Choosing a whetstone

Hi Permies,

I'm looking to buy a whetstone for sharpening kitchen knives and pocket knives and the like (and for working on my PEP knife sharpening toolcare BB). Doing a quick web search about the subject turns up a dizzying array of choices. There seem to be many different grit options, stones with multiple grits, natural and synthetic stones, stones mounted in plastic housings and loose stones, new and used stones. What do you all find useful in a whetstone? What factors are most important when buying one? Do you prefer different stones for different jobs? Why? What kind of stone would you recommend for a beginner?

I hope this discussion will be helpful for others looking to buy a whetstone in the future.

Here's a website I found while searching for answers: https://whetstonecentral.com/the-types-of-sharpening-stones/

This is what I bought, which has electrically-ran sharpening stones as well as manual ones... but I almost exclusively use the manual part, have never really plugged it in much, mostly because I haven't read how to use it properly. =P

I can't recommend it as "good", as I'm not using it's full potential. But it certainly hasn't been bad. I really need to read the manual, and sharpen all my kitchen knives and poultry-processing knives.

Welcome to the sharpening club! It's a satisfying skill to have. Are you planning to sharpen freehand, or do you want something that has a built-in angle guide?

I have a lot of other stones, but I mostly use industrial diamond these days. It cuts twice as fast.

Types: Monocrystalline diamond is more expensive but lasts longer. Polycrystalline diamond is cheaper but doesn't last as long. Some manufacturers are using a combination now.

On the higher end, DMT diamond stones are excellent. EZ-Lap is also very good.

There is also a lot of cheap MIC polycrystalline diamond out there, and it works for me. A local shop sells a 4-sided diamond stone (grits from very coarse to med-fine) for $16 on sale, and I stock up. I generally burn through one a year because I sharpen hundreds of knives for people at my local not-for-profit thrift shop. It will last for many years of normal household use.

For those who prefer an angle guide, people speak highly of the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It uses coarse and fine ceramic, and coarse diamond sticks are also available. I am sorely tempted but am trying to find a gently used one.

The WorkSharp makes guided manual sharpeners that look very interesting. They include multiple diamond grits and a a built-in angle guide. They look more versatile because you can remove the abrasive plates and use them on other tools.

People either love or hate (passionately) the sharpening systems with a blade clamp like Gatco or Lansky. DMT also makes one. I haven't tried one yet.

For fun, there's a thread on this site about free sharpening materials.

Good luck!

If I were to only have one, it would be a quality diamond hone with one side about 300-400 grit and the other side around 800 grit. Preferrably thin and small enough to wield with one hand on a stationary item, but not too small. This would do just about anything a person would need to do, and on good steel will hone an edge sharp enough to shave hairs. If you need finer, you could make a strop from a piece of leather and a mild abrasive powder for next to nothing.

I got one of those dual grit whetstones, a 2000/5000 one. I went with this because even 2000 grit won't remove material quickly, something I was worried about when I first started sharpening. 5000 puts a nice edge on the blade, though I could go even finer, 5k is probably as fine as I'd want for pocket knives, since the finer the edge is, the easier it is to bend.

https://japanahome.com/journal/which-whetstone-grit-to-choose-for-sharpening-japanese-knives/

This website might be aiming at japan knives, but as far as I know the advice is still solid. My stones are a little fine for sharpening, meaning it takes longer and put a bit more wear on the stone. Looking on amazon, most dual-sided stones seem to be 400/1000 or 1000/6000. If you want to get two dual sided, I'd recommend a 400/1000 and 2000/5000, if you can only get one I'd say the 2000/5000 unless you have extremely dull knives you want to rescue.

300/800 sounds unbelievably coarse to me but I guess the results speak for themselves in that case!

