“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” ~Ansel Adams
The best way to get your knives (and tools) sharp is with a sharpening stone in an appropriate grit. I won’t argue against that. I’ve even published about it at length. I’ve also covered things you can use as a strop if you don’t have one.
Yet, sometimes you don’t have the tools you need to complete a job the right (or easy) way. That doesn’t mean you can’t get the job done.
For instance, let’s just say you’re away from your bench and don’t have a sharpening stone, even a pocket stone, in the near vicinity
Suppose also that your knife is a little less sharp than you’d like it to be.
Think this over as you sip your morning joe. The solution is closer than you think.
No Stone? No Problem; Just Flip the Mug Over
One quick solution I have to raise a new edge on a pocket knife, if I didn’t have a stone about, is to use the base of a ceramic coffee mug.
The bottoms of most ceramic and stoneware mugs are intentionally not finished with glaze. I’m not sure of the reason, but it might have something to do with providing the mug traction on most surfaces.
There’s another consequence to not finishing the bottom of the mug. It leaves it with a bit of tooth. Grit, if you will.
See where I’m going with this?
All you need to do is finish your coffee and flip the mug over. The ring on the bottom of your mug is all you need to bring your knife back to fighting shape.
Use it just as you would a sharpening stone. A few passes at an angle suitable for your edge (somewhere around 15° to 20° (for most knives) will be all you need. You can use a straight or circular sharpening cadence to do so, it hardly matters which.
Once you’re done, test your knife on a piece of paper or check it by shaving the hair on the back of your knife. Repeat until you’ve reached the edge you need.
A Word of Caution
I will say one thing about this little knife hack that I picked up over the years. You can’t use it to bring a really dull knife back to life.
The thing about the bottom of most coffee mugs is that, while they have a little tooth, and more than enough to make a sharp knife really sharp, they’re just not aggressive enough to make a very worn edge sharp again.
So use this trick only when you want to raise a really sharp edge from the ashes of an already suitable alternative. It’ll just take too long if your edge is too far gone.
It’s a good trick to know when you’re in camp or just away from home, though.
Stay sharp.
~The Eclectic Outfitter