Essential Techniques for Maintaining and Sharpening Survival Tools

Proper maintenance and sharpening of survival tools can mean the difference between life and death in wilderness situations. Understanding how to maintain and sharpen survival tools ensures your equipment remains functional when you need it most. The foundation of effective tool maintenance begins with carrying the right equipment and knowing how to work with available materials in the field.

Essential Tool Kit Components

According to military survival training protocols, it is assumed that personnel always carry a high quality fixed bladed knife, a multi-tool knife, and a sharpening stone. This basic toolkit forms the foundation for all survival activities and tool maintenance in the field. The sharpening stone is particularly critical, as it enables you to maintain the cutting edges of your primary tools throughout extended survival situations.

Working with Natural Materials for Tool Construction

When survival tools need repair or replacement, understanding how to work with available materials becomes essential. The materials used to make field expedient tools fall into five categories: stone, bone, wood, metal, and other materials. Each material requires different approaches for shaping and sharpening.

Stone tools require chipping and flaking techniques to create sharp edges. To make a sharp-edge piece of stone, you need both a chipping tool and flaking tool. A chipping tool is a light, blunt-edged tool used to break off small pieces of stone, while a flaking tool is a pointed tool used to break off thin, flattened pieces of stone. You can make a chipping tool from wood, bone, or metal and a flaking tool from bone, antler tines, or soft iron.

Bone Tool Maintenance and Sharpening

Bone serves multiple purposes in survival situations, creating hooks, shaft tips, scrapers, awls, sockets and handles. Raw bone must be shattered with a heavy object, such as a rock, to create workable pieces. From the pieces of shattered bone, select a suitable pointed splinter for your needs.

For shaping and sharpening bone tools, you can further refine selected splinters by rubbing them against a rough surfaced rock or metal file from your multi-purpose knife. This technique allows you to maintain and improve bone tools throughout your survival situation.

Wood Tool Sharpening Techniques

Wood offers unlimited uses in survival situations, and a knife blade can fashion wood into any desired shape. Wood is classified into two general categories: hard and soft, with hardwood preferred for all survival uses. To test wood strength, press your fingernail into the grain of the wood. If a print is visible, the wood is generally soft.

When sharpening wooden tools, all wood points are sharpened to the side of the shaft. This technique is crucial because wood is weakest at the center and will not hold a point when sharpened directly down the middle. Understanding this principle ensures your wooden tools maintain their effectiveness over time.

Mastering these fundamental techniques for maintaining and sharpening survival tools provides the foundation for extended wilderness survival. Regular maintenance of your primary tools, combined with the ability to create and maintain field expedient implements from natural materials, ensures you can adapt to any survival situation with confidence.

Sources: US Marine Corps MWTC Summer Survival Course Handbook, US Marine Corps MWTC Winter Survival Course Handbook.pdf 01 37 1