Japanese stones are quite different. They are all the rage on Youtube right now, and I bought one to try for myself. I think it's a 3000/6000. I was hoping it could give a finer edge than I could get with my other sharpeners, but it did not. I would put the 6000 grit at about the equivalent of a 1200 diamond grit. So, the grits of the stone you have are actually quite close to my suggestion. I simply don't like the softness of the Japanese stones. People online rave about how a finer grit cuts more aggressively than carborundum or diamond, but I ask myself why I would care about a number? Sharp is sharp, whether it was done by a 1200 or 6000. If I could choose a 1000 grit stone that has to be resurfaced over and over until it wears out, or a 300 grit that would last my lifetime, and they both do the same job, I know which I would prefer. I found it was easy to accidentally dig the edge into the soft stones, and sharpening something with a burr or nick in the edge would make quite a mess of the fine surface of the Japanese stone. The same nick would be smoothed out on a fine diamond hone in just a few strokes. I think the best use of the soft stones would be on knives that are not treated harshly, like chef's knives or pocket knives, so it may be just what you are needing. I've found the best utility out of diamond. They can even sharpen ceramic or carbide. As they say, "Different strokes for different folks."

I like Jordan's suggestion of a thin, double-sided diamond stone that could be used for all sorts of tools, not just knives. It’s a good combination of grits for real-world edges. If a more polished edge is desired, finishing with an inexpensive ceramic stick would do the job.

To me, it's important to select the sharpening regimen that's appropriate to the steel I'm working with.

The high carbon content and high Rockwell hardness of hand-made Japanese knives puts them in a category of their own. They will take a thin, amazing, polished edge and hold it. As a result, super-fine grit stones will add value.

That intricate sharpening regimen isn’t necessarily appropriate for the kitchen knives in most households and restaurants. Typically, these will not benefit from anything over 1,000 grit (not sure what the water stone equivalent really is, as Jordan notes). The steel has less carbon and lower hardness, as manufacturers try to balance cost, utility, and durability. So, a 300/800 diamond or 400/1000 synthetic is just fine in my experience, and again ceramic can polish further. A coarse option is good, though, for ridiculously dull knives. I start with 200 diamond on knives at the thrift clinic that are so rounded that, blindfolded, you couldn’t tell which side the edge was supposed to be on.

But how polished should an edge be? Big debate there. Some accept nothing less than a polished edge that is scalpel sharp. I can do that, but I have actually come to prefer a slightly toothier edge that has more “bite” in fibrous materials. For people who are inexperienced with scalpel-sharp knives, or who have always sawed away with a dull one, there is such a thing as too sharp. I know several people who were so freaked out by my polished edges that they refused to ever let me sharpen their knives again. A 600 grit toothy edge, steeled into place, would have been plenty sharp for them. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I’m just trying to say that the best knife is a well-maintained knife, with an edge that the user is comfortable with. And so, the best sharpening process is one that keeps it there. Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

My 2 cents.

I totally agree, Douglas. I thought about going through some of that, but I thought I would try to stick just to a single stone. I have probably over 20 sharpeners scattered here and there and use different ones for different purposes. Fine woodworking tools I want perfectly sharp. But on something like a billhook, I want a coarser edge, because it will be dulled rather quickly no matter how much time spent sharpening it, and the little micro-serrations cut grass better on the pull stroke. It also depends on the situation; a kitchen knife can have a good-cutting, course edge because you are stationary and can quickly hit it on a sharpening steel often. A knife carried in the field may need a keener, longer lasting edge to go between sharpenings. I've noticed sharpening can be a quagmire for people who are perfectionists or OCD or who just like hotdog measuring contests. It's their time to spend if they so choose. I usually have things to do.

I am a blade smith/blacksmith. I don't even know how many blades I've sharpened in the last 18-20 years. But I only have simple oil stones sitting on my shelf, three are medium to fine Arkansas stones and one is a ceramic of some sort I use to finish the edge. The Arkansas stones are your typical Case style of stone, the ones you can buy at the hardware store (Ace); about 6 inches long, 1/2 inch thick and an inch and a half wide. They are the same on either side. I used to have a Norton course stone that I used for re-profiling the edge bevels.

Shaving sharp is good enough for me on an axe or knife.

Ben, as a bladesmith you have probably forgotten more than I will ever know. I am envious. It's on my bucket list, and I recently met a neighbour who is a steel blade artist with his own forge (and plays a mean blues guitar too, my kind of guy).

Shifting this conversation back to the OP, what would you recommend to someone who is starting from scratch? The absolute bedrock essentials that will encourage success and confidence without breaking the bank?

