i was having a beer and thinking about this new Scrapper 5. in reading the thread we went over the attributes of different steels. like always the point is brought up that sr77 doesnt hold an edge as well as sr101 or infi or 154cm for that matter. so i got to thinking about strops...a few passes and most steels will pop hair off. then i got to thinking about field strops.....then i thought "gee what cant you just use your leather sheath and maybe add some compound on a certain spot and make that your field strop.<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/doh.gif" alt="" /> has anyone ever tried this? or am i crazy??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

...or your leather belt... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

ahhh so i am onto something! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've seen it done before, but honestly I rather just have a sheath be a sheath. Stuff a couple grits of sandpaper in my pack and I'm good.

I am working on a sheath design for my larger knives which has a press stud fixed strop attached to the back of the sheath which can be pre-loaded with compound and has eyelets at the side to feed a couple of tie offs through so you can anchor it firmly on your thigh and just strop up the blade to restore the edge.

I am doing them for my two Hossum knives and will see how it works out....

Ive just recently started taking camping a little more serious.
The past few years we started taking an ax and then knives with for fire making.
We spend a week at a time out there,Chopping up some wood
for the campfire each night.
I havent had any Busse Family knives to use in the past,
but have taken other brands. ColdSteel,RAT,KaBar and some others.
They all stayed sharp enough to do camp chores without
the need for resharpening.
The only knives that didnt really hold up well enough,were knives
that had too sharp of an angle on the edge for that particular task.
Guess what Im saying is if you choose the right knife
for the job,with the proper edge angle,it should be OK for that
particular job for quite a while without needing resharpening out
in the field. (unless your out there for quite some time)

My experience has been with what I consider lesser quality steels
than what the Busse line uses. Im sure I will have
better performance with these baby's.
Cant wait to use my FFFBM!

FuGaWee-

By "too sharp of an angle for that particular task" you mean too shallow of an angle, correct? Steep angles = blunt edge and stronger where shallow angles = sharper edge but weaker.

It sounds like all of the Busse knives would make great camp knives. I'm curious to see how the edge holds up on my first SR-77 blade. It sounds like the Infi and SR-101 hold up fine.

Correct!
Example:using a very sharp (shallow) angled edge to chop
on trees would not be too good a thing. Would it work,probably,
would it last,not as long as a more "steep angled" blade would.
Using the correct blade for the correct job is important
if you want the edge to remain sharp as long as possible.
I have 2 types of knives for camping now.
1 with a shallow angled edge for slicing,food prep,sharpening
sticks etc, and the other with a more steep edge for
chopping,digging,grunt work.
The edges hold up fine for quite a while without resharpening
in the field.

I have been thinking about making a strop for the house and the field. I have an old leather Carhart belt that is too big for me now, so that might be an option.

How wide is most of your home strops?

my brkt strop loks to be about 2.5-3"

i like my sheaths staying sheaths but i also like to know i COULD do something if need be

Little Smith's pocket steels are great for field touch ups. A small stone can do alot it just take a bit more time. Scandi grinds are my favorite for in field touch ups. A convex grind on a big chopper I'm not worried about until I head home and can use full size equip.

There are some great dual grit diamond "stones".

http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/duosharp.htm

One of the 8 inchers with fine and medium and you would be good to go. They are thin and don't weigh much at all really. You could put many many sharp edges on a blade.

Thanks guys, I know I need a lot more sharpening gear--and practice.