Pocket Knives what do ya' Got

[fightingquaker13]

Kel-Tec P32 (Its nice to have when you cant carry a gun)

+10 And people accuse me of being bitchy.
FQ13

[deepwater]

until I started flying to Korea I would carry a Case, everyday. now I have a Leatherman that I can open up and make it pass as a pair of pliers. warning, if you ever fly to, from, or through Korea, don't take ANY kind of knife, they will confiscate them! (bastards) one of my shipmates bought some good cutlery (kitchen and hunting stuff) from Japan and flew home from Korea. cost: about $500.00 USD. they took it even though it was in his checked luggage and obviously not a weapon.
as I say, Case, good hardened steel blade and one stainless blade. sharp as a razor too.

[CJS3]

I'm pretty hard on my carry knife, but my biggest problem with knives is that I tend to loose them. For that reason when I need a knife for work, I just go to Home Depot, and pick up a cheap pocket folder with a clip. When this one disappears (and it won't be long, the pocket clip is bent all to hell) I'll just go in and get another just like it.

[Ksail101]

Just to add what I use to sharpen with. I got a cheap double sided stone (Course, Fine) from the knife place at the mall. It sucks and since I feel I am starting to get the hang of it, I was thinking about maybe upgrading to some nicer whet stones.

I am not that good at sharpening or should I say the stones I have cant get my knives to a fine edge that I like, I have a lansky system also but have not had very good luck with it. So as long as I get the edge kinda sharp from the stones and clean, I use some car scratch remover (finer than rubbing compound) on a leather belt, I found in a box at the garage sale down the road, I can strop it to the point of barely shaving the hairs on my arm and call it good.

I have seen like Ray Myers on Youtube with those awesome whet stones get to the I am at with the stones, and after stropping and whatever else he does gets them crazy sharp. Or that guy who shaves in one video after sharpening a hunting knife with stones an minimal stropping, I would love to be able to do this. I want to take a class on sharpening. I see the videos on the net and I have considered getting one.

[CDR]

I routinely alternate between two pocket knives.....a Spyderco Military folder or a Benchmade Doug Ritter Griptilian.  But I am eyeing a Strider Rogue Warrior but find it difficult to justify the steep price tag.  Some of the true custom knives are gorgeous but certainly cost prohibitive....a nice Chris English (Z Knives) auto is quite desirable.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Ksail, The ABSOLUTE MOST important thing is to maintain your blade angle. the closer to parallel your blade is to the stone the finer the edge you will get, after that it is coarseness of the stone. However, the longer the grind mark on the side of the blade the WEAKER your edge will be and more prone to chips, like a Hollow ground blade that will take a wicked edge, but does not hold up well to rough use. The higher the angle, (shorter the grind area) the stronger the edge will be. You will have to balance the 2 based on your intended use, If you just want to shave with it get a hollow ground blade, it has a concave grind profile http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=5530.30
(This link goes to the Tactical Knife thread, RTFM in reply #32 has an awesome diagram, I'm talking about profile #1 ) and hone it at about a 15 degree  angle. For rough use you would want a blade that retains more meat closer to the edge like #3 ground at a steeper angle, personally I use a "Blue" diamond hone, at about 20 degrees, it gives me good sharpness but still holds up well.
As to using a strop, you only need one or 2 passes as what you are doing is removing the grinding burrs that you raised with the stone, just like you would get from filing metal only finer, they will get to a point where they fold over and make a VERY sharp knife SEEM dull, that's why Barbers stropped their razors, they were not "Sharpening" them, they were removing  metal of a super fine edge  that had been pushed over by the whiskers, and resmoothing the edge. as to a good stone and oil, about the best combo I have found to get a SHARP edge has been a Hard Arkansas stone with Johnsons baby oil as a coolant, it seems to get the metal about as sharp as possible.
Sharpness is also limited by the size of the metal molecules, different steels will take a finer edge than others, that's why medical instruments are made from "Surgical" steel the characteristics of the alloy let it take the sharpest edge possible for steel, other materials, like Bokers Ceramic blades and obsidian are supposed to be able to take a much sharper edge, in fact scalpels for eye surgery use obsidian instead of steel. 6000 years of technology brought us back to the flint blade

