The pride and joy of my kitchen is my set of Global chef’s knives (purchased back when I had the money and inclination to splash out on such luxuries). I’ve got a fancy wee ceramic sharpener that keeps the angles of the blades perfect. I’d never be without it, but it’s nice to know in a pinch you can use the bottom of a coffee cup to sharpen a blade.

The folks over at Backwoods Home Magazine online have this great article on using a ceramic cup to sharpen a knife blade.

It seems to work fine, but take s a bit of patience. If you were ever in a survival situation, you’d be able to make or maintain a blade if you had some broken crockery nearby. That’s not always guaranteed, unless you are my friend Rob, who’s never more than an armlength away from a coffee cup at any time.