High Elevation Tailgate Sharpening

**Bill Harsey** · 08-10-2005, 10:33

We just returned from our annual trip into the Steens Mountain Wilderness area.
Our base camp is out in the sage brush and winter worn aspen trees at 7300 ft. elevation and within view of the Steens east rim (and drop off) up at 9700 ft.

The tailgate of a pickup truck is a perfect workbench, especially with the new abrasion resistant coatings applied to the bed because these hold the sharpening stones without slipping.

The Norton Fine India/medium stone got a good workout when our firefighting friend Dan Y. who grew up in that country came up to camp to visit us. Dan was the head of Operations for Oregons Burns-BLM Interagency Fire District, French Glen area that includes the Steens Mountain (Burns is the name of the town, not a comment on fire policy). Dan has since moved up to the national fire fighting center in Boise.

His CPM S-30V blade (in a T-2) had been used hard in the last year without being sharpened. The Rockwell hardness was 61 and this would be a good test for the Norton stone.

I know we've covered this before but since the CPM S-30V steel is used more and more for knife blades by a lot of manufacturers, here are the bare basics...

CPM S-30V contains enough vanadium to form vanadium carbides when heat treated. These carbides are harder than aluminum oxide, which is the type of sharpening stone material in the tan side of the Norton combination stone.

To sharpen this steel takes a bit more pressure because we have to push hard enough to abrade away the matrix of steel that holds the hard carbides.

In other words, just take a bit more time to keep doing the same thing and the knife will get sharp.

I put the stone on the tailgate and using two hands on the folder got the blade fully re-sharpened to hair cutting sharp in about 7 minutes. This sounds like a long time but it wouldn't be any less in a fully equipped custom knifemaking shop.

**The Reaper** · 08-10-2005, 10:39

You put the N where, Bill??

Inquiring minds want to know!!

TR

**Bill Harsey** · 08-10-2005, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

You put the N where, Bill??

Inquiring minds want to know!!

TR

I lost my internet connection and somehow got it back and posted what was there before completing my editing so I didn't have to start over.
Sorry for the confusion.

CPTAUSRET · 08-10-2005, 11:12

Bill:

Good to know information.

Thanks.

Terry

jbour13 · 08-10-2005, 11:19

The Blademaster has spoken his wisdom again.

Now it's time to buy and try.

Thanks for the info sir!!

**Jack Moroney (RIP)** · 08-10-2005, 13:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

I put the stone on the tailgate and using two hands on the folder got the blade fully re-sharpened to hair cutting sharp in about 7 minutes. This sounds like a long time but it wouldn't be any less in a fully equipped custom knifemaking shop.

Probably would have been a lot quicker if they had stopped driving the truck while you were sitting on the tailgate

CPTAUSRET · 08-10-2005, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

Probably would have been a lot quicker if they had stopped driving the truck while you were sitting on the tailgate

Or running along behind!

12B4S · 08-28-2005, 02:16

Bill, I doubt that you could EVER go over enough info and experience on sharpening around here.

**Bill Harsey** · 09-03-2005, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12B4S

Bill, I doubt that you could EVER go over enough info and experience on sharpening around here.

Thanks but I worry about repeating myself too much.

There have been a lot of knives to sharpen lately with all the hunting starting up and I've been thinking about the basics of sharpening and how to explain them better.

I've figured out that I sharpen small blades sitting in the same place with the stone on the same bench and this helps with all the muscle memory problems of the craft. With larger blades, I stand up to put more pressure and get a better sweep of the blade across the stone but the stone is still on the same bench at the same height everytime I stand.

Jack, next trip I'll try and get the guys to stop the pickup while I'm sharpening.

Speaking of pickups, Chris Reeve gave me a raft of crap for hanging on tight the year before when he was doing a full and sustained 95 mph in his Dodge 6 pack on the single lane gravel road that runs between the Alvord desert and the base of the Steens mountains.
Grand Prix motorcycle racer or not, the back end of that truck never quite floated arrow straight.