/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.5048103]

tl;dr How do I use a whet stone?

I got a Japanese knife (santoku) and a whet stone for christmas. How do I sharpen it? I've never used a whet stone for sharpening, only a sharpening steel for touch ups. I\m completely confused, and all of the websites that I've found offer completely contradictory advise to that in the limited instruction manual.

[Anonymous No.5048145]

I'm decent at sharpening and my knowledge is fairly solid but I'm still learning/practicing
>apply water to whetstone/ water stone or let it soak for 10-15 mins
>to sharpen the blade put the cutting edge on a 20 degree angle
>go from heel to tip when sharpening
>apply even pressure and even amount of strokes to each side of the edge
do this also creates a burr on the edge or in idiot terms, metal shavings from grinding the edge
to remove this burr: use a strop (with/without a compound), a steel, or just use the whetstone/water stone but this time the edge is the trailing instead of the leading and only do one or two quick even stokes to remove the burr
if you practice your sharpening skills you can get a dull edge to paper cutting sharp or more with in 20-40 mins depending on the condition of the blade

when sharpening a knife with a stone, work up the grits for obvious reasons

>400 or below grit
for removing chips and forming a new edge but it wont get it sharp
>500-750
this is produce a sharp edge but it isnt paper cutting sharp
>1000
you can get it paper cutting sharp
>anything after 1000 grit - 10,000
razor sharp, can give it a mirror finish (food items will stick to mirror finishes), can create a fragile edge if you're an idiot but going this high isn't really necessary unless your edge needs to be this sharp

>strops
leather strop + compound refines the edge gently and removes burr

>steel
removes burr and re-hones a edge

also, free feel to ask any questions

[Anonymous No.5048168]

>>5048145
Thank you for the advise. I'll practice on some cheaper knives first. should I sharpen the whole length of each side at once, or do each sides in segments?

[Anonymous No.5048169]

>>5048145
here is the motion you can sharpen it
I personally prefer the swiping motion but I dont think it matters much
also, pressure on the stone means a lot. too much and you remove more of the metal of the knife, too little you refine to edge (amount varies depending on the grit) and you use the pressure accordingly to what you need to do

[Anonymous No.5048173]

>>5048169
How much pressure should I apply?

[Anonymous No.5048184]

>>5048168
okay lets pretend the edge of one side is side 1 and the other side 2
do you mean sharpen it by going 1,2,1,2,1,2 or 1,1,1,2,2,2 ?
it doesn't matter and it is according to preference

>>5048173
best advice I can say is just practice and find your right amount of pressure for creating/refining edges
but there are some signs to see if you're applying too much pressure
if your stone starts to show gray dust (this is referred to as loading (this means filling the pours of the stone with metal shavings)) then you are applying too much pressure unless you are trying to create a new edge
when I'm sharpening, about 20 strokes on each sides (already sharp but I need it sharper) I try to cut a piece of paper if it doesnt cut, I do another 20 strokes on each side. the pressure should feel firm, not too soft but not too hard, its somewhere in between those feeling in pressure

[Anonymous No.5048192]

>>5048184
also loading is more obvious in lower grits, in the higher grits (1000+) you will be removing too much of the stone (high grit stones are softer/more fragile than lower grits)

[Anonymous No.5048206]

>>5048184
Thanks. What I actually meant is to just do the point end of the blade, for instance, 20 times, then the middle 20 times, then the heel 20 times, just for side 1, then do that for side 2. That's what the instructions seemed to suggest, it was rather vague.

[Anonymous No.5048210]

>>5048206
oh, I misunderstood your question
you sharpen it from heel to tip in one single motion

[Anonymous No.5048222]

>>5048210
Thank you.

[Anonymous No.5048234]

>>5048145

This advice is already pretty good. Some more tips:

- there are plenty of sharpening vids on youtube or the homepages of well known knife manufacturers (Shun etc). Most of them are good.

- Drag the blade across a woolen thread to check whether you have a burr along the whole length of the edge, with the edge trailing

-paint the edge with a black waterproof magic marker to see where exactly you are grinding and how close you are to the edge.

-It is not necessary to swipe the dge of the blade across the stone in one single motion. There are basically three stages to sharpening:

First, you work up a burr. It is easiest done by working the dge back and forth on the stone, keepong continuous contact. the swipes are just two or three inches long and you slowly work your way from the heel to the tip of the blade.

Second, you chase the burr which means you bend it from right to left continuously, this will make it smaller and weaken it so it breaks off more easily. This is done by swiping the balde across the stone but only with the edge leading, not back and forth. Change sides after every swipe.

Three, you remove the burr by dragging the edge carefully through a bit of cork or harder wood. Check for remaining burr with woolen thread.

Optional four: Bring edge to razor shrpness with strop (loaded with polishing paste like chromium dioxide green oil paint)

[Anonymous No.5048261]

>>5048234
neat, thanks for the tips
I know a good amount about sharpening but as I stated before, I'm still learning and practicing

[Anonymous No.5048320]

>>5048234
Thank you. Those are some excellent tips. Concise but accurate, as were the other set of tips. Thank you all so much, /ck/. Time to attempt sharpening.

[Anonymous No.5048416]

>>5048261
>>5048320

You're welcome, if you want to learn more --> kitchenknifeforums.com

[Anonymous No.5048445]

worked well for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFhMGJYhYpU

[SirSpice No.5048547]

>>5048103
Here is a sharpening guide I made. Hope it helps.