Word Of The Day: Whetstone

Perhaps your knives have become dull, and have nothing interesting to say. Fortunately, you can make them sharp again (but you still shouldn't be talking to your knives). Very funny, yes. Anyway, the best method for knife sharpening is very simple and hasn't changed much from ancient times. All it takes is a whetstone.

A whetstone is a flat block of fine-grained stone which the edge of a knife may be sharpened against. Grit size of whetstones vary, and the finer the grit, the more finely it finishes the blade. Most whetstones today are artificial and made of ceramic as opposed to real stone. Natural whetstones have become relatively rare, but synthetic ones work just as well. The process of sharpening a knife with a whetstone is called stoning and, naturally, we encourage that you get all your knives as stoned as possible.

Use today's Word of the Day: Video Tour of Bob Kramer's Knife Workshop