By Hook or by Crook

There are more than enough videos on YouTube on how to sharpen a knife and a hook knife, so I’m not going to write a long description of how to sharpen. Instead I’d recommend Ben Orford’s videos as he also covers how to make your own sharpening system with old sandpaper, wet and dry paper, wooden blocks and strops from leather. Then I’d suggest getting a cheap mora knife and practicing. If you mess up a cheap knife you’re not going to worry as much as an expensive one.  Personally, I rarely sharpen my knifes, instead I tend to strop them regularly to keep them sharp, but the knives I make need working through the grades to get to a decent level of sharpness and I use a variety of grits to get there.

For my recent Sweden trip I prepared the safe transport of my carving knives and my crook knives by carefully wrapping the blades in leather. I used some old chrome tanned leather strips I had lying about and thought nothing more of it. When I arrived in Sweden I unwrapped my mora 106 wood carving knife and my mora 162s crook knife and was horrified to see that the blades were all corroded. Fortunately my other knives used different leather so didn’t suffer the same fate.  Lesson learnt, don’t use chrome tanned leather for wrapping blades.

Now, I’m not the sort of person who can live with a rusty or corroded blade so out came the DC4 sharpening stone, my portable strop and I set about sharpening my knives back to razor sharpness. The crook knife however was a different story, I didn’t have the right tools to sharpen it so I had to borrow the tools from one of the instructors. Long story short, the blades are back up to standard.

Back in the UK, one of my first tasks was to make my own crook knife sharpening tools.  So here’s what you need:

Wooden doweling – Various – I’ve used two different round sizes and a D shaped beading that is good for the flat and curved section on a mocotaugan (Indian hook knife) – available from DIY stores

Wet and dry paper – Various but 600, 800 and 1200 grit seems to be a good variety – available from car accessory, DIY stores or online

Double sided tape or carpet tape - available from DIY stores, art and craft stores

Leather – available from charity shops, old sofas, belts or online

Tormek paste – available from tool shops or online

Making these tools is pretty simple.

1)      Based on the width of the wet and dry  paper, cut the dowel so its longer than the paper and leather. I used 30cm lengths for workshop tools but you can make smaller versions for the trail.  

2)      Next roll the wet and dry paper or leather around the wood and mark where the two pieces cross over on the paper.

3)      Remove the paper or leather from the dowel, measure the distance from the edge to the mark you made and measure and mark along the other end before cut the paper along that line.

4)      Apply strips of double sided tape to the back of the leather (you want the fluffy side outwards on the dowel) or wet and dry paper so that you have the ends and centre nicely covered, 

5)      Removing the other side of the double sides tape and stick the paper (or leather) to the dowel by rolling the dowel over the paper on a flat surface. You want to avoid and overlaps, creases or bubbles in the paper that could cause uneven sharpening.

That’s it, simples…

You can now get sharpening, use the 600 grit for taking lots of material off and the finer 1200 grit for the final edge. Then buff the surface to razor sharpness using the tormek paste on the leather strop. Finally give your blade a quick coat of camellia oil to protect the blade from moisture.

You can use this same technique to make sharpening systems for your other knives as well.

Enjoy...