[Closed] Whetstones for kitchen knives?

i've got a global whetstone - gets my knives lovely and sharp.

i don't use a guide, i just do it by feel... very theraputic - in fact, I think I might do some sharpening tonight 🙂

Dave

I have couple of the double sided ones at various grades. In the years I was a chef I must have used them 4 or 5 times. maybe I'm just lazy but they are a lot of hassle for not much more gain than a good steel.

I go straight on the stone doens't matter as you finish it off on a steel and that goes by feel anyway

Unless you know how to use a whetstone correctly it would pay to buy a cheap one and practice getting a keen edge that way on some lees expensive knives, one that can be kept sharp just with the correct use of a steel. I used to work as a speed boner, and had to use a whetstone at least twice a day on all four knives. Its easy with practice and my knives at home havent been near the whet for over a year of regular use.

Dont use guide rails, just practice on a cheap stone before you lay out the wedge!

diamond stones are good.fairly cheep these days too.much faster which means if you mess up through inexperience you can change your angle slightly and get back to a sharp edge in no time !

Wow, so it is possible to damage the stone with the knife? Surely you'd have to be particularly ham fisted to do that and beat the stone with the knife?

[i]a speed boner[/i]

[finbar saunders]

Fnnnarrrr.

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I spoke to my local cookware shop (where I got my posh knives from) and he strongly advised against using a whetstone as one used badly will ruin your knives.

He recommended using their knife sharpening service to get edges back then just use my steel correctly (it turned out I was applying too much pressure and now I use less pressure I am getting a good edge back to most of my knives).

You can damage the stone by not rotating it during use and not using the whole of the surface of the stone, causing a curvature on the face of it. Not a problem if all your knives are exactly the same size and shape. You can, and most probably will, with inexperince put a 'wire edge' on the knife. It will seem sharp but the edge wont last.

Best advice would be to buy a good steel and learn to use that. A multicut or an oval steel.

wwaswas 😀 specialising in pork too!

I've got a double wheeled sharpener thingy at the moment for sharpening my Global knives but I don' think it get the knives as sharp as they could be. Would I get a better edge using a whetstone?

No, it would be a complete waste of money.

Presume you have something like this:

[img] [/img]

Which is what I've got, and is bloody brilliant, except that eventually the wheels will break in half and you'll need to replace them.

If you can't get a sharp edge it may be that your knives are too new and need to be sharpened a lot to get the angles matching the angels of the sharpener.

Once you've got that sorted an occasional bit of maintenance (like every time you want to slice a soft tomato) will do the trick and put a new razor sharp edge on your knives.

If you start messing about with a stone (or the Global sharpener G45) you will like as not just screw the edge up.

diamond stones are good

I use a steel and get a great edge. What are you cutting - cowhide sandwiches or something?

Bug a cheap stone from Nisbets online £4.00 and a really good quality steel, Wusthof diamond are good £60, I stone my knives two or three times a year and the rest of the time it's the steel, Global don't keep an edge well as I remember some lads years ago in the kitchen complaining. I use my knives every day being chef, depending on how often you use yours you may be fine with just a cheap stone.

hmmm... maybe a professional knife sharpening service and then persist with the wheeled sharpener for everyday use.

Noooooo! get one and try it!

I use a Whetstone on my Global knives, I can get a really sharp knife but they do blunt quite quickly. All my knives are 10 years old and have been sharpened the same way so I think they are worn in now.

I too find the process most relaxing.

I know it's OTT for what you want but I've used a Tormek system before and they are amazingly good

Don't let some monkey in a shop grind your knives away to nothing

Tormek! Crikey ... what are you grinding?

Japanese waterstones all the way but use different Grit grades for example perhaps start with: 500, then 1000, then 4000 or then above 4000, then deburr using a piece of softwood or some wine corks.

I bought two to three items from here:

[url= http://www.axminster.co.uk/waterstones-dept207976_pg1/#page=2 ]Japanese Waterstones[/url]

I mainly use Shapton (HR) GlassStone Waterstones just like the video below but then all my expensive knives are from Japan.

Some good info for deburring a knife here:

Sharpening A Kitchen Knife #4 Deburring a knife

How to create microbevels.

Microbevels- Japanese Knife Imports

I use a Minosharp as recommended by Global on my Global knives. It's fool proof, very quick to use and leaves a good edge that lasts. Only critism is that small short knives (2.5 inch) don't get the full length of the blade sharpened without removing the safety guide. The sharpening wheels last a long time too, ours are still on the originals after 3 years use.

I have global knives too and use a double sided waterstone then finish off with a global ceramic steel. I really only use the waterstone once or twice a year. Takes about an hour to do all the knives but is very relaxing. the only problem I have is trying to get mrs vader to learn to use the steel.....