Sharpen your knives

Multiple inspirations for today's post.  First was a friend at work talking about bringing his various cutting implements back up to full working order and second was the enjoyment of the "Oliver!" soundtrack.  Obviously, with a lifetime of Fantasy reading, I have a certain affection for bladed items (tools, weapons, outfits, etc).  Many blades you might buy today are designed with the collector, the reenacter, or the athlete (traditional or more full contact fencing) in mind.  They all have their place, hell, I own a few, but to understand what a sword really is, you have to put an edge on it.

http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/workshop/Handy-Man/The-Grindstone.html#.VIH15cu9KSM

   Any good craftsman knows how important it is to take care of his tools.  Their workshops are carefully arranged and organized, even if they appear cluttered to you or I.  For a warrior, the care and handling of their personal weapons and armor are of primary importance.  These are not just weekend playthings or dress up items, but how they earn a living and guard their own lives in the process.  Any warrior worth his/her salt will be well aware of the appropriate care and maintenance of these items.
    As might be expected, different weapons call for different edges (well, maces don't tend to have any edges, but that's not the point right now).  Tougher materials call for blades of a wider angle (like axes for chopping wood) while soft materials require a much narrower angle of blade (razors have a very narrow angle on the cutting edge).  The overall geometry of these cutting devices can be left up to the smith, but the shape and materials used will influence how often and what style of maintenance  will be required.
    Edge making occurs in three general steps:

1) sharpening - this is the process of removing metal to create a new edge.  Many different stones of increasing fineness may be used in this process.  This step is required both for a new blade and when removing nicks or gouges from a damaged blade.

2) straightening - this is the process of truing the existing metal of the blade, but not removing significant amounts of metal.  This is the step chefs are performing when they use the steel in the kitchen on their knives.

3) polishing - this puts a mirror finish on the blade without significantly altering its edge.

    Fine blades (referring to the narrow angle) are straightened with great regularity, razors may be stropped before and during a shave, but only need a fine sharpening every few months and a coarse sharpening every few years.  Similar attention is paid to kitchen knives that see heavy use.
    An axe used for chopping wood may not need to be sharpened more than once per year, depending on use.  However, axes used for hewing limbs and cutting through armor are rather different and would require maintenance on par with a sword blade (though having a shorter blade, it'll take less of your free time).  Please remember that while tools can be used as weapons, they are not always ideally suited to the task of slaughter and may result in breakage or inconvenient sticking in bones.
    Sharpening is traditionally done with the use of a whetstone.  This process is called "stoning."   These stones are typically lubricated with oil or water (see your handling instructions).  Whetstones may have a flat or slightly curved surface and require a consistent grain throughout to produce the desired edge.  For simple tools a large grindstone (pictured above) may be perfectly adequate, but for a real swordsman, that is just the startingplace.
    Japanese swords have a very different tradition than those of Europe.  The smiths have long been considered great artists, training for years to hone their craft.  Today, apprenticing to become a sword smith takes eight years.  Apprenticing to become a sword polisher takes ten.  Sword polishers in Japan were not tinkers wandering the streets looking for work.  They were (and are) respected craftsmen who enabled warriors to practice their own craft at the highest levels.
    It is important to remember that polishing is an essentially destructive act.  The more you sharpen a blade, the less material remains.  Using a stone on your sword every night may keep it sharp, but you'll grind away that expensive tool.  Only after use do you need to test it for sharpness.  Otherwise, just keep it freshly oiled to keep your blade from getting rusty and enjoy years of troublefree usage.  Happy maiming everybody!


Sharpening Wiki - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_sharpening
Japanese sword polishing - http://www.nihonzashi.com/diy_sword_sharpening.aspx
Japanese sword polishing - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sword_polishing