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A pocket knife can be a convenient way to keep a useful blade with you at all times to perform daily tasks. Because these knives are always at hand, they often take quite a lot of abuse and get used for many tasks that could dull the blade. A handy sharpening tool for your pocket knife would be a good investment to keep this EDC-type knife ready when you need it. So what are the best sharpeners for pocket knives?
Our selection of the 4 best pocket knife sharpeners are as follows (Amazon links).
- Lansky Blademedic portable sharpener
- Pocket Diamond Stone
- Work Sharp Field Sharpener
- Sharp Pebble Whetstone
All options other than the whetstone are portable sharpening solutions, but portable whetstones are available.
Pocket knives come in so many different styles, shapes, and sizes, it is difficult to find a single sharpening solution for all of them. We have put together some options that we believe offer you the best sharpening solution for your pocket knife. Some are portable, while others are the keep-at-home kind.
If you are interested in checking out the best sharpeners for pocket knives we recommend and use you can find them by clicking here (Amazon link).
Our Top Recommended Pocket Knife Sharpeners
Sometimes pocket knives just need a quick honing, but after heavy use, the blade on your trusty pocket knife may need some extra special attention that a simple honing will not give.
We have therefore selected a range of great sharpening solutions that offer a variety of sharpening characteristics, depending on the level of sharpening your blade needs.
Before we get to our recommendations, there are some criteria you should consider when selecting the ideal sharpener for your pocket knife.
How To Choose The Right Pocket Knife Sharpener
Choosing the right knife sharpener for your pocket knife can seem daunting given the variety of options available. However, by considering a few key factors, you can find a sharpener that suits your needs perfectly. Here’s what to look for:
- Type of Knife. The type of knife you have will largely determine the kind of sharpener you need. For instance, if your pocket knife has a serrated edge, you’ll need a sharpener that can handle serrations.
- Frequency of Use. How often you use your pocket knife will also influence your choice. If you use your knife frequently, you might need a more robust sharpener or one that’s easy to carry for frequent touch-ups.
- Material of the Sharpener. Sharpeners come in various materials, including diamond, ceramic, and whetstone. Each has its own advantages. For instance, diamond sharpeners are very durable and provide a sharp edge quickly, while ceramic and whetstone sharpeners can offer a finer, polished edge.
- Ease of Use. If you’re new to sharpening knives, you might want to choose a sharpener that’s easy to use. Some sharpeners come with guides to help you maintain the correct angle, which can be very helpful for beginners.
- Portability. If you often find yourself needing to sharpen your knife while on the go, consider a compact, lightweight sharpener that can easily fit in your pocket or backpack.
- Budget. Sharpeners can range in price from a few dollars to over a hundred. Determine your budget beforehand and find a sharpener that offers the best value within your price range.
- Reviews and Recommendations. Reading reviews and getting recommendations can also be helpful. Look for sharpeners that have positive reviews and are recommended by professionals or experienced users, such as us at Sharpy Knives!
Remember, the goal is to find a sharpener that will keep your pocket knife in top condition, so take your time to consider your options and choose wisely.
Lansky Blademedic
The Lansky Blademedic (Amazon link) is a pull-through type sharpening tool that is ideal for in-the-field sharpening when you quickly need to touch up the edge on your pocket knife.
Most knife owners are not a fan of this style of sharpening device, but we are willing to recommend this product since Lansky has a long history of producing quality knife sharpening tools, and this one is no exception.
What appeals to us with this tool is its portability and the options that are available on the one tool. It is 8-inches in length and 3.5-inches high, which makes it sizable enough to get a good grip on while sharpening, but small enough to leave one in the glove compartment of your truck, or to keep in a side pocket of your backpack, or even include in your everyday carry items.
What makes the Lansky Blademedic (Amazon link) a winner is that it sharpens surprisingly well for a pull-through sharpener and it has options for serrated blades, and it includes a honing rod for a quick touch up.
Pocket Diamond Stone
Diamond stones (Amazon link) are great knife sharpening devices because they cut well and what makes them portable is that they do not need lubricants to sharpen the blade of your pocket knife.
You can use water as a lubricant on a diamond stone, but it is not a requirement; it can be used dry.
They also come in a variety of grits, so you can get a grit that best meets your day-to-day sharpening needs. A grit of about 600 is recommended for a sharpening stone that you will carry with you for general touch-ups on your pocket knife blade.