I recommend a simple natural stone, they can be had for around $20 or less at your local hardware store. Not the artificially made stones, but a real stone cut from the earth. They usually have a mottled appearance light and dark grey my best stone has lots of character in the stone. And I recommend a cutting oil, I like RemOil (gun oil) its thin enough to give good bite and a good corrosion inhibitor.

The technique with a good edge bevel is to rock the bevel until the edge barely contacts the stone, pull the blade towards yourself cutting diagonally across the stone. After a while you can hold the blade in the same angle by habit. Alternate sides.

When it feels sharp, roll the bevel back slightly so that the edge is not contacting the stone and take a little off the cheek, the same way, alternate sides and draw the blade towards yourself keeping the same angle. No need to bear down hard, just the weight of the knife and your hand.

I went and looked at some of the options out there, this place has a nice pocket set for under $10

http://www.naturalwhetstone.com/productssharpening.htm

The third selection down the page, never ordered from them but I used to carry a small stone like that for my case pocket knives.

I pick up whetstones at yardsales for a dollar or so all the time.

Very interesting. We use very different abrasives, and yet the techniques are similar. I use a push-away, pull-toward style and like you "feel" when the edge bites the stone. Though sometimes there is no edge at all so I "feel" where the angle should be for that blade, the sweet spot, and build from that. Hard to explain, you just learn to feel it. And I also put on a back bevel, polishing off the hard angle created by primary sharpening to reduce cutting resistance.

I haven't had the pleasure of working with natural stones. Except, in a bag of thrift shop stones, I found one that felt completely different on steel than synthetics. I'm pretty sure it's a natural stone, though it's straight grey and you can't tell by looking. But I trust my instinct.

If you were sharpening a chef knife on a smaller stone, would you sharpen individual zones in straight lines or use a circular motion?

https://www.ebay.com/i/184260878430?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=184260878430&targetid=886105414078&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001710&poi=&campaignid=9243453320&mkgroupid=95410131818&rlsatarget=pla-886105414078&abcId=1145977&merchantid=137613906&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-_j1BRDkARIsAJcfmTFp_kgCsxzGNjEnUZeb9J7vlkARp19cn4xlFDhkHNc-wwdA834OZ90aAn-hEALw_wcB

So this 250/1000 combo whetstone has served me well for a few years now. Axes and those Mora knives that come with the plastic sheaths.

I then polish with a 6000 grit king whetstone. Those are easier to find. Amazon used to carry the 250/1000 long whetstone at a really good price, like 25 bucks. I didn't search there for too long though.

It works for me. It's relatively inexpensive. Can be cut to make an "axe puck" with 6 inches left over for sharpening knives. I've found that it puts a fine enough edge on axes alone without the 6k grit.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Very interesting. We use very different abrasives, and yet the techniques are similar. I use a push-away, pull-toward style and like you "feel" when the edge bites the stone. Though sometimes there is no edge at all so I "feel" where the angle should be for that blade, the sweet spot, and build from that. Hard to explain, you just learn to feel it. And I also put on a back bevel, polishing off the hard angle created by primary sharpening to reduce cutting resistance.

I haven't had the pleasure of working with natural stones. Except, in a bag of thrift shop stones, I found one that felt completely different on steel than synthetics. I'm pretty sure it's a natural stone, though it's straight grey and you can't tell by looking. But I trust my instinct.

If you were sharpening a chef knife on a smaller stone, would you sharpen individual zones in straight lines or use a circular motion?

I tend to stick with the technique I usually use, I don't care for doing circles because I think it feels like you can easily get off-angle. So with a large knife I will work areas, and then run long strokes still slightly diagonal down the whole length to blend the grind. I sharpened an antique French Chef knife a few weeks ago for my mother in law and it was dull, but it came back very easy and got scary sharp. Really nice knife, great blade.

I bought some system using a blade clamp a few years ago.  I don't use the clamp, but the three stones that came with it are good.

Wow! Thanks for all the great information everyone! To answer some of the questions that came up (and ask some more of my own):

Douglas: I'm definitely looking for something freehand. I'm interested in (and motivated by) developing the skill needed to effectively sharpen freehand. It seems the discussion went this direction organically.

