Learning to sharpen, what you really need.

Now this picture does have a few things that I consider a must if you are learning to sharpen.
A water stone, the stone holder, a Sharpie, a dull knife and some water. This just happens to be in  a tray that I used to use to help keep things a little tidy. Sharpening knives can be messy.

Now the things you ABSOLUTELY need the most are things you cannot buy:

PATIENCE/PERSISTENCE and enough passion to drive you to practicing, building layers upon layers of confidence is essential.

I know that these things are a some what cliche they really are important, it's a bit of mental game and you need to be able to manage your expectations.

The main reason I am posting this topic is to talk about Japanese Water Stones. Yes I do love my Naniwa Chosera and Shaptons but don't feel you need to have these to make your knives sharp. Don't think you need a 10,000 grit stone either, you can get a knife incredibly sharp with a 400 grit stone, so the 1k is quite okay.

Stay away from the oil stones sold in hardware stores for 7 dollars though.  King stones are quite okay, they are very inexpensive at about 30 dollars Canadian for a King 800, 1000 and 1200.  You can get away with one water stone although it would be nice to have a coarse stone  in the 400-600 range or even the King 800. Your knives are probably a little dull when starting so a coarser stone will speed up the process but a 1k water stone is pretty much perfect if you just want to get one.

Don't feel pressure to go out and buy a lot of stuff to get started, one stone and a 2X4 over a kitchen sink will do the trick. Once you find out if you are hooked or not you can explore other nifty items.

The key to successful knife sharpening is developing a technique that is repeatable and effective.
Don't practice on a 2 dollar knife, it will lead to frustration because of the inferior quality of the steel, so it will be hard to sharpen and you may set yourself up for failure, you'll lose confidence.


Start on a knife that you use and if you are worried about scratching it, tape the blade up.




The purpose of this post is not to provide an instruction on sharpening but to tell you not to feel the need to go spend a lot of money.  ALSO, I am quite sure that you can do it.

People spend a lot of money on gadgets for sharpening, believe me, with one stone you can get your knifes sharper than any gadget and NOT TO MENTION how satisfying the work is.
Every single time you sharpen your knife, you are rewarded with the satisfaction that you have done it yourself and then be prepared to get sucked in because it really does feel great.

If you can take a lesson from someone that is the best route but that is not always possible.

never hesitate to contact me if you have specific questions.

Thanks folks
Peter