it can achieve a surprising amount for such a compact setup (It can put an edge back on some found/proffered knives; not just maintain your own.). Definitely takes practice, though. Deburring on a plate this small, and this aggressive requires focus; especially on long knives.

If you're in more civilized environs (With plentiful clean water, and dry cloth to wipe your blade with, after. Also, less abusive use, and less need to restore heavily blunted blades one is given or finds to sharpen, which are not your own.), a little palm-sized Coticule from one of the faster veins, and an even smaller bit of slurry stone is a deeply impressive one-stone solution. Very powerful cutters with a thick mud, and capable of 8-15K sorts of edges when gradually diluted down. Easier to deburr on. I'm not sure if I would say they're ideal for S30V, but they will cut it (Diamond/CBN still sharpen steels like this better.), where high carbide steels like this just skate on Arks. Definitely more the sort of edge I like on 10xx than a Shapton 1K. Fun to use, too.

I hope this helps.
 
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Steampunk said:
Firstly, are we talking camping, or Air BnB's?

Secondly, what's your cutting application? Food, light bushcraft, etc?

My emergency 'field' sharpening kit, is currently a short Dianova 600/1200 diamond plate that I've broken in, and a little pasted poplar strop in a small plastic bag. It doesn't need water, doesn't require cleanup, hard to damage, not expensive to replace, works on even very wear resistant steels, and in a pinch it can achieve a surprising amount for such a compact setup (It can put an edge back on some found/proffered knives; not just maintain your own.). Definitely takes practice, though. Deburring on a plate this small, and this aggressive requires focus; especially on long knives.

If you're in more civilized environs (With plentiful clean water, and dry cloth to wipe your blade with, after. Also, less abusive use, and less need to restore heavily blunted blades one is given or finds to sharpen, which are not your own.), a little palm-sized Coticule from one of the faster veins, and an even smaller bit of slurry stone is a deeply impressive one-stone solution. Very powerful cutters with a thick mud, and capable of 8-15K sorts of edges when gradually diluted down. Easier to deburr on. I'm not sure if I would say they're ideal for S30V, but they will cut it (Diamond/CBN still sharpen steels like this better.), where high carbide steels like this just skate on Arks. Definitely more the sort of edge I like on 10xx than a Shapton 1K. Fun to use, too.

I hope this helps.
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I'm an environmental scientist, and spend most of my time in the field. Daily use of knives is cutting lots HDPE plastic, tubing, rope, zip ties etc, occasionally used as a screw driver, to poke in soil looking for vault covers, or to pop well covers when duty calls and I don't have a better tool. I'm out of town for weeks on end so don't have access to my real stones, but I'll always have a hotel room for water if needed. Also need something to touch up the 1075 machete, it takes a beating on wetland delineations.

I don't need anything violently abrasive, just enough to touch up edges or fix a fold/dulling from improper use. Most of my pocket/field knives are VG-10 or 10xx, I'm not planning on going after fancy powdered steels since I generally lose pocket knives often enough that I don't want to be heartbroken over a $200+ getting eaten by the swamp.

The small Coticule looks perfect, thank you for the suggestions!
 
SwampDonkey said:
I'm an environmental scientist, and spend most of my time in the field. Daily use of knives is cutting lots HDPE plastic, tubing, rope, zip ties etc, occasionally used as a screw driver, to poke in soil looking for vault covers, or to pop well covers when duty calls and I don't have a better tool. I'm out of town for weeks on end so don't have access to my real stones, but I'll always have a hotel room for water if needed. Also need something to touch up the 1075 machete, it takes a beating on wetland delineations.

I don't need anything violently abrasive, just enough to touch up edges or fix a fold/dulling from improper use. Most of my pocket/field knives are VG-10 or 10xx, I'm not planning on going after fancy powdered steels since I generally lose pocket knives often enough that I don't want to be heartbroken over a $200+ getting eaten by the swamp.

The small Coticule looks perfect, thank you for the suggestions!
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That's a really neat use case. :)

For things like your machete, which clearly takes some abuse, I'd probably look at something like this: Dianova Cook . Takes up little space, weighs little, can quickly fix damage on longer blades. Dianova's are better made, and last longer than the newer DMT's.