Diamond stones are slim-line and lightweight, which makes them easy to carry in a toolbox, backpack, or in your car or truck. Most of the diamond stones come with a pouch that you can keep in and easily slip into your backpack or everyday carry.
The diamond stone (Amazon link) can be used for a quick honing of the blade as well as doing some more heavy-duty re-profiling of the knife edge should this be required. This gives more versatility than a pull-through type sharpener, as you have more scope for re-shaping the edge.
The downside of a diamond stone is that it is not suitable for a serrated edge, but if you only have a straight-edge knife, we would highly recommend this style of sharpener.
TIP: Do you own any Japanese knives in addition to pocket knives? Japanese knives are one of the best knives you can own. The best tool for sharpening Japanese knives is the whetstone. But can you also sharpen Japanese knives with steel? Find out more in the article below:
Can You Sharpen A Japanese Knife With Steel?
The Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener
From a versatility point of view, the Work Sharp field (Amazon link) sharpening system scores top marks as an ideal pocket knife sharpener.
It is small enough to easily carry around in your tools, or your backpack, or everyday carry. This field sharpener is great because it gives options for different kinds of sharpening and honing, which allows you to do more aggressive sharpening tasks as well as basic honing and polishing of the edge.
This tool offers diamond stones of various grits, ceramic rods for polishing the edge of the blade, and a leather strop for honing the edge and getting rid of the burr raised during sharpening.
This American-made product also comes with a guide for different sharpening angles, which takes the guesswork out of getting your knife back to a sharp, working condition.
The Work Sharp sharpener (Amazon link) can sharpen straight-edge blades, serrated blades, fishhooks, and even the edges of a broadhead arrow tip, making it the ideal hunting, camping, and fishing sharpening tool.
It is lightweight, compact, and comes in a convenient carry case, which makes including this sharpening tool in your gear no problem at all!
TIP: Do you know how to sharpen your pocket knife when you are in nature and you have no sharpener on hand? You can use a rock as the sharpener. Find out more about sharpening knives with rock in the article below:
Complete Guide: How To Sharpen A Knife With A Rock
Sharp Pebble Premium Whetstone
For doing a major sharpening on any knife, including pocket knives, a whetstone is hard to beat. While a whetstone takes some practice to get the hang of using it properly, once you have learned the skill, the repairs that you can do to the edge of your knife will be greatly enhanced.
A whetstone can be used to completely re-profile the damaged edge of the knife and perform the heavy-duty sharpening jobs that many other portable style sharpeners are just not capable of.
The Sharp Pebble Premium Whetstone (Amazon link) is one such stone that you can keep in your workshop or kitchen to keep all your household blades in optimum performance condition. This particular whetstone set comes with a 1000-grit stone on one side and a 6000-grit stone on the flipside.
This whetstone combination will give you more than enough capacity to sharpen your pocket knife and get it back into working condition.
You can get whetstones in various sizes, including smaller ones that make sharpening a pocket knife easier.
But, if you are going to get a whetstone, we would recommend that you get a larger sized one, which will give you the versatility of sharpening bigger knives as well as axes and other tools that may need sharpening.
The disadvantage of the whetstone is that it is not a sharpening tool that you would be likely to carry around with you when you are out in the field. It also requires a lubricant such as water to make the sharpening process more efficient and effective.
If you like using a whetstone, there are portable options available such as the Genuine Arkansas Soft Pocket Knife Sharpening Stone (Amazon link).
This is a small whetstone that comes in a little leather pouch and is designed to be small and compact for easy carrying. It is only 3-inches long and 1-inch wide, making it easy to carry with you if you prefer this sharpening method.
Conclusion
Carrying a pocket knife around is a great idea, but there is nothing more frustrating than taking it out to use, and the edge is not quite what it should be. If you are not going to keep your knife sharp, then there is no point in carrying the knife.
There are various options to get the edge back on your pocket knife, some of which are portable and others that are intended for use in the workshop or in your kitchen.
The portable versions are generally good for quickly repairing or honing the edge of your pocket knife, while the home or workshop-based ones give more scope to do more aggressive repairs to the edge of your knife.
Whichever your preference, make sure you keep your pocket knife with an edge sharp enough to be usable when you need it to be.
TIP: Whetstones are the best tool for sharpening pocket knives. We use them not only for pocket knives but for all our knives. If you are not sure how to choose and buy the whetstone which will suit you best, check out this ultimate guide below:
How To Choose And Buy A Whetstone: The Buyer’s Guide
