Fallkniven DC4 swedish sharpener review

A knife or any other edged tool is not much use if its not sharp.
I tend to sharpen my knives as soon as I get home after using them on my Spyderco sharp maker if they need a lot of work or if they are new, otherwise I use a strop to maintain a mirror edge.

The problem is that on an extended trip I may need to sharpen my knife on the go - the strop is very portable so I can easily take that but if I need more than the strop I can and do run into trouble as I find the sharp maker too big and awkward to take with me.
I do not like oilstones - too messy, and the japanese waterstones that I use for my chisels and planes are too big and heavy to take as well, I have tried those little diamond rods but find them too rough on my edges, good for my axe though.
I needed another solution - enter the DC4.

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The DC4 is a small (4 inch) long and 1 and a quarter inch wide double sided sharpener (there is also a DC3 which is even shorter). The D stands for Diamond and the C stands for Ceramic (the diamonds are artificial and the ceramic is artificial sapphires). It comes in a nice little leather sheath and the whole thing, sheath and all weighs 83 grams.

Essentially its small enough and light enough to throw in a pocket and forget about, which means now I can take a sharpener with me and keep a good edge, essential when butchering a kill, without burdening myself down.

The diamond edge is only needed when you either damage your knife and need to take a knife out of it, or if its really blunt, or you are just in a hurry, it tends to take a lot of material off quite fast, the ceramic side is a little nicer, its still harsher than my Spyderco system but its controllable enough to get a good edge and a touch up with my strop gets it a blunt edge damn near perfect in short order.

The best thing is that you don't need oil or even water for it to work, its designed to work dry, you can wash it in a creek afterwards if you like and that won't hurt it but its not needed for the sharpening. Its also pretty cheap.

For a small knife you can lay the DC4 down on something flat (I have seen a video of someone carry small nails and flattering a bit of log to nail it into place which seemed like overkill) or hold it in the palm of your hand if your are carful, for bigger blades like my axe I tend to run the stone over the edge in a circular pattern maintaining a consistent angle, its not hard and it works well.

So if you are wanting something, small, light and clean to sharpen your blades on the go and want something better than a steel or diamond rod then I highly recommend this piece of kit, damn handy and I have used it on quite a few knives lately with a variety of different steels and have not a had a problem with any of them.

Stay sharp
Shelley

I've got the DC3, seems to work alright.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

How cheap is cheap?

Over here the prices are jacked up but you can usually get the 4 for under 50 bucks and the 3 for under 40, if you buy from overseas they tend to be about half that plus shipping...

Either way cheaper than carrying two knives.

And where would be a good NZ place to get a 4 from?

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Originally Posted by Beaker

And where would be a good NZ place to get a 4 from?

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There are several 4s on Tardme for $40 odd, and a 3 for a bit less. Kinda keen on one, I lost my little ceramic steel I had (broken 6" bit from the works that a fellah gave me when I was doing a job there)

How do you find a polished edge does on animals? I tried putting a mirror polish on a svord I had and it seemed to dull fairly quickly and couldn't get it sharp again in the field.

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Originally Posted by GWH

I've got the DC3, seems to work alright.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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Same, thats what i use....but i dont kill much so hardly used it :o

Well there are two theories on mirrored edges, one view is that they are less toothy, less saw tooth if you like and so are blunter, the theory being that a rougher edge catches and cuts better, in reality it tears whatever it is that you are cutting, and while that may seem sharp, and I know of knife makers who like to sell and use their knifes in this way, to me that seems less efficient and more likely to damage the edge of your knife than a mirrored edge does.

The other theory is that a mirrored edge is more uniform, you have got rid of most of the imperfections that cause the knife edge to tear and catch and so, if done right, will slice better and hold and edge longer, with less damage, than a non mirrored edge.

The problem that exits is when you polish without uniformity of with not enough regard to the very edge of the knife, it's possible to accidentally round of the edge, or to leave a wire edge, which is sort of the opposite but both methods will result in a knife edge that does not cut well or will not hold an edge.

Svord come in two varieties-the cheap peasant style or plastic handled one generally have poor edges and the grind is often uneven, the good more expensive one come with a Baker convex edge, this is an excellent edge and the knife will cut like a demon -but the dye can be difficult to maintain and is best sharpened with a certain technique or equipment, field sharpening, unless with a strop, will not produce the best results, you can try fine grit sandpaper glued to a soft structure, like a mouse pad, this will more as you sharpen and allow you to maintain the shape, then you can get the mirror finish by stropping, at least this is how I get the edges on my Svord Golok, and that thing is both a chopping beast but an amazing slicer too.

If you have lost the edge you may need to send it back to Svord to get them to restore th edge for you.

We are running Swibo wide boning knives for breaking down deer sharpened by Scarysharp. Nice knife. We also use Duel and Victorinox. Both can get a very sharp edge with the Scarysharp. Have had problems with the Victorinox by getting it too sharp. The beauty of the Scarysharp is that it takes all guess work out and is so repeatable in getting the angle right. We have the old model.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelley

Well there are two theories on mirrored edges, one view is that they are less toothy, less saw tooth if you like and so are blunter, the theory being that a rougher edge catches and cuts better, in reality it tears whatever it is that you are cutting, and while that may seem sharp, and I know of knife makers who like to sell and use their knifes in this way, to me that seems less efficient and more likely to damage the edge of your knife than a mirrored edge does.

The other theory is that a mirrored edge is more uniform, you have got rid of most of the imperfections that cause the knife edge to tear and catch and so, if done right, will slice better and hold and edge longer, with less damage, than a non mirrored edge.

The problem that exits is when you polish without uniformity of with not enough regard to the very edge of the knife, it's possible to accidentally round of the edge, or to leave a wire edge, which is sort of the opposite but both methods will result in a knife edge that does not cut well or will not hold an edge.

Svord come in two varieties-the cheap peasant style or plastic handled one generally have poor edges and the grind is often uneven, the good more expensive one come with a Baker convex edge, this is an excellent edge and the knife will cut like a demon -but the dye can be difficult to maintain and is best sharpened with a certain technique or equipment, field sharpening, unless with a strop, will not produce the best results, you can try fine grit sandpaper glued to a soft structure, like a mouse pad, this will more as you sharpen and allow you to maintain the shape, then you can get the mirror finish by stropping, at least this is how I get the edges on my Svord Golok, and that thing is both a chopping beast but an amazing slicer too.

If you have lost the edge you may need to send it back to Svord to get them to restore th edge for you.

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Yeah I was curious about the performance of different edges a while ago so did a little bit of reading on the subject and pretty much gave up due to the fact that some steels will like different edges to others. Seemed to be a lot of conflicting information on the subject, and it didn't really tell me anything that I needed to know, so I decided trial and error was probably the best way to tell.

It is one of the peasant varieties, edc hiker. Was able to get a better edge on it, haven't used it much as I reside on the coast and discovered carbon steel really doesn't like it much here, so have switched to something a little more stainless.

Am always curious about what everyone is using as field sharpeners, I've got one of the DC3s and find it a bit small. I have a gatco triseps ceramic sharpener that seems to do a reasonable job touching up the edge but if the knife needed a bit more than just a touch up, I don't think it would be aggressive enough.