A good, small Coti, is a little powerhouse. If you're interested in one, I'd suggest contacting Ardennes directly, and asking Rob Celis for something that is hard, fast cutting, and a bit coarser than what's used for razors out of his current stock. Make sure to order a good slurry stone with it, if you go down this road. It's half the equation. Just like when selecting Nagura with J-Nats, you want something equal or a tad softer/finer than the core stone.

Hope this helps.
 
Steampunk said:
That's a really neat use case. :)

For things like your machete, which clearly takes some abuse, I'd probably look at something like this: Dianova Cook . Takes up little space, weighs little, can quickly fix damage on longer blades. Dianova's are better made, and last longer than the newer DMT's.

A good, small Coti, is a little powerhouse. If you're interested in one, I'd suggest contacting Ardennes directly, and asking Rob Celis for something that is hard, fast cutting, and a bit coarser than what's used for razors out of his current stock. Make sure to order a good slurry stone with it, if you go down this road. It's half the equation. Just like when selecting Nagura with J-Nats, you want something equal or a tad softer/finer than the core stone.

Hope this helps.
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Extremely helpful, cheers. Out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the Belgian Blues? Seems a bit coarser from the quick reading I've done
 
SwampDonkey said:
Extremely helpful, cheers. Out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the Belgian Blues? Seems a bit coarser from the quick reading I've done
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Belgian Blues would more accurately be described as 'not as fine' as Coticules, rather than 'Coarser' in the traditional sense. The garnets in them are larger, but there are also less of them. So, they're slower cutters, and also not as fine.

In larger stones, and for use on kitchen knives or most EDC tasks, that's really not a bade trait at all. a 'Mediocre' BBW is still in the 4-5K grit range, and can out-lift just about any synth in that range if you build up some mud. However, if you're trying to ask a little bit of rock to replace a whole progression of full-size synths, Coti's can punch much harder. They're more money, but if it's only going to be a small stone, it's probably worth it for your application, and you're probably more likely to get a nice vein if it's just a small stone you're after.

For woodwork tasks, which some field/bushcraft work falls under, I prefer Coti edges. They're just a bit finer than the blues, and perform better on woodcarving knives in simple steels (Puukko's, etc.). For the kitchen, Belgian Blue's are just kind of a happy place for some knives, and there's not much motivation to go beyond that in a lot of applications. Especially when you can get a nice big stone, for a fraction of the price of a Coti of similar size.

Hopefully this helps.
 
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SwampDonkey said:
I'm an environmental scientist, and spend most of my time in the field. Daily use of knives is cutting lots HDPE plastic, tubing, rope, zip ties etc, occasionally used as a screw driver, to poke in soil looking for vault covers, or to pop well covers when duty calls and I don't have a better tool. I'm out of town for weeks on end so don't have access to my real stones, but I'll always have a hotel room for water if needed. Also need something to touch up the 1075 machete, it takes a beating on wetland delineations.

I don't need anything violently abrasive, just enough to touch up edges or fix a fold/dulling from improper use. Most of my pocket/field knives are VG-10 or 10xx, I'm not planning on going after fancy powdered steels since I generally lose pocket knives often enough that I don't want to be heartbroken over a $200+ getting eaten by the swamp.

The small Coticule looks perfect, thank you for the suggestions!
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That somewhat elusive India/Soft Ark or India/Washita combi would also be a near ideal solution to the kinds of tasks and repair you're likely to be doing stemming from them, IMO.
 
SwampDonkey said:
something small that can just live in my backpack.
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Whenever I here the word "backpack" my mind immediately imagines counting grams because you'll be humping all your food, water, fuel, shelter, clothes, utensils and tools over mountain mountain passes strapped to your back.

So my first thoughts were DMT's credit card and keyring sharpeners.
 
swarfrat said:
Whenever I here the word "backpack" my mind immediately imagines counting grams because you'll be humping all your food, water, fuel, shelter, clothes, utensils and tools over mountain mountain passes strapped to your back.

