How to Sharpen a Knife with a Whetstone – Sharpening Dull Kitchen Knife to Extremely Sharp

Sharpening your own knives is easy with a Whetstone sharpening kit.

They're typically two sided and have a course and fine texture like this one with 1000 and

6000 grit.

The beauty of a Whetstone is that you don't need oil to sharpen your blades.

Before each use, the Whetstone needs to be soaked in water.

You can see the air coming out of the stone as it absorbs the water.

Keep it submerged until the bubbles slow down or about 5 minutes.

Now it's ready to use.

Starting with the lowest grit which is 1000 on this stone, hold your knife at about a

15 degree angle and slide it away from you.

It only takes light pressure along the strokes.

You don't need to push too hard.

Gently slide from the tip to the base of the blade.

After about 12 to 15 strokes, flip the blade over and repeat on the other side.

Continue using gentle and even passes across the stone.

Remember to hold the blade at about a 15 degree angle which is about half the height of your

thumb.

I like to feel the blade to see if it's sharp enough.

At this point, I can flip the stone over and use the fine grit.

Most Whetstones come with a nice wooden base that do a good job to hold the stone in place

while sharpening.

Before starting again, you might need to add a bit more water to the surface.

Now with the fine grit, finish the sharpening process like before at the same blade angle

and consistent passes along the stone.

About 10 to 12 passes is good before switching to the other side of the blade.

At this point, the blade should be extremely sharp.

I'll just give a quick paper test here.

I can now slice paper quite easily with my knife.

This Whetstone also comes with plastic guide to help hold the blade at exactly a 15 degree

angle.

Handy for some people!

There are many Whetstones available but choosing one with a 1000 and 6000 grit is a good general

purpose stone for home use.

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