Knives perform best when they are sharp. As a knife owner, you should always keep your knives sharp for optimal performance.
Sharpening knives at home is not complicated, and whetstones (or sharpening stones) are the most popular tools for the task. Whether you have sharpened a knife before or not, choose the right whetstone for knife sharpening at home to ensure proper knife care.
How do I choose the right whetstone to sharpen my knives?
Knives should not be sharpened too often. The process must be done only when they are clearly dull. The quickest way to know when to sharpen your knife is when they do not perform as expected, even when cutting the basic ingredients that they are made for.
Do not use highly abrasive tools, such as a bench grinder to sharpen your knife. An bench grinder can overheat and further dull a knife’s blade by removing more steel from the blade than required. Whetstones are the perfect tools for sharpening any type of knife and other steel tools.
Whetstones are mainly categorized into 3 types:
Coarse
A coarse whetstone is between 200 and 600 grit. This type of whetstone is perfect for the most dull blades. Whetstones can easily remove imperfections, including minor chips on the blade.
Medium
A medium whetstone is between 800 and 2000 grit. This type of whetstone is good to sharpen, refine, and restore the edges of blades. These are the most commonly used for general-purpose sharpening.
Fine
A fine whetstone is over 3000 grit. This type of whetstone is used for polishing the blade to give it a razor-sharp edge. The last step is to use a fine whetstone to give the blade a good finishing.
To sharpen your knife, start by using a coarse whetstone, then move to the medium grit and finish off with the fine grit. It’s best to buy one of each and keep them on hand to use at home. To keep your knives looking as good as new, you can buy some knife polishing accessories and use them as needed.
Caring for your whetstone:
It is pretty simple to care for your whetstone, but ensure to do this after every use. Hold the whetstone under running water for a couple of minutes until it is clean. Dry it immediately with a cloth and store it away until next use.
The Cook’s Edge offers Atlantic Canada’s largest selection of beautiful handcrafted Japanese knives. You can shop from the online store from the comfort of your home, or shop at the physical store in Charlottetown, PEI. Buy a whetstone for knife sharpening from a wide range of whetstones. The store also offers professional knife sharpening services.