Thread: 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.





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