Caring for your pocketknifeMost
pocketknives are made of a strong steel alloy that won’t
rust. However, dirt and lint can collect inside, and
ordinary use will dull the blades.
Cleaning a pocketknife.
Open all of the blades, taking care not to nick your
fingers. Twirl a small bit of cloth or paper towel onto
the end of a toothpick. Moisten it with oil and wipe the
inside of the knife. Be sure to clean the joint at the
base of each blade. Swab out excess oil with a clean
cloth. If you have used your pocketknife to cut food or
spread peanut butter and jam, wash it in hot, soapy
water along with your dishes.
Sharpening
Sharpen your knife with a whetstone. Most whetstones
are made from granite and other materials harder than
knife metal. Some are covered with diamond dust. Stones
are used dry or with a few drops of water or honing oil.
Hold the blade against the stone at an angle of about
30 degrees. That means the back of the blade is tilted
off the stone one-third of the way to vertical.
Push the blade along the stone as though you were
slicing a layer off the top. The stone’s gritty surface
will sharpen, or hone, the blade much the same way
sandpaper smooths wood. To sharpen the other side, turn
the blade over and pull it along the stone toward you.
Clean tiny bits of metal off the stone by slapping it on
your hand or pants leg.
Work the blade back and forth across the stone
several more times. Wipe the knife with a clean cloth
and look directly down at the edge of the blade in the
sun or under a bright light. A dull cutting edge
reflects light and looks shiny. A sharp edge is so thin
that it has no shine at all.
About the worst thing that happens to pocketknives is
that they get lost. Keep track of yours by using a
bowline knot to tie a 3-foot length of cord to the ring
in the handle. Use another bowline to tie the other end
to a belt loop of your pants. Your knife will always be
within easy reach. Or you can thread a brightly colored
shoestring through the ring and tie the ends in a square
knot. That splash of color will help you find your knife
if you drop it in grass, leaves, or snow.
Camp Saw
A camp saw is the right tool for most outdoor
woodcutting. The blades of folding saws close into their
handles, much like the blades of pocketknives. Bow saws
have curved metal frames that hold their blades in
place.
Saw Safety
Saw teeth are needle-sharp. Treat every saw with the
same respect you give your pocketknife. Close folding
saws when they aren’t in use and store them in a tent or
under the dining fly. Protect the blade of a bow saw
with a sheath made from a piece of old garden hose the
length of the blade. Slit the hose down on one side,
slip it over the blade, and hold it in place with duct
tape or cord. You can carry a folded camp saw inside
your pack. With its sheath covering the blade, tie a bow
saw flat against the outside of your pack.
Using a Camp Saw
Brace the wood to be cut against a solid support. Use
long, smooth strokes that let the weight of the saw pull
the blade into the wood.
When sawing a dead branch from a tree, make an
undercut first, then saw from the top down. The undercut
prevents the falling branch from stripping bark and wood
from the trunk. Make a clean cut close to the trunk so
you don’t leave an unsightly “hat rack”. Cut saplings
level with the ground so there’s no stumps for someone
to trip over.
Saw Sharpening
Touch up the teeth of your saw with a small triangle
file or ignition file. Put on leather gloves to protect
your hands, and then stroke the file upward following
the shape of each tooth. Sharpen one side of the saw,
then the other.
The teeth on the saw blades are set – bent so they
cut two thin grooves in the wood and then rake out the
shavings between the grooves. Even with the best care,
the teeth will slowly lose their set. A saw without set
binds in the wood, making cutting difficult.
Fortunately, bow saw and folding saw blades are
replaceable and are not very expensive. Take along a
spare blade if you will have a lot of cutting to do.
Ax
Safety
Because of its size and the way in which it is used,
an ax can be more dangerous than other wood tools.
Remove the sheath only when you are prepared to use your
ax correctly. Give it your full attention.
Safe tool. An ax must be sharp and
in top condition. If the head is loose, soak the ax for
a few hours in a stream or a bucket of water. The wood
in the head will swell, and the handle will be tight for
a while. When you are home, drive a wedge into the wood
in the head, or replace the worn handle with a new one.
Safe shoes. Always wear sturdy
leather boots when you are chopping with an ax. Leather
won’t stop a blade from hitting your foot, but good
boots may limit the extent of an injury.
