(Article
transcribed from a CD sent in to SurvivalBlog)
I
have been sharpening now for about 15 years. I started out small, because I
didn’t want to get too much invested; so, I started out with small machines,
mostly hand sharpening. Our emphasis is on hand tools for sharpening, if you
consider we may not have any electricity to work with.
Decide what tools and blades you want to
sharpen.
Buy several books on sharpening and get
some initial knowledge.
Study the angles on the blades and tools
you want to sharpen, make notes on these, studying the degrees of set for the
blade clearance on these various blades and tools.
Decide on the tools and jigs you want to
purchase for your type of sharpening.
For
my bug-out vehicle, which obviously has a limitation for weight and bulk, let’s
get into the most popular things that need sharpening and what tools I would
take with me.
Knives
For
hand sharpening knives, I would find a coarse and fine sharpening stone and
some WD-40 spray lubricant
for lube and cleaning of my stones and my sharpening. Also have a rag. Now, I
would also take my hand-crank grinder. It’s very small and requires no
electrical power, and this would be used for re-pointing knife blades; I would
have a 100- to 120-grit wheel on this little grinder. As far as
power-sharpening, I have a definite preference here. I picked up a Carver’s
Friend, and this is a adjustable grinding machine for knives. It puts a good
working edge on any knife I send through the machine. It’s quick, and it’s fast
and it’s a real money-maker. I’m sure there are comparable machines out there,
but this just happens to be the one I have.
Chainsaw
Chains
This
will be something that will be used a lot in survival situations. For hand-work
sharpening, get a round file to fit your chain, and if you can find an aluminum
file handle with the proper angles cast into the handle, this will allow you to
sharpen your chain on your saw. If you have a vice that you can mount on a
table or workbench, this is handy to grip the saw while you’re filing. Now, as
far as power sharpening the chains, I like the Harbor Freight Chain Sharpening
machines. They’re very inexpensive, and once you get them tuned up and set up
right, they do a real nice job of saw sharpening. I use one of the older models
in my shop and I am very happy with it. Another advantage of this little
machine is it will work with a square-wave inverter, if your inverter’s about
650-700 watts.
Wood
Handsaw
You
will need a saw vice that clamps to the workbench. You will need the
appropriate saw tooth setter. I have a Stanley, which works very nice. You will
also need several 6-8 inch triangular metal files. I like the Nickolson
brand.
There are other good ones. You will also need an adjustable guide to mount and
position the file for the proper tooth angles. Count the file strokes, and
remember, more set for soft woods. If you’ve got power, get a Foley or
Foley-Belsaw power saw filer. This is a great machine and will save you a lot
of work and a lot of headaches. I wouldn’t take one of these in your bug-out
vehicle, though, since they are large and they’re heavy.
Circular
Saw Blades
I
use steel hand-sharpening for these. I use a AB Mech Bernie hand filer. Use a
triangular file. It’s a triangular file guide made of steel and aluminum. It
does a decent job but is slow for up to 12-inch blades. It is one of the best
little hand saw filers I’ve found. For power, a Belsaw sharp-all works well.
Also, you can use the motorized saw filer made by Foley-Belsaw for this type of
blade. Now for carbide saw blades, and also on steel, Foley-Belsaw makes a
machine that uses a diamond wheel to do an excellent job. For setting all
circular saws, the Sharp-All has a setting attachment mounted on it, or I like
to use the Sears-Roebuck hammer setter in a vice on my workbench, and you strike
it with a hard rubber hammer, and you set your saw that way; it works very
nice.
Assorted
Tools
I
also have other assorted tool sharpening devices, other than the tools that
we’ve mentioned, including a small 110-Volt angle grinder and half a dozen
metal disks to go on it that work very well for sharpening many kinds of tools,
especially garden tools. You can even dress up a pick with that little tool.
I’ve also seen picks sharpened in a blacksmith’s forge, and that’s quite an art
to do that. Then, you have to re-quench the tip. Assorted files and handles are
very handy in sharpening. I think we mentioned the 1- and 2-inch belt sanders.
In a bug-out situation, I would probably take the little 1-inch belt sander
with me, because it’s compact, small, and light. My 2-inch sander, which was
made in LA in a school shop, is a very good machine. I like it because it
doesn’t burn the steel, but it’s large and rather cumbersome. A machinist’s
vice is another nice thing to have for sharpening. Vice grips come in handy
when you have to hold something small, like a drill bit or other small blade
that you’re sharpening. A drill-sharpener jig is very handy, and these are
quite common at swap meets. A bench grinder with a wire wheel and about a 120-grit
sharpening metal wheel is handy. Now, how much can you make by doing
sharpening? In 15 years, I have found that some things sharpen rather slowly
and some things sharpen really quickly and are big money-makers, but your wages
will run somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars per hour for your sharpening,
which isn’t bad for an old fella or for a person that is out of work and needs
something to do to fill his time. Keep prepping! That’s what it’s all about.
Remember, this is copyrighted 6/12/14, but SurvivalBlog does have permission to
use this.
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