Also Douglas: I hadn't considered the 'sharp enough' idea, or the idea that a knife could be 'too sharp'. That's really good information and will help guide my sharpening journey I suspect. Thank you for sharing that.

Ben: I'm intrigued by the idea of using a natural stone, but I've also read - and you mentioned - that they should really be used with a sharpening oil instead of just water. I'm not sure what sharpening oils are derived from, but for food prep knives I expect I'd feel more comfortable with water. Can a natural stone be used successfully with just water? What are the differences between oil and water with these stones or sharpening stones in general? There's also the issue of oil mess as mentioned in a video posted in the PEP Knife sharpening BB (https://permies.com/wiki/105867/pep-tool-care/PEP-BB-tool-sand-knife).

Also, what are the general qualities of natural/synthetic/diamond? I gather that diamond lasts longer, and cuts faster, and that natural stones have some variance in grit. I assume there's more nuance than this though.

You can use water on your natural stones, but once you use an oil its an oil stone. The old timers used spit, no really.. Spit makes an excellent cutting fluid. I wouldn't use a vegetable based oil, unless you can find one that doesn't gum up.

Water does work on a new Arkansas stone as long as its never been used with oil.

I'm a big fan of japanese stones, Having worked professionally in a kitchen and was the only person who was capable of really sharpening a knife well (this was always odd to me, I tried to teach too but a lot of folks just don't want to take the time to learn for whatever reason) I also have a lot of other stones for other reasons... so here's kind of my thoughts:

I have a couple of ez-lap diamond "butterfly knife" style "stones" that are a diamond type stone, I love them a lot for taking camping or working in the field, the fact that I can fold them up and they stay clean and don't take much space in my pocket is super handy http://eze-lap.com/hunting_fishing_outdoor_use/eze-fold/ my favorite is the 400/1200 combo, they are decently cheap too. I haven't worn one out yet in 5 or so years of pretty regular use. These are designed to be used without oil/water as well which is nice.

I have gotten a couple of diamond plates, and used several diamond rods. these are the types where they are a layer of diamonds imbedded in a metal material. I do not recommend these. If you are not very gentle with them all the time, the diamonds will work their way out of the material they are imbedded in and they go "dull" so if looking for a diamond style sharpener, I recommend something that is constructed more like a stone, designed with multiple layers of diamond, so that as the stone wares, new diamond faces become exposed (ez-lap being one of the main producers of them that i know of. I swear I'm not sponsored by them but I have really enjoyed their products)

when I started working with Japanese stones, I started with the stones that basically everyone compares every other stone to - the "king" brand 1000 grit. It's a very soft wetstone, muds up very quick but cuts fairly slowly and leaves a nice matte scratch pattern instead of directional scratch patterns. with this stone alone you can get an extremely sharp edge though it is a little toothy, so my next stone was the 6k king stone, much harder, has an almost mirror like finish and pretty fast, I have tried intermediate grits but i feel like it actually took longer than going straight from 1k to 6k so i stopped bothering. After several years of using the 6k there is relatively little wear, I have probably taken more off flattening the stones than I actually have with a knife, but still less than 1mm or so probably has been worn away. definitly a nice high grit stone. The 1k on the other hand, I wore completely through one the first year, and another one the next year, and decided it was time to get a harder 1k. Shapton seems to be one of the best high end japanese stones and at the time they were like $100+ each. I discovered that these were the "american" version, something about the binder was special because they were meant to withstand a dry climate which wasn't a problem in japan, and you could order the japanese version of them for much cheaper but just had to be a little more careful about keeping them somewhere not too dry. here's that stone https://www.amazon.com/Kuromaku-Ceramic-Whetstone-Medium-Grit/dp/B001TPFT0G they are a little pricy, but it's extremely hard, and cuts faster than the king 1k and after the same treatment that wore 2 king stones completely through (30+ knives 2 or more times a week) It has also shown barely any wear. I got a very cheap (like $3) super low grit stone from an asian mart, sorry I can't relay the brand or grit size, it's all in Chinese, but I use that for major reprofiling. It cuts fast, falls apart fast and is basically the cheap machete of stones, but it will handle all the grinding work relatively quickly that if I had the funds for a belt sander I would do on a belt sander.

