By PAUL WHEATON
The Edgemaster
Two bucks.
The serrated blade on my leatherman was dull. Really dull. I had never sharpened a serrated blade and figured I would need to figure it out soon. I imagined it would involve small round files and a half hour of careful sharpening.
Ray has a knife sharpening booth just outside the Army Navy store in Missoula. There is an extension cord coming out of a second floor window to power Ray’s grinding wheel.
His sign said “SHARPENING $2.00 PER BLADE” .
“How much for a serrated blade?”
“Two bucks.”
So I handed him the leatherman opened to the serrated blade.
The tip was sharpened the way you would sharpen a normal knife blade and then he used almost exclusively the power rag buffer wheel which he kept loaded with a fine grit.
I passed this video around to a lot of forums and got a lot of feedback from experts on sharpening serrated blades . Apparently, the way I was thinking of doing it is the best way, but the way Ray did it was a close second. And Ray’s technique is about 20 times faster.
Note how Ray rubs the blade on the wood once in a while. That takes off any weak edge metal. This is to make sure that the only edge left is an edge that will last.
The blade I got back was freaky sharp.
Two bucks. A helluva deal.
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BIO: Paul Wheaton is is the tyrannical ruler of two on-line communities. One is about permaculture and one is about software engineering . There is even one for Missoula . Paul has written several permacutlure articles starting with one on lawn care that he presented at the MUD Project 17 years ago, including articles on raising chickens , cast iron and diatomaceous earth . Paul also regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts . In his spare time, Paul has plans for world domination and is currently shopping for a hollowed out volcano in the Missoula area, with good submarine access.
See all of Paul’s contributions to MakeitMissoula on this Blog Homepage here