Ranger sharpening stone and holster build

Hard Kit is all other accoutrements that are not clothing, weapons or armour. This includes pots and tents, and flint & steel, and other things like that.

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Ghostsoldier
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Ranger sharpening stone and holster build

Post by Ghostsoldier »

I figured that it was about time that I created something new for my Ranger accoutrement belt, and in this case, a sharpening stone for my sword, and other various edged implements.

I know that there has been a lot of discussion among other Rangers about Aragorn carrying one in The Lord of the Rings films, and how some people feel that it was a bit 'silly', but I believe that if you are a person who spends a lot of time in the field using your sword and/or edged implements, it only makes sense to have a stone handy for edge maintenance... so, I intend to have one, and one that is functional.

I will admit that I basically stole the design idea from the WETA workshop version that Aragon carries, except that I made a few cosmetic changes to make mine a little more personal, and less like Aragorn's.

The biggest difference between mine and the movie version is that I wanted a real whetstone that could be used, as opposed to a fancy rounded river rock, which theirs appears to be, and I have modified the holster.

I will also say that cutting the Dollar Tree whetstone was one of the hardest things that I have ever done using a grinder and cut-off wheel... that is one really hard stone!
After I had the stone shaped, the rest of the construction was relatively easy: I just wet-formed a scrap piece of veg-tanned leather around the whetstone, cut out the two backing pads from the same leather (one for the belt loop), saddle stitched both to the wet-formed holster, then dyed and antiqued the finished product.

I may eventually add some sort of decorative tooling to it, but right now I am essentially satisfied.

Rob
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Last edited by Ghostsoldier on Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Taylor Steiner
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Re: Sharpening stone and holster build

Post by Taylor Steiner »

Looks great!
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Iodo
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Re: Sharpening stone and holster build

Post by Iodo »

Very neat :P how I missed this....

it was well worth the effort to cut a real whetstone! you have kept the two grits so that is a versatile tool, I like it, however perhaps if you had started with an axe sharpening puck it would have been closer to your finished shape to start with and made the job a little easier?

Ghostsoldier wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 12:43 am I know that there has been a lot of discussion among other Rangers about Aragorn carrying one in The Lord of the Rings films, and how some people feel that it was a bit 'silly', but I believe that if you are a person who spends a lot of time in the field using your sword and/or edged implements, it only makes sense to have a stone handy for edge maintenance... so, I intend to have one, and one that is functional.

yep, I remember that discussion. I think the conclusion of it was not that having it at all was silly, it totally makes sense to carry a sharpening stone if you also carry swords/knives/axes etc... but that having it on your belt might be a little bit of an odd thing to do, because in all honesty, when will you need to quick-draw a sharpening stone!? The space on your belt might be better used for things you will need to get to easily when you on the trail without unpacking your pack (knife, sword, belt pouch containing snacks, first-aid and firekit etc...), and you do blade maintenance at camp when you have unpacked everything anyway so you might as well just stow it in your pack or bed roll

However you can justify it by saying that if you get separated from most of your gear by dumping your bedroll/cloak/pack in a combat situation, and not being able to reclaim it for whatever reason, you would want the bare minimum you need to survive to still be stuck to you, that would be fire kit, first aid, some food, weapons for defence and hunting, and the ability to sharpen those weapons after said combat situation
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ForgeCorvus
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Re: Sharpening stone and holster build

Post by ForgeCorvus »

Thats my reasoning Iodo, I'm thinking along the lines of three levels of kit.

Survival: this gear is fixed to your body . In your pockets, pouches(belt, neck, wrist, boot or body-strap) or (as in our chosen culture) on the mining belt. It would include enough gear to survive if you lost everything else, such as a blade, tinderbox, cordage, sharpening stone, some cash (to resupply when possible) and of course your Need Wallet.

Living: This is slung from your body, carried in hand or otherwise loosely attached. Its the gear that you would need in your everyday activities. Such as bow & quiver, snapsack, flask, sword/axe/wacky-stick, cloak.

Camp: Your pack (bindle, swag, carry basket, yoke pole, tumpline bale or bangbang stick) that contains all the gear you need for a comfortable multi-night trip.
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Iodo
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Re: Sharpening stone and holster build

Post by Iodo »

That sounds like a decent setup! nice thinking :P
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Ghostsoldier
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Re: Sharpening stone and holster build

Post by Ghostsoldier »

Thanks for the positive comments and the constructive feedback, everyone!

Yeah, my logic was more along the lines of a 'last-ditch' needs factor, where at some point one might be faced with having been left with only the bare minimum of equipment for survival.

Rob
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