I have played around with a stone called "the sharp pebble" which was a 1k/6k combo, seems better than the king stone on the 1k, at the time it was heavily featured in a lot of "I tried the cheapest japanese wetstone on amazon" type videos and it was pretty inexpensive, though it looks like it's popularity has driven the price up...

The only thing I use natural stones on is my scythe blades, I should experiment with them on a knife, but I don't have a lot of experience there to elaborate more. a lot of the stuff i see at the hardware store are smaller stones, which is fine if you are sharpening pocket knives and small knives but for me, doing a ton of chef knives It makes way more sense and is way more ergonomic to have a larger stone, you get bigger strokes and its more easy to do complete strokes of the knife in one pass without having to readjust or play with the angle of your stroke, so that's why I never really went with that.

I have also experimented with found objects. If you have a brick or a cement block that can be made a little more flat, just so that there are not huge protruding rocks, you can actually get a very sharp, toothy edge that way pretty decently quick. having an abrasive that will cut the metal and having a decent technique is more important in the long run than having a high quality stone in my opinion, but it helps to have the experience on a good stone before you try other random things, one thing to note, when putting the final edge on and removing the burr you have to be extremely light with it.

Regarding longevity, wear and tear, etcetera:

Synthetic stones ultimately last longer because it's a solid block of abrasive. They tend to "dish out" over time and need to be flattened, which is a bit of a chore. I just grind them down on the flat underside of a paving stone. Hardly scientific but it works for me.

Diamond, surprisingly, is not forever. Monocrystalline tends to round off over time, and eventually doesn't cut as fast. Polycrystalline fractures as it wears, so it keeps cutting agressively until it's worn away and there's nothing left but the steel plate. The lifespan of both types is affected by the quality of the bond between the abrasive and the steel substrate. On the plus side, diamond stones remain perfectly flat through their whole life.

I'll let Ben speak about natural stones.

I'm a newbie when it comes to sharpening bladed items but I have tried a variety of products.

I enjoy natural stones for the majority of my sharpening, but I do have a synthetic 'puck' style for out in the field when using my axe in case it gets dinged up to bad.

Timothy Norton wrote:...I do have a synthetic 'puck' style for out in the field when using my axe in case it gets dinged up to bad.

A few years ago I started using a Speedy Sharp (https://speedysharp.com) for axes, pruners, or any outdoor bladed tools. It's fast and very compact. It would wear down a knife blade too quickly for my liking, but that's not an issue with heavier tools.

I really appreciate all y’all’s advice for sharpening tools. And thanks to Tim for pointing us here in the daily-ish.

It’s a quest I’ve been on since, at least, ’72, starting with my deep dive into the culinary arts, followed closely by an interest in fine woodworking, mechanical maintenance, etc

It’s noteworthy, especially for newbies, there’s no one-size-fits all. There are different sharpening devices for all the myriad ‘edged’ tools we’re likely to encounter: kitchen knives, woodworking tools, mower blades, scythes, chainsaw chains, drill bits, hand saw blades (*), pocket knives, carving and gouging tools, axes and other hacking and whacking tools, etc., etc.
(*) In the ‘good ol’ days’ pre-big-box-store hardware stores used to offer that service, who even does that anymore?!?! (Let’s all give thanks to our disposable society overlords… better yet let’s give thanks to the likes of the permies crowd for keeping the old traditions alive and well)

p.s., I’m still a newbie in many regards, more a hobbyist than a work-a-day pro - the more I learn the more I learn there is to learn
… so, for what it’s worth:

In the kitchen, I’ve got a drawer full of stones, steels, ceramics, etc, along with a wide variety of knives. Gotta say, 50+ years on, my go-to sharpener is a vintage Ecko sharpener I inherited from one of my grandmothers, similar to the one pictured here: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-ekco-pull-through-knife-1918463533 (note the mounting hole tabs for optional fixed installation)
Yeah, yeah, I know, not your sharpening aficionado’s choice, but it’s easy peasy, quickly puts a keen edge on most knives, including serrated blades, and probably one of the least expensive options available (look for ‘em in antique malls, yard sales, etc.)
… just sayin

