In most cases you'd probably just need to strop your knife in which case you could do so on bark or a tree. You could even wet a stick and put sand on it and use it to sharpen.

It is slow, but you can even strop a knife on your jeans!

Any flat river rock will sharpen steel. I have done this many times with small knives and large knives. I have sharpenned small knives with small flat rocks by putting the edge at a steep angle and just moving the stone in a circular motion on the edge keeping the angle the same. I find I can keep the angle the same by moving the stone than moving the knife. On larger knives, I have used flat rocks and sharpened the blade by pulling away from the edge instead of cutting into it. The reason for this is that even the smoothest rocks have ledges and the edge will hang up and blunt in a second.

I have also used my clothing to sharpen knives. My Jeans, leather belt, canvas backpack will all strop a blade and keep it sharp longer than if you didn't do anything. I once even used sugar cane as a crock stick.

I dropped a CS Voyager and jacked the tip up on it, and reprofiled and sharpened it on some smooth concrete. Better than nothing!

idea, next time I'm out in the woods or such, I'm looking for a good rock/stone to try and sharpen with. won't hurt to practice for when I really need something!

ive tried the rock sharpening....i did worse that i normally do & the blade is scratched to hell

I jacked up a Buck knife I had practicing on a rock. I suppose it was sharper than when I started but it looked hell when I was done.

I figured it would do that, I plan on using an old cheapie or something I don't mind scratching the hell outta!

I'm sure we all have several of them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have stroped my knife on my leather belt. I carry a small section of leather that is attached to my pack for this very purpose.

Once in the Wyoming mountains I field sharpened my knife on river stones and stroped it on my leather belt. Worked good enough to fix my dinner.

Of course now I carry a diamond rod and a small stone.

thanks for the tips everyone!