Sharpening those pesky gladius

[basemetal]

In a nutshell:  How were roman edged weapons generally sharpened and with what-and by who?  I seem to recall images of roman era metal  files, but am not sure.  Also sharpening stones must have existed. Were they oil and water augmented?
I sincerely doubt some of the modern movies, which show a steely-eyed individual intent on revenge, using what seems like a ....rock, to sharpen his sword.
Edged weapons get dulled from simply being pulled from a scabbard.  Wood or leather dulls a blade with repeated drawing across either. One of the reasons the barber used to use a leather strap to hone his razor.
Swords and pugios  must have needed regular sharpening, especially after a battle rife with cleaving barbarian skulls and other extremities.
Who preformed this invaluable task?  The armorer?  The soldier himself?
Thanks in advance.

[LordBest]

I'm not actually sure how the Romans sharpened their gladii (correct plural form? I have no idea) and gorgeous little pugios, but they might not have had to that often. The edges of a gladius were more of a sharp chisel type edge rather than a razor type edge, which could effect how often they needed sharpening. As to who  did it, most likely the slave assigned to each group of eight (I think) legionaries.
                                                                    LordBest.

[basemetal]

Thank you Lord Best.
One more factor is that if soldiers have remained the same through the ages, and I was a soldier once, and can remember some of their (our) habits, there were always individuals who insisted on sharpening their own edged weapons as well as modifying their modern gladius (read M16s) individually.
I just feel sure there was a standard method, be it stone or file or whatever. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

Have Roman sharpening stones been found? They're pretty durable, to say the least, so if they were used they should turn up regularly.

[bruce61813]

A good piece of fine sandstone would work for the rough start, and a piece of marble works fine for the finish. Thos would be available anywhere, and it might be hard to specifically identify these as specific sharpening stones.

Bruce

[Robert_Brenchley]

It would be in an area with plenty of that type of stone, but in many areas they'd have to be brought in from elsewhere, and strange pieces of hard stone with flats worn into them would surely excite some speculation! I'm sure an archaeologist would soon work out what my sharpening stones are for.

[PeterD]

I'm pretty sure, even back then, they had round grindstones with a handle to turn them.

[bruce61813]

I'm pretty sure, even back then, they had round grindstones with a handle to turn them.

But it is hard to lug grindstones around. A field smithy might have one, but individuals would carry small stones around. A stone with a flat surface would not really be all that noticeable, fook at many of the limestones or slate, they would work, maybe not as well as marble.

Bruce

[Robert_Brenchley]

People tend to use the hardest stone available for this sort of thing, as long as it's coarse-grained. You wouldn't use slate, for instance, except perhaps for the last stage if you wanted a polished surface. It would take forever to do a sword; I used to use it for smoothing silver after fine sanding. Many areas just don't have anything suitable, so I'd expect suitable stone to be widely distributed, and easily recognisable. If, for instance, you have a settlement on the chalk, and archaeologists found small pieces of millstone grit, a very hard, coarse sandstone which was used for millstones and the like, they'd probably put two and two together and make sharpening stones. You certainly wouldn't be using chalk or flint, they're quite unfit for the job.

[*Alex]

Have Roman sharpening stones been found? They're pretty durable, to say the least, so if they were used they should turn up regularly.

 Excavations at Corstopitum (Corbridge, Northumberland) have exposed a sunken strong-room built below the military headquarters and an elaborate water-supply system with a large stone tank, its sides worn down by soldiers sharpening their swords on the edges.

Alex.

[Robert_Brenchley]

That pretty clearly suggests that they didn't have a sharpening wheel, which would have been far more efficient.

[*Alex]

That pretty clearly suggests that they didn't have a sharpening wheel, which would have been far more efficient.

It is possible that the sword sharpening on the tank took place in the late and/or sub-Roman period when everything was falling apart. I don't know if this type of evidence has been discovered on other sites. I don't think that it is conclusive that a sharpening wheel was unknown.

Alex.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Have sharpening wheels from the period been found? I don't think things fell apart to as great an extent as has been assumed in the past, and it's pretty basic technology; once the thing had been invented, wheels could have been made anywhere there was suitable stone, and a skilled blacksmith could have made up the ironwork. They don't wear out in a hurry either.

[basemetal]

I have several of my father's sharpening stones.  He was always fascinated by edged weapons, be they knives, pocket knives or swords and always sharpened his own.  The stones all have definite bows in the center from years of use.
Robert brings up a good point.
Even a slab of marble with such marks would be recognized.  If true that  there is no literature extant on this, the fact remains that edged weapons get dull. 
I have a hard time believing that the common soldier was left to his own devices, or if he was, that when he found a reliable way to sharpen his weapons that no evidence is extant today.
Ask any modern swordsmith, or the more common knifemaker.   Edged weapons get dull. Multiply that by the number of gladius used throughout the history of the roman army and there must have been a standard recognized sharpening mechanisim.    They have to be regularly sharpened, and where there is a need, an industry or devices will accomodate that need.