How to Pick Right Whetstone Knife Sharpener?

There are many ways to sharpen your knives. So as to go for this, you can choose sharpening stones or whetstone knife sharpener in view of the status of your knife. We believe using sharpening stones is the only best way to give your knife a sharp edge without causing any damage to your blade (if used properly). In general, we recommend you to sharpen your knives ones a month to feel satiety using these in your everyday work, like, in kitchen work. Let’s have a quick look what we are gonna have from this article :

• How does a sharpening stone/ whetstone work?
• How do you select right sharpening stone/ whetstone ?
• Detail about Arato, Nakato, Shiageto stone.
• Detail about Diamond stone, oil stone, and water stone.

How does a Whetstone Knife Sharpener work?

There may be natural whetstone or artificial stones. Natural whetstone is soft stones cut faster than the natural hard stones. Water makes the surface of the stone soft. Moreover, each time you pass the blade over the surface of the stone, it releases some materials over the stone. Water removes the particles from the surface of the whetstone. If the particles remain on the surface, will drastically reduce the stones effectiveness.

How to Select Right Whetstone Knife Sharpener?

Here, it’s pretty confusing to many of you regarding which stone is required for which state of the knife. And this confusion can be a disaster for your knives if it’s not figured out the proper uses.

Well then, we going to show you the categories of stones. There are three categories of stones are distinguished by the number of grit present on the stone surface. Grit numbers are very important for the categorization. You might be thinking, Grit! Those are countable? Yes! It is.

From the Japanese cutlery point of view, the first one is:

Arato or Rough Whetstone

It means rough stone. It contains up to 800 grit. Basically, It is used if your knife is beaten up on any part of the edge or nicked up or very dull. There the grit sizes are bigger. As it is so abrasive, be aware that it can shave off your knife’s lot of material. As a beginner, you should not try this. It can be disastrous for your knife.

The second one is:

Nakato or Medium grit Whetsone

It means neither the stone is rough nor fine stone. It contains up to 1500 grit. If your knife’s edge is very dull but not damaged, then it should be enough to sharpen your knife’s edge. This stone can have a good amount of materials from the edge to make the knife sharp again. In addition, 1200 grit stones are more popular for sharpening the traditional Japanese knives. 

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And the third is:

Shiageto or fine Stone

Shiageto means finisher stone. It contains grit over 1500 and above and basically used to give the sharpened knife a finishing touch to make it sharper. A 3000-4000 grit stone would be great to make the finishing touch and to make a very sharp edge. Doing so, there will be a good ratio between sharpness and durability. Notably, there is no Japanese measurement standard above 10000 grits.

Be aware that not using water on the stone surface during the sharpening process stone grit may be damaged and finishing of your knife’s edge won’t be satisfactory.

Let’s get know about Diamond Stone, Oil Stone, and  Water Stone

As water stones are softer than oil stones, they generally cut faster than the oil stones. Must remember that you need to soak the water whetstone for at least 10 minutes.

On the other hand, diamond stones are more durable than oil stones or water stones. They cut faster than natural stone because they have a more coarse grit. Diamond Whetstone knife sharpener need not be soaked. They cut faster than the natural stones.

Diamond abrasive causes more friction, so it is difficult to get a polished edge. Whereas, softer natural stones like water stones reduce particles from the blade in a predictable manner and gives the sharpener a clear idea of the progress. It helps to work efficiently and quickly. Diamond stones need not be lubricated. Let’s take look at a video, how to choose a whetstone knife sharpener.

Just Pick one of these Whetstone!

Notably, there is a trick if you need any two of the grit stones. You can buy one stone with two-sided different grit layer. It will save you from an extra cost.   So, we have learned about 3 categories of stones depending on the number of grit. Basically, we can find  another three different types of stones too which are known in the market as:

• Diamond Stone
• Oil Stone
• Water Stone

Those stones that we have discussed above, for example, a 1200 grit stone can be found in Diamond stone, or oil stone, or water stone Likewise, 800 or 1500 or 3000 grit stones or as per your need. Hence, if you want to buy a stone for your need you don’t have to name the stones as Arato or Nakato or Shigato. You just have to figure it out what number of the grit of a stone you need and then ask for a diamond or which stone you want.

You must be thinking how you will distinguish among the Three types of stones? What factors really characterize the stones? Nothing to be a worry. We are here to help you out of that labyrinthine.

Well, we will not go into the scientific terms of these stones to make the differences. Before that you need to know :

Therefore, if you have a knife beaten up you should use a diamond stone as it works quicker. Besides, if you have a knife that needs more sharpen edge you should use a water whetstone knife sharpener.