Most of us know that one of the most critical skills for survival or for day-to-day living is to know how to sharpen a knife. That’s because using a dull knife isn’t just inefficient – it’s also extremely dangerous.
A dull survival knife can make an ordinarily easy job 10 times harder. Every try cutting a tomato with an extremely dull knife? Instead of nice, thick slices, you often get a squashed piece of produce with juice running all over the countertop. Not pretty.
Plus, not knowing how to sharpen a knife can really cost you in a survival situation. Since dull knives don’t work as efficiently, they require more force to press into the material you’re cutting. And, with that force, the chances are far greater your knife (or your hand) will slip. This could easily create an accident, and cause you to cut something you weren’t wanting to.
Knives are great for day-to-day use like cooking or opening a package. They’re also a necessity in survival situations, like when you’re cutting tree limbs for a bug out shelter, or cutting a seatbelt to free yourself from a burning car. However, a sharp knife if the best knife for any and all situations.
So what’s the easiest and quickest way to sharpen a knife?
I’ve found a few great ways that are simple and FAST to sharpen a knife. In fact, these methods are so simple even the laziest preppers can use them. And that’s saying something.
Better yet, there are often cheat-ways to make these methods less expensive.
Chefs, handymen, and preppers will rejoice once they read about…
The Lazy Prepper’s Ways To Sharpen A Knife
Day-To-Day Needs:
Ceramic Rod
Ceramic rods are an excellent manual way to sharpen a knife. These range in prices, but you can easily find a cheap one if you look around at garage cells, Goodwill, etc. You can also ask to borrow one from a friend, family member, or neighbor. You can also check online sites for a great deal – I found this one on Amazon for less than $10.
Electric
There’s also a lot of electric tools out there that will sharpen knives. These are an excellent means for day-to-day living, or for a bug-in scenario.
However, oftentimes many of these electric sharpening tools are crazy expensive.
Luckily, you can sharpen a knife AND go the cheap route, all at the same time. One of the ways to do this is to look for used tools online. Websites like Craigslist often have people selling their old knife sharpeners for cheap. This is a great way to save money! You can also visit pawnshops, garage sales, and donation centers (like Goodwill) to find some great sharpening tools for cheap.
You can also visit Amazon for your knife sharpening needs. Contrary to what you might think, they actually have some cheap, high-quality knife sharpening tools like this one here.
You may need to hunt around for a bit, but the search can often yield an excellent product!
Take a look at the video below – it’ll show you an excellent way to sharpen a knife using electric means. However, don’t be intimidated by the machine he’s using – he’ll teach you how to get practically the same results for cheaper!
Survival Needs:
The Door Window
One of the biggest arguments against carrying your own knife sharpener is the weight of it. Plus, it’s only a single-purpose item, which is a hard sell in a survival situation. After all, you want everything you have to carry a multitude of uses. It’s just more efficient that way.
Luckily, if you’re planning on taking your bug out vehicle with you, you’ve got everything you need to sharpen a knife. This is one trick most preppers don’t know. And it could easily be a godsend when SHTF.
Check it out in the video below:
The Leather Belt
When it comes to survival, multi-use items are the name of the game. If you’ve got a leather belt on-hand, you can easily transform it into a leather strop to sharpen your knife! The video below shows you how it’s done. (It starts at 9:02, but feel free to watch the entire thing. It’s got 24 more survival uses for a leather belt you may not have thought of!).
Keep in mind some belts may work better than others for this. The prepper in the video suggests Bull Leather and Daltech Force belts for survival.
You can also just use a plain piece of leather if you don’t have a belt or strop. Take a look:
https://youtu.be/une4Zp75gWU
A Rock
This is an excellent method to sharpen a knife, since it’s often pretty easy to find a rock in a survival situation.
Now keep in mind you’ll need to find a particular type. You can find everything you need to know in the videos below.
Survival: Bug-In Situation
There’s one more method that you can use to sharpen a knife in a bug-in situation. By using an ordinary coffee mug, you can get your knife sharp in no time! Be sure to use a ceramic mug with a rough, flat bottom.
All you have to do is place the mug upside down onto a flat surface. Then run the knife over the edges of the bottom, similarly to how you would run it over a stone. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out the first video under the section “The Rock.). This will get your blade sharp in no time!
Be sure to prepare in advance by trying out all these methods before the next crisis. Remember – Prepare Now, Survive Later!
