Handtools for Trail Work

Tools for Sharpening

Photo of a man sharpening an ax placed in a vise.
Dull tools are useless and dangerous.

About Sharpening

A tool need not be old and worn to need sharpening. Many tools arrive dull from the factory. They may leave in good condition but become damaged during shipping. Inspect all tools before use. Sharpening makes tools last longer--a small scratch that is ignored could lead to a serious crack or nick in the blade.

Image of a blade edge of a cutting tool. Labeled is the edge bevel and blade bevel.

Use a material like a file or grindstone that is harder than tool steel to remove metal from the edge. If there are no visible nicks, a touch-up with a whetstone will restore a keen cutting edge. In these instances, you need only restore the edge bevel. Whetting the edge removes very small bits of metal from the blade and causes the remaining metal to burr slightly on the cutting edge. This burr is called a feather, or wire edge. Remove this weak strip by honing the edge on the other side. The correctly honed edge is sharp, has no wire edge, and does not reflect light or show a sharpening line. Wear gloves when sharpening cutting edges.

Image of the correct sharpening of a Pulaski. Image shows a more convex blade edge as being sharpened correctly. The concave blade edge is labeled as being incorrect.
When sharpening an ax or Pulaski blade, for example,
work the stone in small circles across and "into" the blade.

Image showing the removal of a wire edge from a blade.
A wire edge is removed by honing
the opposite edge.

Restoring the blade bevel requires coarser grinding tools to affect the shape of worn cutting blades. Reshape blades with hand files, sandstone wheels, or electric grinders. Remove visible nicks by grinding the metal back on the blade. Remember, however, that the correct blade bevel must be maintained. Remove the metal necessary to make the blade smooth while retaining its proper shape. If the shape is too radically affected, either have a blacksmith recondition the tool head or discard the tool.

The Missoula Technology and Development Center has developed a handtool sharpening gauge that provides a quick guide to the proper cutting angle for a number of tools. The gauge takes the guesswork out of sharpening Pulaskis (both ends), axes, shovels, combination tools, and McLeods. It has a "no-go" line that shows when a Pulaski head is too worn to refurbish. The handtool sharpening gauge is available from the General Services Administration, item number: NSN 5210-01-324-2776, NFES 0510.

Photo shows the measuring of a Pulaski head.

Photo shows the use of a handtoll sharpening gauge.
The handtool sharpening gauge is a handy aid for
inspecting and sharpening a variety of fire handtools.