So my first thoughts were DMT's credit card and keyring sharpeners.
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Yeah I guess I should've been more clear, I'm a bit of a weight weeny when truly backpacking, and I don't bushcraft since it is at odds with LNT principles. I only bring a small knife and don't bring a sharpener on those treks.

This is purely for my work backpack, which occupies the front seat of my truck most of the time. Size is more important than weight for my needs here, the 4.5-6" range seems ideal. Big enough to be comfortably usable without taking up too much room.
 
To be an outlier, Lansky turn box or a spyderco sharpmaker. They come with protective cases. Can go quite a bit sharpening without lubricant before you need to scrub the stones with a sponge. They’ve got Ceramic stones if you want a decent edge, diamond if you just want something functional in a hurry.
 
I ended up getting a medium coticule and a Belgian blue. Already came in handy sharpening the miserable Airbnb knives that were genuinely too dull to cut even an onion. The coti was good for putting a great final edge on the S30V, though it wasn't really dull before I got into it.

I absolutely love the feel of the natural stones. Scared I'll now fall down the rabbit hole if Jnats
 
Not related to your work, I used Arkansas slip stones to sharpen my ice carving chisels. Coarse to Xtra fine. Slips had leather covers. Would keep them in chisel bag with a small can of oil along with gouges, V chisels, small flats. My large flat chisel had long handle with wooden fitted cover. Sharpened all of them with Arkansas slips. Even had special rod stone for chainsaw teeth.
 
SwampDonkey said:
I ended up getting a medium coticule and a Belgian blue. Already came in handy sharpening the miserable Airbnb knives that were genuinely too dull to cut even an onion. The coti was good for putting a great final edge on the S30V, though it wasn't really dull before I got into it.

I absolutely love the feel of the natural stones. Scared I'll now fall down the rabbit hole if Jnats
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angry parks and recreation GIF
 
SwampDonkey said:
I ended up getting a medium coticule and a Belgian blue. Already came in handy sharpening the miserable Airbnb knives that were genuinely too dull to cut even an onion. The coti was good for putting a great final edge on the S30V, though it wasn't really dull before I got into it.

I absolutely love the feel of the natural stones. Scared I'll now fall down the rabbit hole if Jnats
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Very good. You're right on track, and by track I mean greased skids leading to a rabbit hole.

A bunch of people have fallen down the JNat rabbit hole because they are pursuing polishing. Not me. I'm like you -- I am drawn to JNats because I absolutely love how it feels to sharpen on them, and the edges they produce, and how you can have a stone for years and still not know half of what you'd like to about what it can do.

When I first got a BBW/coti, I was really surprised by how nice they feel in use. I didn't expect it -- I thought only JNats were like that, and people don't talk much about the feel of stones. BBW/Coti are wonderfully creamy, but just a little numb, especially the Coti. You don't get the kind of feedback about what's going on that a JNat gives.
 
Ive seen people use the dmt diafold stones quite a bit. I imagine that would be convenient to bring with you.
 
can’t go wrong with BBW and Coti stones. extremely useful and a joy to use.

I recently got a vintage Buck Washita for $20 on eBay. pocket stone sized, with a small plastic case. I believe they were made originally for camping / outdoors applications. it’s coarser than BBW, more like 800-1k at first, but with slurry refinement and water it can go much finer. I think it would be a nice addition. natural and cheap to boot.
 
A natural might be a bit soft of an abrasive for the s30v knife. If its the only stone being used.

But idk. I haven't really messed with that just a consideration
 
jwthaparc said:
A natural might be a bit soft of an abrasive for the s30v knife. If its the only stone being used.

But idk. I haven't really messed with that just a consideration
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Yeah definitely not my primary choice for S30V as a do-it-all but I only have 1 in that steel and don't plan to venture into super steels for pocket/field knives. Can't justify the cost for something I'm likely to lose/I'll end up babying it, I'll save the fancy steel for kitchen knives.

Qualities on VG10 is what I most care about, since most of my pockets are Spyderco.

That said...I only brought the S30V on a month-long trip to Alaska (no reason it was just out while packing) and I touched it up on the coti one night. Extremely pleased with the final edge it gave.
 
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