[Majer]

I have a couple that I carry depending on what I'm doing. At work I have a Leatherman PST that I have had for about 25 years, I also have a Kershaw 1620st Scallion for when I need to open boxes. When I'm not working I have a Gerber AR3.0 serrated blade in my front pocket of my jeans. The tip was broken off when a buddy tried to use it as a prybar, but I just reground the shape and it works as intended. I will also carry a Swiss Army Knife "Officier" model made bt Victorinox for when I need an extra useful type of blade. I used to have a Gerber MultiPlier that I liked a lot, but I loaned it to one on my techs and he left it in a car, They don't make that model anymore, Otherwise He would be buying me a replacement.I'm hoping the customer comes back and I can get it back, but I'm not holding my breath.

[fullautovalmet76]

I carry either an Emerson CQC 7, an Emerson Karambit, or a SOG Trident. Currently it's the SOG.

A surgeon told me the Karambit I have is almost as sharp as a scalpel, and I believe it considering the nicks I have gotten from playing with it. That's one knife I should have bought a trainer for when I purchased one a while back.....

[True_Texan]

Just to add what I use to sharpen with. I got a cheap double sided stone (Course, Fine) from the knife place at the mall. It sucks and since I feel I am starting to get the hang of it, I was thinking about maybe upgrading to some nicer whet stones.

I am not that good at sharpening or should I say the stones I have cant get my knives to a fine edge that I like, I have a lansky system also but have not had very good luck with it. So as long as I get the edge kinda sharp from the stones and clean, I use some car scratch remover (finer than rubbing compound) on a leather belt, I found in a box at the garage sale down the road, I can strop it to the point of barely shaving the hairs on my arm and call it good.

I have seen like Ray Myers on Youtube with those awesome whet stones get to the I am at with the stones, and after stropping and whatever else he does gets them crazy sharp. Or that guy who shaves in one video after sharpening a hunting knife with stones an minimal stropping, I would love to be able to do this. I want to take a class on sharpening. I see the videos on the net and I have considered getting one.

I was having an issue with my Lansky set. I could never get a repeat edge with them. Especially once removed from the clamp. I realized the rods were not all the same angle. Some where bent more then others. If you compare them to each other, you can see which ones are not the same 90º angle as the rest. Once they are all the same angle, it will work the same every time. I don't care if you cut concrete with a knife, I can bring it back to beyond razor now.

The other thing with the rods and stones is to make sure they are all locked in at the same distance. There is a flat spot on each rod. If you insert them into the stones and slowly tighten the screw while pulling the rod out, it will catch where the flat spot stops. It may sound like trouble, but once you figure it out, it is very easy to do. To insure I have them all at the same length, I will take one stone/rod assembly and hold it with the rod pointing to the left, and another stone/rod assembly with the rod pointing to the right. Then I lay the stone face on the opposing rod. When both stones touch the rod of the other, I know I have them the same length.

I don't charge my friends anything to sharpen a knife, but I have made money on the first time sharpening for them because I make a bet that I can make them better then new, no matter what condition they were in.

[shooter32]

I was having an issue with my Lansky set. I could never get a repeat edge with them. Especially once removed from the clamp. I realized the rods were not all the same angle. Some where bent more then others. If you compare them to each other, you can see which ones are not the same 90º angle as the rest. Once they are all the same angle, it will work the same every time. I don't care if you cut concrete with a knife, I can bring it back to beyond razor now.

The other thing with the rods and stones is to make sure they are all locked in at the same distance. There is a flat spot on each rod. If you insert them into the stones and slowly tighten the screw while pulling the rod out, it will catch where the flat spot stops. It may sound like trouble, but once you figure it out, it is very easy to do. To insure I have them all at the same length, I will take one stone/rod assembly and hold it with the rod pointing to the left, and another stone/rod assembly with the rod pointing to the right. Then I lay the stone face on the opposing rod. When both stones touch the rod of the other, I know I have them the same length.

I don't charge my friends anything to sharpen a knife, but I have made money on the first time sharpening for them because I make a bet that I can make them better then new, no matter what condition they were in.

Are we,"DRTVers" your friends?