I mentioned on the UTON AZ thread that I'd found a 60 degree inclusive angle to work well for the UTON knife and the BON bayonet. I did a little shopping to find a portable sharpener to put in the bayo sheath pocket and thought I'd share what I found.
First, a brief primer on blade angles and terminology. When referring to the angle of a knife edge you can refer to the bevel angle, (which is the angle of one side) or inclusive angle (which is the angle of both sides together).
The thinner the angle is, the finer it's going to cut but it will become dull more quickly with use, while a fatter angle is going to be less fine but will hold up to more abuse and so stay sharper longer with use.
In general, an inclusive angle of around 30 degrees would give a pretty fine edge and be used for very fine-bladed knives like a filet knife.
An inclusive angle of around 40 degrees is commonly used for kitchen knives, pocket knives, etc.. and will give an edge that's still fine but will hold up to use better.
Something like an ax, machete or a combat knife - or any knife with a thick spine - will do best with something like a 60 degree inclusive edge. This is still going to cut well but it will hold up to abuse better.
I've had a two-sided oilstone since I was a kid and learned to use it but never got good at keeping a precise angle, so usually I prefer to use a sharpener.
I tried sharpening my UTON and BONs with my Fiskars Axe and Knife Sharpener and found that it gave a good edge, sharp enough to slice paper in the common manner of testing. I'm not surprised since it gives even my splitting ax an edge sharp enough to cut fingers. They go for about 12 bucks at the usual outlets and mine has lasted for years.
That's good so far but I wanted to find a sharpener to stow in the BON sheath pocket and ended up getting a Redi-Edge Tactical Pro Knife Sharpener in a 60 Degree Inclusive Angle. I chose it for the angle, the fact that it's small enough but not too small and the fact that it has a ceramic coating on the back for honing. It also has a groove for sharpening fishing hooks or needles. Plus, it's made in the good-old USA. It goes for about 22 bucks.
It came in today and I tried it out on my second UTON, which had not been sharpened yet. I found that with a little practice it would give the same sort of edge that I got out of the Fiskars. It fits in the pouch with room to spare for a multi-tool or whatever. The only caveat with the Redi-Edge is that it has carbide cutters, rather than the ceramic wheels on the Fiskars, so you'd want to use less pressure and possibly fewer passes since the carbide will remove more material than ceramic.
Here are both with the BON for scale.
