How to Keep Your Zero

Tolerance Pocket Knife

Shaving Sharp

Whether you’ve gotten a good six months of breaking down boxes or just a

few days or a week of processing wood, you’re going to need to send that

edge to the stone sooner or later.

There are fancy machines and “systems” that you can use to restore a worn

and weathered edge, and some of these really are extremely convenient and

effective. There’s a simple truth underlying this, however. You can get any

knife as sharp as you want with just a few skills and a stone with the

proper grit. You don’t need angle guides or fancy, multi-directional, micro-

serrated rods or whatever they call them.

No, if your Zero Tolerance pocket knife is showing signs of wear

and you want to bring it back to hair-popping glory, you just need

the right stones, and to know what you’re doing.

In ascending order of fineness, you’ll want 400 and 600 grit stones, as well

as a stone with a grit rating between 1,000 and 1,200. For finishing the

edge, you’ll want a stone that’s rated between 3,000 to 5,000 grit. If you’re

using natural stones, a soft Arkansas stone is approximately 1,000 grit

and a hard black Arkansas stone is approximately 2,000 to 4,000 grit.

If your knife is very dull, start with 400 or 600 grit stones; if it just needs

to be touched up, start with the 1,000 grit stone. Use either water or an oil

to treat the surface of the stone, but remember, if you start with oil, you’ll

only ever be able to use oil again. These liquids will help to suspend the

particles of steel stock removed from the edge so the stone remains

efficient.

First, carefully inspect the edge of your knife. If it is still sharp, but not

sharp enough to glide through paper, you’ll probably only need two stones

for the job. If it’s approaching butter knife levels of dullness, you’ll need

three or even four.

Lay the blade flat on the stone. Depending on the model of Zero

Tolerance pocket knife that you own, this next part will vary, but for

most models, lift the spine up about a centimeter off of the stone,

keeping the edge in contact with it. That should produce an angle of

around 20 degrees of contact between the edge and the stone.

Now, sweep the knife away from you, slowly, maintaining that angle

of contact, as though you are trying to cut through the stone. You

should feel a satisfying, slick sensation through the blade. This

indicates that the stone has engaged the steel and is removing small

amounts of the edge to restore it.

Continue this process until you can feel a burr along the edge. Turn the

knife over and repeat the process until you have removed the burr on the

other side. Then, progress to a finer stone, until you have repeated these

processes with all three or four stones. By the end of it, you will have a

razor sharp knife.

There you have it; now you can enjoy another few weeks or months

with a brand new edge that will glide through obstacles like butter.

If you found these tips helpful, check White Mountain Knives’ blog

out, where you’ll find more of them, or get in touch with them for

more help at WhiteMountainKnives@gmail.com.