Sharpening stones to sharpen knives
With a sharpening stone you can sharpen a knife again and keep it sharp. A sharpening stone, also known as a whetstone , is a professional and refined way to sharpen your knives. It is one of the oldest ways to sharpen knives and is often used with real professional chef's knives and Japanese knives. Sharpening with a sharpening stone has therefore been used for centuries and it still works best. Knives become really super sharp again.
Buying a sharpening stone, what do you pay attention to?
Do you want to buy a sharpening stone ? Then it is good to first think about which knives you want to sharpen with the sharpening stone. Japanese and European knives have different angles at which they must be sharpened. The sharpening angle of a Japanese knife is 15 degrees and that of a European knife is 20 degrees. You can easily maintain these angles if you use a sharpening stone. You keep the knife at the right sharpening angle when you gently move it back and forth. With other knife sharpeners it is not so easy to maintain the different sharpening angles. For example with a pull-through sharpener. Here you run the knife through the sharpener and you cannot determine the sharpening angle yourself. That is why we recommend using a sharpening stone, especially with a Japanese knife.
The different types of sharpening stones
Sharpening stones come in different types. What distinguishes sharpening stones from each other is the grain size, from a small, fine grain to a large, coarse grain. The KookGigant sharpening stones come in five sizes with different grain sizes. Coarse grits are used for knives that are blunt and the fine grits are used to keep a knife sharp. Which sharpening stone you need depends entirely on the condition of your knife. The KookGigant sharpening stones are double-sided. That means they have two different grain sizes. Choose the right grain for your knife:
The right grain size for your knife
| Grain 200-600 |
Restoring a really dull knife |
| Grain 800-1000 |
Sharpening relatively blunt knives |
| Grain 2000-3000 |
Sharpen normal relatively sharp knives |
| Grain 3000-8000 |
Sharpens / polishes razor blades |
If you want to keep a knife sharp, a sharpening stone with a 2000/3000 or 3000/8000 grit is sufficient. For a knife that is blunt, you need several sharpening stones to sharpen the knife and get it sharp again. You can sharpen the blunt knife from grit 200 to 3000 to get the knife sharp again. Then make it razor sharp with the 3000/8000 sharpening stone .
Japanese sharpening stones
A sharpening stone for chef's knives has its origin in Japan. There, sharpening stones have been used by Japanese chefs for centuries. The reason is simple, a Japanese sharpening stone gives the best result. It is the ultimate way to get your chef's knife razor-sharp and to cut your ingredients finely without resistance.
A sharpening stone gives the most control during sharpening. This check is important for the life of your chef's knives. Every time you sharpen a knife you remove a layer of steel from the knife. With the sharpening stone you have control over the sharpening angle and how much pressure you exert. The more often you sharpen, the sooner your knife will become unusable. If you maintain your chef's knives properly, you only need to use a sharpening stone once or twice a year. Of course you then use a sharpening stone with the finest profile to keep your knives razor sharp.
In addition to sharpening, there are also other methods to get your knife sharp again. For example, a pull-through knife sharpener or an electric knife sharpener. The disadvantage of these two is that you often remove more steel from the knife than is really necessary. By using a sharpening stone you have more control over how much steel you sharpen off the knife. On the other hand, a disadvantage of the Japanese sharpening stone is that it takes more time to sharpen than the other sharpening methods.
How do you sharpen a knife with a sharpening stone?
Using a sharpening stone is very easy. In the steps below we explain step by step how to get your knife sharp again with a sharpening stone.
- Choose a sharpening stone grain that matches the condition of your knife. Is your knife very blunt? Then take a sharpening stone with a coarse grain. Do you want to make the knife even sharper? Then you can grab a finer grit.
- Place the sharpening stone in a layer of water and let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes. A sharpening stone should always be moist during sharpening. When you feel that the sharpening stone is getting dry, you can simply wet it under the tap.
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Place the sharpening stone with the coarse grain size (the side with the lowest number) upwards and determine the sharpening angle for your knife. Knives made of hard steel (HRC 60 or higher) are sharpened at a sharp angle of 15 degrees. Japanese knives belong to this category. Knives with a lower degree of hardness, such as German knives (HRC 54-58), are sharpened at an angle of 20 degrees.
- There are two methods for the actual sharpening. The first is the traditional or Japanese style. Place the sharpening stone vertically on your kitchen worktop.
- Grab the handle with one hand and place your index finger, middle finger and ring finger on the blade with your other hand.
- Gently move the blade back and forth over the sharpening stone. Do not put too much pressure on this. You slide the knife slightly more than horizontally over the sharpening stone while you sharpen. Do this over the entire length of the blade.
- Sharpen the knife until you feel or see a steel wire on the edge of the blade. You can see this on the other side of the blade that has been in contact with the sharpening stone. When this happens you can turn the knife around and run the knife along the sharpening stone a few times. This removes the steel remnants from the blade.
- Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the other side of the blade
- Now it's time for the second sharpening technique. Place the blade over the entire length of the sharpening stone. Move the entire blade over the sharpening stone in one go. From the tip to the handle. This method is called the pull method. You do this so that the blade is equally sharp in all places.
- Repeat step 9 on the other side of the blade as well
- Don't forget to dry both the sharpening stone and the knife well. Your knife is now ready for use again!
Sharpening stones from KookGiant
The traditional sharpening stones have the same grain size on both sides. At KookGigant we have sharpening stones with a different grain size on each side . This allows you to quickly switch sides when you need a finer or coarser grain size. That's handy and you don't need two sharpening stones.
All KookGigant sharpening stones are sent with a free bamboo holder. This bamboo holder is provided with an anti-slip layer. In this way, the sharpening stone and holder always remain neatly on the counter during sharpening.