For fine edged woodworking tools, I’ve got a three-stone set of Washita Oilstones I like for fine edged tools. Initially inspired by James Krenov and Fine Woodworking Magazine. But, there’s lots of choices here, too.
- Krenov taught me how to listen to planes while in use - when the blade is just right (sharpness, bevel, etc), and set correctly for the wood type, it’ll ‘sing’ to you - a little off topic, but it struck a chord with me [pun intended]
You can view some of Krenov’s woodworking ‘style’ in the galleries here:
https://thekrenovarchive.org
and here:
https://thekrenovschool.org/furniture-galleries/

My only-est other ‘best of class’ suggestion is for drill bits
I’ve been well pleased with my Drill Doctor: https://www.drilldoctor.com/collections/sharpeners
Their newest model (Drill Doctor X2) also sharpens many other tools (“kitchen knives, pocket knives, scissors, tools, axes, and more”) - some learning curve involved (e.g., finding the right angle of the dangle for different types of bits) in order to setup the Drill Doctor for the task at hand

If you do a lot of drilling, especially drilling metals, the Drill Doctor will likely pay for itself pretty quickly (vs. buying new drill bits)

Hello,
Great read thank you and sooo pleased that Ben, blade person, mentioned spit!!!
I thought that it a rare practice.
When  I’m out and about, harvesting candidates for grafting, using a scythe, I might give a blade a little edge and yes, I spit.
The whesstones  I use are in a box, different abrasion from frough to smooth. The box has cyrillic, Russian I believe, writing on it.
I also use an oil stone when at home.
For the chainsaws, I invested in a chepa and rather efficient gadget.
It’s all done by intuition and a blacksmith/cutlery friend does impart wise sharpening counsel.
Thank you all
For those in cold climes, let’s keep warm
Blessings with utmost immoderation, spelling mistakes and atray consonants
M-H

I found I got more keen on sharpening as we upgraded our knives.  I'm pretty sure I started my adult life with some hand-me-down knives from my mother, then the collection expanded when I got married.  I don't claim to know much, but I grew up with Dad keeping a stone in the kitchen and wielding it occasionally.  He always carried a pocket knife and the one currently in my pocket was his.

Anyway, quite a few years ago, two competing grocery chains had points programs where you could ultimately earn knives.  One of them featured Zwilling Henckels knives, so that was an upgrade.  Since then, with another points program, I got a couple of Wusthof chef knives.  Since that time, we have purchased a few more Wusthof knives.

Like everyone these days, they have an email newsletter and this knife sharpening blog caught my attention.  I read it when it came via email, so when this thread came up, I dug it up again.

Being on the Canadian prairies, Douglas can't be too far away...one of these days I'll need to reach out and perhaps make a road trip with a block of knives....

Hi all
Excuse my English. Not my first language
Another blade-smith/blacksmith here. For sharpening I have tried natural stones, abrasive belts (slow), synthetic stones and various diamond solutions.
As people have mentioned all have their place.  Blade steel varies quite allot. Some modern stainless types are incredibly difficult to sharpen and would need very "strong" abrassive surfaces and then some carbon knives (chef knives ...) are much softer and easier to maintain with a few strokes on natural type stones.
The method of stroke on natural stones also contributes to how much you deform them over time. I have some old ax stones that are concave on both sides and thus useless for my chef knives. I use water only on my stones. I reshape the natural ones occasionally with a special flat stone for that.

There is one low cost solution to sharpening very effectively and that is using sandpaper and water.  
1. Get an extremely flat surface (piece of glass, stone, marble, tile...) and on a table put a towel under it.
2. Put water on glass and then your sheet of sandpaper on top. Then water on top and then you can start. The water "glues" the paper to the glass.
3. Depending on the blade you could start with 300grit and move up from there..400, 600,800,1000, and then jump to 1600 or 2000 for a final super fine edge.
The paper always needs to be whet when the strokes are taken.
The angle you hold the blade to the paper needs to be consistent. This takes some practice of course. Some people find it useful to fit a kind of roller jig onto the blade to keep same angle thru out.

