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With proper care, Argali knives will stay razor sharp in the field on animal after animal. We designed our blades to not need to be sharpened in the field, but if you are planning to cut up multiple animals a small sharpening device can help to keep your knife razor sharp. On this page we have advice for at home and field sharpening, and at the bottom information on sending your knife to us for factory sharpening.
Sharpening Your Knife at Home
The two videos below go over two different ways to sharpen your knife with two products from WorkSharp. Both methods work very well, and either system can be mastered at home with a little practice.
General Care and Sharpening Tips
- The bevel on our knives is 20 degrees. If you try to sharpen the knife with any sharpener at a different angle, it will not work well.
- The best way to ensure your knife stays sharp is to not let it get too dull. A little bit of work to stay on top of your knife edge will keep it razor sharp.
- Clean the edge of your knife off before sharpening to ensure there isn't any hair, meat or blood on the edge.
- After using your knife, clean off the steel as best you can.
Field Sharpening
There are a number of ways to field sharpen our knife, and most standard sharpening devices will work. With any field sharpener, be sure to use a 20 degree bevel.
- Leather Strop or Belt. A leather belt or strop can do a lot to keep your blade sharp. This is one of our favorite ways to keep a sharp edge on knives in the field, and if you've never done it, you'll be surprised how well it works. With a strop, you really aren't sharpening the steel so much as you are bending any burs in the tip of your knife edge back. To use a strop, take your blade and set it at approximately a 20 degree angle and pull it along the leather away from the sharp edge, applying some pressure. Use alternating strokes, flipping your knife over. Strop your knife until you get your edge back, but generally 20 strokes on each side should yield good results.
- Ceramic Rod. A small ceramic rod with a medium or fine "grit" is a great lightweight option for field sharpening. To use a ceramic rod, place your knife edge on the rod at approximately a 20 degree bevel and run the knife towards the edge with mild pressure (unlike with stropping where you go away from the edge). Alternate strokes. 15-20 strokes on each side and test to see how sharp the edge is. If the edge isn't as sharp as you want, keep sharpening until desired sharpness is achieved.
- Diamond stone/grit. If for some reason the edge of your blade gets smashed, or becomes dull, a medium or fine grit diamond stone or sharpening device also works quite well, particularly if you need to re-shape the edge of your knife. Depending on the device you're using, run the blade along your sharpening device, pulling towards the edge, using alternating strokes. If using a medium grit, sharpen until the edge has been re-formed, and then move to a finer grit stone, or a ceramic rod. And if you want it hair popping sharp, finish your edge by using a leather strop.
Factory Re-Sharpening
If at any time you want us to re-sharpen your knife to get it hair-popping sharp again, send it back to us and we will gladly sharpen it for you for free. International customers are required to pay for postage both ways. We turn around all knives within 7-10 business days.
U.S. Customers: Send your knife to the address below and include the following information (please type this information on a piece of paper, print and send with your order and do not hand write): name, return address, email and phone number along with a note requesting that we sharpen your knife.
Send to:
Argali
C/O Knife Sharpening
2149 E Summersweet Dr.
Boise, ID 83716
International Customers: If you want to send us a knife, please send an email to [email protected] to arrange knife sharpening.