Pick a Stone, Any Stone

If your looking to sharpen your knives at home, there is no better choice than stones. Learning how to sharpen a knife on stones is a life and survival skill.

Firstly I will say, it takes time and patience, sharpening on stones is an aquired skill but its not far out of reach. It is very rewarding and addicting once you get it down. Everyone is capable of learning how to sharpen. If you would like to learn we offer sharpening lessons in person and via zoom for those who have stones at home already, You can sign up by clikcing here.

From the begining, the earliest known use of stones to sharpen was about 75,000 years ago, these were just big chunks of abrasive rock used by our ancestors. Though natural stones are still in use today, such as novaculite found in Arkansas stones and the silica stones from Japan; its more common to see synthetic stones. There are hundreds on the market, these are made from materials like aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. The word Whet has nothing to do with water or liquids but rather it is a germanic word meaning to sharpen, so a whetstone is basically a sharpening stone.

However there are two main types from wich all others fall under either catagory. Oil stones and water stones. Oil stones often cut slower than water stones but tend to be more affordable. Benchstones as they are called, these are the ones our grandfathers used, those grey, red or dark colored blocks. Norton abrasive bench stones were some of the first I remember learning on. As the name suggests you apply a small amount of oil to the stone before sharpening and its ready to go. These stones wont wear down as quickly as water stones and come in a lower grit range making them a great option for sharpening.

Water Stones, in our modern age are probably what most of you are familiar with. Those rectangular blocks that come in a variety of colors, you have seen sharpeners and chefs using. You can often find a double sided water stone in your local asian grocery store, the ones that are 2 colors and labled 200/1000 or 3000/8000. So how do these work? As you run your knife across the stone the abrasive material breaks down and replinishes itself with new fresh abrasive material. This wash, rinse, repeat cycle causes the stones to wear down quicker but gives you a sharp edge faster. These stones come in a wider range of grits, from the low 80 up to an astonishing 30,000 grit. No need to worry, for sharpening your knives at home you really only need two stones.

Like knives stones require TLC (tender love and care) over time the stone will start to dish or develop wear spots making the surface uneven. This uneven surface will transfer over to your knives creating a wonky edge. To fix this you will need a lapping stone, this a very abrasive stone in the range of 36-180 grit. This lapping stone has deep channels through out in order to deflect and drain off the material and water you remove while flattening your stone. We personally love the Double Time Flattening Stone from SharpeningSupplies, this lapping stone is huge at 10"Lx4"W this large generous stone gives you plenty of surface area to flatten any stone comfortably and the next best part is, it comes with two sides, 120 and 320 so you can flatten your finer stones too. But we will get more in depth on lapping stones in another post.

So which stone is right for you? though oil stones are great and something we use here at our shop, we recommend purchasing a water stone. What we have learned over time from our customers is they do not like to deal with the "messyness" of using honing oil, but this is not only the reason we recommend water stones. Because water stones cut faster it will be easier for you to get a feel for sharpening, its important for you even as home cook to learn and feel what a burr is (put simlply a lip of metal raised from running a knife across an abrasive material were the rate of abrasion exceeds the rate of deformation causing whats called a burr) This is important because a blade cant reach its full potential without one. You may be asking, cant I raise a burr on an oil stone too? You can, but nothing raises a burr like a 220-400 grit water stone.

Another reason we recommend water stones is for their preservation ability, water stones will remove less material. These stones tend to be gentler and can get your knife edge better than factory new. For anyone on a budget, a double sided water stone will be the perfect option to sharpen your own knives, its best to pick a 220/1000 grit combo. A 1000 grit stone is still abrasive enough to sharpen but its also fine enough to polish an edge. The crisp edge left by a 1000 grit stone will glide through any meat, fish or vegetable. If your looking to spend a little more on your stones, the Naniwa Tradional and Super stones are the top picks. I have personally worked with these stones for many years, one of my favorite stones is the Naniwa super 220 grit stone with its godawful tan color, it cuts quick and the mudd (a slury of water and stone particles made from using the stone) it creates is like no other. This mudd leaves a rough yet uniform edge that will easily shred through news paper.

The Naniwa super 3000 stone with its brick red color is the next place to go after using the 220 stone. The supers are splash and go, this means you do not need to soak them like other stones, as the name suggests you can splash water on them and they are ready to go. Though I prefer a spray bottle, since it leaves out the puddles. Naniwa tradtional stones These are excellent high quality stones that wont break the bank, the tradtional 220 and 4000 grit stone make the perfect combo. The traditional stones are soaking stones so they will need to be fully submerged in water before using them, wait until theres no more air bubbing from the stone and its good to go. Though we said you can stop at 1000 grit and still have a nice edge, 3000-4000 would be the final stop for all western knives, this still allows the knives to be flexible and have a toothy edge, anything higher up will polish up the edge so much it adversely affects the edge retention (a baldes ability to resist dulling due to mechanical, thermal or chemical influences)

Avoid cheaper knock off stones when it comes to double sided stones, as the particle and grit sizes are often very inaccurate. A good rule of thumb is to stick to a price range of $40-60 for your first stone(s), For us at our shop stones last a lot less longer only because we heavily use them, for you at home your stones can last years, even decades if you properly care for them. We dont recommend certain ones when your starting out like King stones, this brand of stones is notoriously soft and better for polishing knives, these softer stones dish faster and require more maintenance which equals to more of a hassle for you.

Ultimately it will be up to you, to decide which stone you get. Somethings to keep in mind to sum up this article; price range, your skill level, the time you can afford to invest into your stones, how often you use your knives and lastly what are you comfortable with. Both oil and water stones are great choices and like with anything each has there advantages and disadvanteges.

If your ready to buy your first stone you can head over to sharpeningsupplies.com were they carry a wide range of stones and sharpening devices, they offer fast shipping and are always happy to help with any questions you may have, with that we are also more than happy to answer any of your questions. Thank you for reading this post, we hope you found this helpful and as always work sharper not harder.