Oh and about the sandpaper. The 300grit could be the dark red stuff on heavy canvas backing and up from there is the type made to be used with water. Its usually a very dark gray in color. Usually used in car body work.
Hope this helps someone

Here are my 2 cents:

For the stated purpose of taking care of kitchen or simple knives as used at home, garden etc, your options are: 1) Natural 2) Synthetics 3) Diamonds
Naturals are divided broadly water stones  and oil stones.

Water stones: Japanese Kyoto stones such as Nakayamas, Uzukis etc, Belgian coticules, German Thüringen's, Chinese Guanxi etc.. are some of the most common ones, but almost every country has some found sources of water stones as used by butchers. As far as oil stones, the very best ones are Arkansas stones, made of Novaculite, mined right here in the good ol USA, and can be bought online or found in auctions for cheap. People used to use them widely in the past, so they can be found in many garage sales.

Synthetics and diamonds are also options, and for many this is all they use. While they are efficient, they generally cut too fast, as they are considered aggressive cutters, resulting in edges that are over sharpened and may end up loosing their sharpness too soon. Beginners like them as they are easy to use, but they are known to grind the edge too much and too fast.

Out of these options, here is my recommendation: as the first and only purchase, your best bet in my opinion is a set of good natural Arkansas stones, typically a soft (roughly 700-800 grit) and hard (roughly 1000- 1200 grit) Arkansas,  and maybe a translucent and/or a black surgical (very high grit polisher, used in the past to sharpen surgical equipment) and you are set for life. These are very special stones. As they are not aggressive cutters, they are the best polishers, and they last forever for many generations. A Norton crystolon (synthetic) which is low grit (280-300 grit) , is also a very cheap and a good option for setting the primary edge (the bevel). The edge profiles from Arkansas stones are very keen and very long lasting. It is hard to over sharpen with oils stones. Over 100 years ago they were the most expensive stones in Europe where barbers used them for sharpening razors and surgical equipment, and considered them very special. This is in times when hand sharpening was a very common and widely used skill in many trades. A typical 6-7 by 2-2.5  inches stone is all you need. Ideally get them in 1 inch thickness, as that way they will last for generations. As mentioned above, a three-stone set of Washita Oilstones are a great option, and can be found online or on auctions.

The type of steel you have is important to know when selecting the stones. For normal carbon knives and German stainless steels which is what most common cheap knifes are (and cheap Chinese steels), Arkansas stones are perfect. You may use oil , but you can easily use plain water with two drops of dish soap (Dawn) to increase surface tension, and you do not mess your knives with oil. If you have the newer alloys, like Japanese VG10 and above, or powders, you may need synthetics, or diamonds as they are hard to sharpen and need aggressive stones.

A good diy leather and canvas strop is also a great cheap addition with great benefits (YouTube is your friend). Do not ever use sharpening steels, as they damage the edge. There are angle assisting devices available, usually expensive, and mostly using diamond or synthetic stones. I find them redundant, but they can be useful for the initial setting of the bevel, an important step.  

Last, but not least: Japanese stones (known as jnats) are a very special category of water natural stones, primarily originating from Kyoto. They are more expensive, but very much worth it, as they produce very keen and smooth edges, even in hard alloys like Japanese ones. They are used with a rubbing stone (called a nagura) and typically you might need to use two-three different naguras in progression from rough to finer grit, and as you rub them on the stone and dilute with water, they disintegrate into very fine particles producing very fine edges. If you want to be amazed, check: TomoNagura.com (not marketing my site by the way), simply directing you to some cool  info I have found in the past.    Having them for kitchen knifes is a luxury. They are suited for real passionate connoisseurs or chefs who use and need high end knifes that need to be very sharp, such Japanese or Asian fusion restaurants that need to cut fish decoratively. For most everyday kitchen use, they are an overkill.

Selecting stones goes hand and hand with selecting knifes. For home use, I do recommend softer steel knifes like German steels (Henkels, Victorinox etc) or some of the better Chinese steels as they are very forgiving, durable and will not chip, and are easily sharpened quite keenly with Arkansas stones. A good place to look for them are restaurant supply stores, as they have steels and designs that can endure heavy restaurant use.

Japanese high end steels. or other high end knifes with hard alloys will produce extremely sharp edges that are very fragile and will chip. Unless you are into sushi, there is no need to go after them, but yeah, they are special!  If for some reason you buy synthetic stones, the Japanese synthetics are in a class of their own, absolutely the best. Get what you can afford, but they are far superior than the rest of synthetics in both durability and function.

