How to Sharpen Your Trowel
From your Archaeology Guide

Sharpening your trowel in the correct fashion is a time-honored way to show you really are an archaeologist...

Difficulty Level: Average    Time Required: 30 minutes

1. Buy the right brand of trowel: either Marshalltown or a WHS pointing trowel. 
2. Obtain a serviceable rasp or bastard file. 
3. Sit in a comfortable position out of doors. 
4. Place the trowel on your thigh just above your knee.
5. Point the handle toward your body.
6. Place the trowel with the flat side down.
7. Push the file across the blade of the trowel, moving it away from your body on.
8. Move around the blade edge, gradually sharpening most of the blade.
   

Tips:

1. Don't sharpen the edges of the trowel close to the handle - -you might get cut!
2. Only sharpen from the top down; don't turn the trowel over and sharpen from the flat side.

Related Information:

• Have Trowel Will Travel (an 8 part series on the field tech experience)
• Alice Beck Kehoe on the similar need for trowels and tolerance
• Trowel clip art
  

More How To's from your Guide to Archaeology