Introduction: How to Sharpen a Stick With Fire.
I am not responsible for what you do with this information. Be safe.
This Instructable goes over how to give a stick a very sharp tip.
This method is great for making extra arrows and also forother things like javelins,spears, and marshmallow sticks. This technique is not my idea but has probably been floating around the world for thouasands of years.
Materials:
- stick(the straiter the better)
- high tech shaping device (aka a rock)
- campfire
- water
- some sort of lucky charm
Are you ready to have oodles of fun sharpening sticks? I know I am. Now lets get started...
Step 1: Build a Fire
You don't need a huge blaze for this, i just piled somesticks on top of eachother. You should build your fire accordingly to the size of the stick. For mine, I felt lazy and piled up some wood to make a simple small fire.
Step 2: Heat Up Stick
Take your stick and place the tip you want sharpened in the fire. Let it burn and char for a while. It is crucial that you put it in the fire for the right amount of time or else it could just burn up.
Step 3: Start to Shape the Stick.
Hold your stick at around a 30degree angle from rock and start rubbing your stick against the rock. Once most of the charcoal is gone from the tip repeat step 2 and keep repeating until you have the point you want. As you start to gvet you stick sharper you should move your stick to a finer rock to make it even better.
Step 4: Further More......
For different types of sticks. To make a spear you would need a thicker peice of wood. Different kinds of wood with different levels of how hard or soft they are also make a difference. There are many possibles ways to use this technnique. perhaps you could make a fire hardened wooden knife this way. I hope you have lots of fun with your new pointy stick.
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16 Comments
7 years ago on Introduction
Would this also work for an edge? To sharpen the edge of a stick like a knife? Or something similar? Thanks a lot :-) Cool tutorial!
8 years ago on Step 4
cool!
12 years ago on Introduction
another cool way to tip a stick is to take a candle (the ones that come in little tin containers) take the tin and put it on the end of the stick, and let it melt, repeat several times, BINGO metal tiped stick
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Wow this works so well!!!!
11 years ago on Introduction
this does not "sharpen" a stick the way you would think, it merely hardens it and contracts the head so that it becomes more compact.
12 years ago on Step 3
after making the stick sharp you can scrape of the black burned wood with a knife, and have an even sharper stick. GOOD INSTRUCTABLE
14 years ago on Introduction
better way. make fire on sand, let fire heat surrounding sand, put one end of the sticks in sand, heat sticks after a few mins ect ect. thats how i tip some of my arows
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
that sounds cool, I might have to try that sometime :)
13 years ago on Introduction
what i do is i put the stick in the fire and let burn for a little while, dip it in water, scrape of the char and repete until its sharp and this makes the wood fricken hard as well.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I wouldnt cool it in water, this will make the wood softer. The good thing about fire sharpening is that the heat removes the moisture in the wood making it stonger, so you could heat the whole stick up instead of just the tip.
13 years ago on Introduction
I learned the glory of sharpening sticks when i was 5
14 years ago on Introduction
So incredibally stupid yet so cool. As lemonie said, we have to learn it somewhere. At least when the apocolypse comes, we'll still know how to fire sharpen sticks.
14 years ago on Introduction
sweet man
14 years ago on Introduction
Ya I did this once when I was 8 and started sticking the stick into the ground near my feet and stabbed myself clean through the foot lets just say I learned from my mistake.
14 years ago on Introduction
It surely has been floating around for thousands of years. But, if no one tells you, how do you learn? Another tip is to roughly sharpen the stick, and finish it off in the fire. This method has a hardening effect, which I'm sure you're aware of. L
14 years ago on Step 3
Stupendously simple. I love it.