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Okay, guess I will chime in here with my .02.
At home I have a Spyderco Tri-Angle sharpener and a DMT angle sharpener, along with files, a bench grinder, and all of my field sharpening gear.
For the field, I take a pair of DMT Duo-Fold double sided diamond sticks, and a DMT diamond rod for sharpening serrations. I drop the Duo-Fold, or a soft Arkansas stone into the outside pouch of a knife sheath. A machete or an axe really needs a file for the field.
For field expedient use, any flat abrasive surface harder than the steel works, albeit some better than others. Concrete works well in a pinch, as will hardened steel, certain bricks, or even the top of a vehicle window. I have stropped knives and razors on leather belts or the palm of my hand.
As I am sure Mr. Harsey will tell you, sharpening is an effort to remove metal from the edge of a blade to reshape it to a certain angle. Different blades and cutting applications require different angles. IIRC, the desired angles are usually from 35 degrees (blunt chopping tools) to 15 degrees or so (shaving razors). All other factors being equal, the thinner the angle, the quicker it will go away and need sharpening. Some tools have a double bevel on the edge, and some very dull ones can be best sharpened by taking an angle, then trimming it down to a lesser angle. If the blade was sharp on both sides, be sure to sharpen both sides equally in alternating patterns, or you will get a one sided or wire edge which will quickly come off and leave the knife dull again. Some knives are flat on one side and beveled on the other, like a chisel, and require sharpening only on the beveled side.
The harder the steel, the longer it will take to sharpen, and the longer the tool will hold its edge. The worst case is a hard steel tool with a very dull blunted edge being resharpened hair popping sharp. This can be a laborious process. It almost always takes less time to stop and keep the blade relatively sharp than to let it get extremely dull and try to resharpen it then.
And as Forest Gump says, "That's all I have to say about that" Hope that passes on what little I know about the subject and meets Mr. Harsey's intent.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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