KEEP YOUR SWISS ARMY KNIFE SHARP

Keep your Swiss Army Knife sharp!  A sharp Swiss Army Knife will cut through things quicker making your cutting tasks less tiring. Less force is required to make a cut so the Swiss Army Knife knife is less likely to slip and cut you. The techniques presented here can be used on Hunting Knives, Bowie Knives and Survival Knives as well as on your Swiss Army Knife.

A key point in sharpening your Swiss Army Knife is to keep the original angle of the blade. You should be able to get an idea of the original angle by looking down the length of the blade, at the cutting edge from the front. The blade on a Swiss Army Knife is thin compared to the heavier blade hunting knife and the angle on the Swiss Army Knife blade should be under 15 degrees. Lansky and Timberline make knife sharpening kits that will help you maintain the proper angle as you sharpen.

There are a few choices on how to sharpen the blades on your Swiss Army Knife. If the blade is still in good condition and just needs to have the edge touched up you should use a natural stone like an Arkansas stone. You may need to start with a course stone and then finish with a finer grit stone. People find they get a better edge that stays sharper longer, on their Swiss Army Knife, by using a natural stone. You can purchase stones that are to be used dry, or stones that need to be lubricated with oil or water.

If your Swiss Army Knife needs some serious sharpening help, start with a Diamond sharpening stone. These stones tend to work on the blade faster. Then finish sharpening the blade of your Swiss Army Knife with a natural stone.

A word of caution. Some people have used a power-driven grinding wheel to sharpen dull knives. This can cause excess heat and take the temper from your blade, making the blade brittle.

There are two basic styles of sharpening the blades on your Swiss Army Knife if you do not use a kit like Lansky and Timberline make.

The first style for sharpening a Swiss Army Knife is using a circular motion.  Start by holding the blade away from you at the proper angle. Run the blade of your Swiss Army Knife in a clockwise motion on the stone until you have sharpened that side of the blade. Turn the blade over and repeat with a counter clockwise motion. An advantage to this method is the simplicity. The disadvantage is you have to be careful not to grind too much off one side of your Swiss Army Knife blade. This will cause the cutting edge to be uneven and crooked.

The second style for sharpening your Swiss Army Knife is to use the entire length of the stone and sharpen the entire length of the blade with each stroke. Start with the Swiss Army knife blade edge facing away from you. Place the handle end of the blade on the end of the sharpening stone nearest to you. Push away from you, using the entire length of the stone and draw the entire blade across the stone so the tip of the Swiss Army Knife blade swings off the stone at the far end. Make sure you keep a uniform pressure on the entire blade and hold the correct angle. Turn the blade over and repeat the process, pulling the blade towards you. Make sure you do an equal number of strokes on each side of the blade. The advantage to this is you sharpen the entire blade of your Swiss Army Knife at the same time. The disadvantage is some people have trouble holding the proper angle and maintaining a uniform pressure.

How do you tell if your Swiss Army Knife is sharp? Some people like their Swiss Army Knife sharp enough to shave with. You can VERY CAREFULLY run your knife along your arm to see if it will cut the hair. Watch how much pressure you put on the Swiss Army Knife or you could end up going to the hospital. We do not recommend this method. Another method, and the one I use, is to lightly and gently draw your thumb across (NOT ALONG) the blades of your Swiss Army Knife. Your thumb is usually sensitive enough that you can feel the sharp edge of the blade. A lot of people disagree with this method but it has worked for me and I have yet to cut my thumb. A third method that has been used for a long time is to see if the Swiss Army Knife blade cuts paper. We do not recommend this method. Paper is basically wood that has been mashed together in a criss-cross pattern using chemicals and we feel this is hard on the blade. If you want to cut paper, use scissors.

Keep your Swiss Army Knife sharp all of the time. That way the Swiss Army Knife it will be ready to do the job you bought it for when the time comes. An added plus of spending the time at home getting a quality edge on your Swiss Army Knife is that should you find your blade needs a touch up in the field this can normally be accomplished quickly with a small pocket sharpener. Enjoy your time outdoors, Stay Safe, and always return home.

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