# Sharpening a bayonet



## SpitfireV (Jun 16, 2008)

I've got the chance to buy an AK74 bayonet. I don't HAVE an AK74 but the bayonet would be cool to have  (Romanian). 

Unfortunately it's blunt. How does one sharpen a blade as hard and big as that?


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## digrar (Jun 16, 2008)

SpitfireV said:


> I've got the chance to buy an AK74 bayonet. I don't HAVE an AK74 but the bayonet would be cool to have  (Romanian).
> 
> Unfortunately it's blunt. How does one sharpen a blade as hard and big as that?



I figured with 110 kg of angry Infantryman on the end of my bayonet, all it had to be was sort of pointy at the end and it would do the job without being razor sharp.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jun 16, 2008)

I guess you could take it to the next gunshow and see if there is one of those knife dudes there. He would have an idea, other then that I am unsure...


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## hoorah (Jun 16, 2008)

http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9172&highlight=sharpening


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## Malek (Jun 16, 2008)

digrar said:


> I figured with 110 kg of angry Infantryman on the end of my bayonet, all it had to be was sort of pointy at the end and it would do the job without being razor sharp.



LMFAO


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## Marauder06 (Jun 16, 2008)

Why do you want to sharpen it?  No real need for it if you want to put it on display, many more useful field knives if you're looking to carry something.

If you're committed to sharpening it, I suggest putting a rough edge on it with a table grinder, and finishing it off with a whetstone.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Yeah, WTF do you want to sharpen it for?

It's illegal to have a sharp bayonet anyway in the military (some Geneva Convention Bullshit  ) so you'll ruin it's authenticity. :2c:

What are you paying for it?


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## digrar (Jun 17, 2008)

How true is that Geneva story? Our bayonets came with a sharpening stone set into the scabbard.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Our CQMS sharpened all our bayonets then had to dull them all again when it became known to the powers that be, they quoted the convention, I took that as gospel... might not be though.


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## SpitfireV (Jun 17, 2008)

The Geneva Convention doesn't apply to weapons though. That's the Hauge Convention from memory. 

Paying $120NZ for it and they're worth considerably more here. I wanted to sharpen it because I was going to use it also as a general kind of utility knife. I might just save up for a top-ish end Harsey or similar instead. 

Supposedly the "blood hole" in it is against some Law Of War, too, but I can't seem to corroborate that.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Hauge was superseded by Geneva IIRC.

(Geneva says you can't even take money from the body of a dead enemy   )

Thats a crappy knife as a utility, get a fucking K-Bar of something like that, they are cheap and good.  :2c:


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## SpitfireV (Jun 17, 2008)

I always thought the two were standalone agreements. Would make an interesting thread (I'll get onto that). 

K Bar sounds good actually. Thanks for the advice, T and others.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Zapp Brannigan is the man to ask here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_(1899_and_1907)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions


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## AWP (Jun 17, 2008)

The last time I touched a bayonet was 98 or 99, it was very sharp. Given America's fascination with lawyers I don't think we would have sharpened bayonets if it were illegal.


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## 0699 (Jun 17, 2008)

I can see him now...

"That's not a knife (reaches under the counter), THIS is a knife!"


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## Marauder06 (Jun 17, 2008)

pardus762 said:


> Yeah, WTF do you want to sharpen it for?
> 
> It's illegal to have a sharp bayonet anyway in the military (some Geneva Convention Bullshit  ) so you'll ruin it's authenticity. :2c:
> 
> What are you paying for it?



I'd have to check, but I'm going to have to say that's an uban myth, much like the one that says you can't turn a .50 cal on troops, or you can't shoot paratroopers while they're in the air.


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## Boondocksaint375 (Jun 17, 2008)

The ones we had in the arms room were dull as fuck. Of course the only time I saw them was in there, they were never issued out.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Boondocksaint375 said:


> they were never issued out.



:uhh:

I just don't understand that thinking.
I'd never be without one.


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## pardus (Jun 17, 2008)

Marauder06 said:


> I'd have to check, but I'm going to have to say that's an uban myth, much like the one that says you can't turn a .50 cal on troops, or you can't shoot paratroopers while they're in the air.



LOL, never heard the 50cal or Para thing before.

I did find this online...



> The Geneva Convention prohibits use of bayonets having a serrated top edge; however bayonets having a serrated bottom edge or a partially serrated bottom edge is desired.



http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP1486751.html


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## digrar (Jun 18, 2008)

pardus762 said:


> :uhh:
> 
> I just don't understand that thinking.
> I'd never be without one.



Mine was trunk ballast.


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## Boondocksaint375 (Jun 18, 2008)

I would have looked funny anyways, charging the enemy with a saw that has a bayonet on the end (i dont even think there was an adapter).  I didn't know of any Ranger not having at least 1 razor sharp rambo knife on him at all times though lol


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## pardus (Jun 18, 2008)

LOL, I forgot you were a SAW gunner.

I read an article where a Marine unit was pinned down in Iraq, they ran out of ammo and were facing a final assault from the rags, their officer ordered them to get their knives out to defend themselves!

I just shook my head in disgust as they didnt have bayonets, that officer should be ashamed his men weren't properly armed, I hope he learnt his lesson.
It is better to fight with a fixed bayonet from a distance of 2-3 feet, than to be within arms reach, that is exactly why they should be carried over any fighting knife, the Brits also proved this during the Falklands War.

One major problem is that modern bayonets are often shitty little toys inferior to a good fighting knife in quality, that is an easy fix though, there is NO reason a bayonet shouldn't be carried that can also be an effective fighting/utility knife.

One thing I have observed to is the lack of interest in the bayonet as a weapon and as a result I see poor training techniques, ones that don't seem to have changed in the last 150 yrs or so, not good.

I'm yet to see bayonet training as effective as what the NZ Army uses.

:2c:

FYI, I read about an action in North Africa during WWII between the Brits and Germans where the fighting become hand to hand, an officer was observing the battle from soem high ground and observed that only approx 30% of either side was effectively using their unloaded rifle and fixed bayonet and those 30% were very effective against their opposite number.


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## Boondocksaint375 (Jun 18, 2008)

Join the Army; all you do in basic is bayonet shit.  Then never again afterwards (at least for me).


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