Safe working area. You must have
plenty of room in which to swing an ax. Check your
clearance by holding your ax by the head. Slowly swing
the handle at arm’s length all around you and over your
head. Remove any brush or branches that the handle
touches. While you are cutting, be certain other people
stay at least 10 feet away.
In a long-term camp using lots of firewood, rope off
an ax yard large enough to provide the clearance you
need to work. Enter the yard only to chop and saw wood.
Allow just one person at a time in the ax yard. Clean up
the chips, bark, and other debris of cutting.
Safe technique. Chopping branches
off a downed log is called limbing. Stand on the right
side of the log opposite a branch. Chop close to the
base of the branch, driving the ax into the underside of
the limb. Keep the log between you and your cuts. If the
ax misses a branch, the blade will hit the log rather
than your leg.
Bucking a log means cutting through it. Stand beside
the log with your feet shoulders’-width apart. Hold the
ax with one hand near the head and then slide your hands
together as you swing the bit into the log. Let the
falling weight of the ax do most of the work. Slide your
hand back down the handle to the head. Lift it and swing
again. Aim your strokes so that you cut a V shaped notch
twice as wide at the top as the log is thick.
Learn to switch-hit with your ax. As you cut on the
right side of a notch let you right hand slide on the ax
handle. Switch your grip and slide your left hand up the
handle as you work from the left side of a notch.
Develop a relaxing easy rhythm, switching hands after
each blow.
Cutting small sticks and splitting large chunks of
wood known as rounds are best done on a chopping block,
which is a piece of log that has been sawed and turned
upright to provide a flat surface. It should be about 2
feet high so that you won’t have to lean down much as
you work. A chopping block is important for safety too.
If you swing your ax badly, the bit will probably hit
the block instead of flying on toward your feet.
To split a large round of wood, stand it upright on a
chopping block. Swing the ax as you would to buck a log,
driving the bit into the end of the round. If the wood
doesn’t split, remove the ax before swinging it again.
Do not swing an ax with a piece of wood wedged on the
bit.
Safe
carrying. Place a sheath over an ax blade
whenever it is not in use. Carry an ax at your side with
one hand, the blade turned out from your body. If you
stumble, toss the ax away from you as you fall. Never
carry an ax over your shoulder.
Safe storage. Sheathe your ax and
store it under the dining fly or in a tent. On the
trail, a sheathed ax can be tied or strapped to the
outside of your pack.
Safe handling. To pass an ax to
another person, hold the handle near the knob with the
head down. Pass the ax with the bit facing out at right
angles between you and the other person. When your
partner has a grip on the handle, he should say, “Thank
you.” That’s your signal to release your hold.
Sharpening an Ax
Keep your ax sharp with a mill bastard file 8 or 10
inches long. The lines across the face of the file are
the teeth. They angle away from the point, or tang. A
sharp file will be a drab gray color. A silvery shine
means a file has broken teeth that won’t sharpen very
well.
Whenever you sharpen with a file, wear leather gloves
to protect your hands. Also, make a knuckle guard from a
3-inch square of leather, plywood, or an old inner tube.
Cut a small hole in the center of the guard. Slip it
over the tank and hold it in place with a file handle.
Buy a handle at a hardware store or make one from a
piece of wood or a corn cob.
Brace the ax head on the ground between a small log
and two wooden pegs or tent stakes. Another Scout can
help hold the ax handle steady. Place the file on the
edge of the blade and push it into the bit. Use enough
pressure so that you feel the file cutting the ax metal.
Lift the file as you draw it back for another stroke.
A file sharpens only when you push it away from the
tang. Dragging the file across the blade on the return
will break off the teeth and ruin the file.
Sharpen with firm, even strokes. After you have filed
one side of the bit from heel to toe, turn the ax around
and do the other side. Under bright light a dull edge
reflects light. Continue to file until the edge seems to
disappear.
Filing can leave a tiny curl of metal called a burr
on the edge of the bit. Remove the burr by honing the
bit with a whetstone just as you would the blade of a
pocketknife.
Shovel
A small camp shovel or garden trowel can be used to
remove and save the grassy turf from the top of a
latrine hole or fire lay. You can use a shove to move
hot coals when you are cooking with aluminum foil or a
dutch oven. However, do not use your shovel to dig
ditches around your tents. Ditches are unnecessary, and
they may start erosion.
Totin’ Chip