One more thing: it is important to learn about getting your stones flat, and how to achieve that with your particular stones (again, YouTube is your friend).

I sincerely hope you find this info useful, as I see so much confusion online. Our frugal predecessors were masters in freehand sharpening using natural stones, with no permies, no Youtube, no TikTok, no Facebook and no phones! As much as we have devolved, I think we still can do it!



       

Derek Thille wrote:Anyway, quite a few years ago, two competing grocery chains had points programs where you could ultimately earn knives.  One of them featured Zwilling Henckels knives, so that was an upgrade.  Since then, with another points program, I got a couple of Wusthof chef knives.  Since that time, we have purchased a few more Wusthof knives.

Like everyone these days, they have an email newsletter and this knife sharpening blog caught my attention.  I read it when it came via email, so when this thread came up, I dug it up again.

Being on the Canadian prairies, Douglas can't be too far away...one of these days I'll need to reach out and perhaps make a road trip with a block of knives....

First off, you have some decent steel in your collection. If well maintained, they will keep you well fed, and maybe be in good enough shape to be passed on to the next generation.

And I know this promotion. Thing is, both Z.Henckels and Wusthof had this notion that they could imitate Asian knives by grinding thin and doing a bit of a temper burn on the edge. (And I'm giving the stink-eye to Cutco, the marketing con of the century, because that's their schtick too.)  It doesn't hold up -- European culinary steels aren't hard enough to hold these fine angles. So i get to pluck them from thrift shops when the edges inevitably fail.

But it's still good steel, once I grind past the temper burn and get back into the "original meat" of the blade. It still needs a roughly 20 degree primary grind to make a strong edge, but you can polish off the secondary bevel to get some pretty sweet cutting performance.

=  = = = =
BTW: The Canadian Prairies could swallow Europe and have room to spare. But if you're rolling toward the Rocky Mountains sometime, drop me a PM. But I will bet real money that there is somebody close by who can teach you everything I know in an hour or so -- if somebody can show you the motions in person, and show you how to feel the edge you've created, and ... the rest is just practice, practice, practice.

Got to thinking more about my post, and particularly what I learned from James Krenov about using planes. It occurs to me getting the proper ‘edge’ (to ’sing’) applies to how we apply all our edged tools from whittling, gouging, sharpening, even to setting the height of mowers and lawn sweepers, et alia - setting them just right (pressure, angle, etc, etc), for the material at hand,  for their optimum cut. When sharpening, for example, one can **feel** when we’ve got it ‘just right’… it sings to us.
... even to the 'edge' of back scratchers... the ahhhh song :-)

In many cases, when we develop such a good sense of feel, it can obviate the need for many of the myriad jigs, attachments, etc. used to ‘set’ the angles of the dangles… especially useful when working ‘in the field’

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

=  = = = =
BTW: The Canadian Prairies could swallow Europe and have room to spare. But if you're rolling toward the Rocky Mountains sometime, drop me a PM. But I will bet real money that there is somebody close by who can teach you everything I know in an hour or so -- if somebody can show you the motions in person, and show you how to feel the edge you've created, and ... the rest is just practice, practice, practice.

Yup...I grew up north of Saskatoon, mother-in-law is in Edmonton, a brother is in Medicine Hat, and the head office of my firm is in Red Deer, so I do get to that neck of the woods occasionally.  

I'm fairly comfortable getting a decent edge on our kitchen knives, but disappointed that I seem to be the only one to recognize when they need some tidying up.  My wife will pick up her favourite (6" Wusthof chef's knife - it's lighter so she can handle it more easily).  I also cringe at some of what our knives go through at times.

That reminds me that there is a fellow who operates a portable sharpening service...he shows up regularly at one of the farmer's markets here in the city.  Perhaps next year I'll remember to have a chat with him, and perhaps bring him one of our less dear knives to see what he does.

It is interesting to see some of the knife skills used by chefs (good old YouTube university) and how some of them disagree with each other over how certain things should be done (onions is one that comes to mind).  There's so many tangents to follow...sigh....