Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Bob A · 15th April 2021, 05:32 PM

That's a very interesting and thought-provoking question.

While steel hones are not regularly encountered, rocks are readily available. Steel of the same hardness as the blade would not have a particular advantage in the sharpening process, but it would allow for burnishing a blade and dealing with nicks on the edge. In order to keep the blade's usefulness intact while reducing the amount of metal that would be removed via the sharpening process, a hone seems to be a useful tool to have at hand.

It seems to be a conceptually sophisticated tool. I suppose stroking one blade with another blade would have a somewhat similar effect, though it seems to me that it would do little toward improving a sharpened edge. I'm unable to address the question from the standpoint of the original poster, not having sufficient information on various cultures' usage of tools, so I'm left with only the single thought above. Apologies for using so much bandwidth for so little content.

15th April 2021, 05:32 PM	#2
Bob A Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 411	That's a very interesting and thought-provoking question. While steel hones are not regularly encountered, rocks are readily available. Steel of the same hardness as the blade would not have a particular advantage in the sharpening process, but it would allow for burnishing a blade and dealing with nicks on the edge. In order to keep the blade's usefulness intact while reducing the amount of metal that would be removed via the sharpening process, a hone seems to be a useful tool to have at hand. It seems to be a conceptually sophisticated tool. I suppose stroking one blade with another blade would have a somewhat similar effect, though it seems to me that it would do little toward improving a sharpened edge. I'm unable to address the question from the standpoint of the original poster, not having sufficient information on various cultures' usage of tools, so I'm left with only the single thought above. Apologies for using so much bandwidth for so little content.