[bcolorado]

Emergency knife sharpening.

Well, not really an emergency.

I have learned from others on the 'web, many who pass forward what they know.

Sitting at my 'puter doing that 'puter stuff we do daily a package came in.

Woohoo, just like Christmas. I reach into my pocket and grab my generic SAK. With a swift motion I am about to open my gift from that truck that Santa drives when discover a butter knife would be sharper than my trusted daily carry.

Think B think.......I look around... my eyes catch the the coffee mug on my desk.

Quicker than a cockroach caught in the light I flip the mug over and on the unglazed portion my knife gets several passes on each side of the blade. When finished I grab the
legal pad laying next to the 'puter flip it over and strop my blade on the cardboard backside.

Finally I open my gift, from the truck that delivers such things, with an ease that a sharp blade can deliver. I open my "gift" and my day is made.

Thanks to certain folks on the web who give so freely of things we all need to know.

[earplug]

Sinks, Toilets and Corel plates all work well for putting on a quick edge.

[hso]

You can also use the hard glazed lip of that coffee mug as a "steel" to touch up your blade from time to time.

[6_gunner]

I work as a maintenance guy while in college, and I've found that the porcelain rod found in some types of light bulbs (either metal halides or high pressure sodium, I believe) makes a nice knife sharpener. The light bulb has to be broken very carefully to extract the rod intact. One of the "veteran" electricians told me about it, and I've tried to save every one I've come across since then.

[Cougfan2]

I've even taken a nice smooth rounded rock out of a river and touched up a blade.

[deaconkharma]

the ceramic dome protectors on the electric poles are perfect! :)

[CWL]

Using the back of ceramic bowls to sharpen knives has been used for thousands of years in Asia.

[Al Thompson]

Cardboard makes a very good strop.

[Pax Jordana]

inquiring minds want to know..

..does sharpening a blade on a coffee cup require different technique than sharpening on a stone? perhaps a circular movement?

[Dionysusigma]

It takes a bit of finesse, as the "stone" is obviously a thin, hollow circle as opposed to the more-widely-accepted rectangular shape of a dedicated stone. I've only used it a couple times, and haven't quite gotten it right myself just yet.

My "field-expedient" methods include taking a piece of gravel, or whatever sort of stone is handy, and rubbing it on concrete or brick until it's flattish, then sharpening on it. Strop on a piece of relatively smooth wood or non-corrugated cardboard, and it's good enough to do whatever needs to be done.

Shame on anyone who carries a dulled knife, though. :uhoh:

[Aka Zero]

I just pull out my second edc knife. Or sometimes I carried little diamond homes with me, if I was going to be cutting a lot.

[Carl Levitian]

When I was 12 years old, we had this scout master, Mr. Van. Mr. Van was no ordinary man, he was the living God of scout troop 469 in Wheaton Maryland. As much as we scouts worshiped him, his word on things were gospal.

One day it comes to light, that Mr. Van always had a small piece of sharpening stone in his pocket. Not the pocket stone, but an even smaller piece off it. His theroy was, that if a man carried a pocket knife, which he couldn't understand a man who would not, then that man should carry something to touch up the blade in the field.

Of course, we all took our offical boy scout pocket stones and put them in the old mans vise and wacked off a piece with a hammer. I mean, if Mr. Van did it, that was good enough for us.

To this day, I carry a small diamond hone in my wallet. The Eze-lap model L I think. The one with the red plastic handle, most of which I have cut off with a saw. It's nice and flat, and it fits in the zipper change part of my wallet easy.

Carry a knife-always carry a sharpener.

[bikerdoc]

The top edge of a car window works well for a quick touch up

[Pax Jordana]

OK, the top edge of a car window I understand. But ceramic powerline domes, rounded river rocks and coffee mugs are (in my impression) not planar.

Does one work a very short section of edge at a time, or perhaps use a circular motion, like Norton advises (for tools) you do?
[ETA: well now I can't find the circular-motion-advising advisory online, drat. I might still have the cardboard backer my norton came in, let me look..]

[lloveless]

When using a coffee mug be sure to empty the contents before turning over to sharpen knife:D

[Dionysusigma]

I'll try to type up some detailed instructions if I have time (finals)... pictures too.