Sharpening a machete

Sharpening A Machete

Recently I was asked to use a Cold Steel Kukri Machete, it was in absolutely dire condition, with nicks and really major burrs along the entire edge. 

I asked the guy that owns if it I could sharpen it, which he seemed pretty happy about.  The longest task about sharpening a machete is to go to Screwfix, B&Q or whatever your DIY centre choice and get the stuff to do the job.

You can use an expensive whetstone or fancy sharpening kits, but I tend to go for the more economical route every time.  You don’t need any fancy kit as sharpening is more about Practice and muscle grease than anything else, it’s the same technique for a 6cm Opinel as it is for a 30cm Machete.

All you will need is:

·         A Flat File, this is used initially to remove burrs and get the blade to a condition where it can be sharpened with the wet & dry paper

·         Wet and Dry paper, various grades, for this job I chose 120, 200, 600 and 1200

·         A sending Block.  You’ll have to support the wet & dry paper with something, and as a proper sanding block is only a £1.50 I went for this.  I would have preferred a cork block, but they didn’t have any in stock, c'est la vie.

 The first job is to remove all the burrs and to dress nicks out of the edge, to do this use the file and file work out any nick, burrs, and other damage.  Work in one direction pulling the file back from the edge.  If you are less confident about using the file, hold it so that you cannot injure yourself.

Try and keep an angle on the way that you are holding the file to aprox 40^o so that you are pulling the file back up-hill.

Once these have all been worked out, get the lowest grade of wet & dry you have, put it on the sanding block and put a small amount on the wet& dry paper. 

Starting at the tip of the blade move the sanding block backwards and along the blade on one motion.  Repeat this 10 times and then work on the other side, until the blade starts to improve, Once you think that the edge is not improving change from the lowest grade wet & dry to the next one up etc.  At this point keep the angle you hold the sanding block at this time should be close to 30^o.

Stropping, if the knife you are sharpening is finished it will have a layer of dirt from the sharpening process and burrs on the edge of the blade, to remove these use an old bet and fasten it to a doorway, then run the blade up and down the belt alternating the edge that is in contact with the leather, this will remove any during and give you a good edge.  Once you have finished this you should wash and thoroughly dry the blade as this will greatly extend the life of the metal.

Comparison shot of the Cold Steel Kukri Machete and an Indian Kukri of the 1930’s.

As I said earlier, it’s all about practice, the shape of the machete was a little inconvenient, but if you approach the task in a logical manner you should be ok.