Busting the myth of whetstone sharpening

There are many ways to sharpen a knife.

Whetstones, grinding wheels, belts, diamond abrasives and increasingly sophisticated

sharpening systems can all produce extremely sharp edges.

Yet there is a persistent belief that sharpening a knife by hand on a whetstone is somehow inherently more refined, more sympathetic or more "correct" than sharpening it on a large professional water-cooled sharpening wheel.

It isn't quite that simple.

At its most fundamental level, the principle is exactly the same.

An abrasive meets the steel at a controlled angle and removes a minute amount of material to create

two bevels. One on each side of the blade.Those bevels ultimately form the cutting 'V' edge.

Whether the abrasive stone,belt or wheel happens to be flat or round doesn't change that fundamental process.

Your Knife Wasn't Necessarily Born on a Whetstone

Knife manufacturers frequently recommend whetstones for maintaining their products, and

whetstones can certainly produce excellent results in skilled hands.

But there is an interesting contradiction.

The factory edge on a mass-produced knife will typically have been created using powered abrasive

machinery rather than somebody sitting at a bench patiently sharpening every knife backwards and

forwards on a small whetstone.

See below an image from Global knives factory of their knives having edges administered on large abrasive water cooled wheels.

Professional knife manufacturing has long relied upon powered grinding and sharpening systems,

including abrasive wheels and belts. Large water-cooled aluminium-oxide and similar abrasive wheels

are one established method of producing extremely precise edges.

Blade & Butler uses the same fundamental principle: a skilled sharpener, a controlled angle, super

fine abrasives and water cooling.

What Is Actually Happening to the Steel?

Imagine sharpening a knife on a traditional whetstone.

You place the blade against the abrasive at the required angle and move it repeatedly across the stone.

With every pass, microscopic particles of steel are removed.

Eventually, you have created a new bevel.

Now imagine placing that same blade against a very large ( car tyre sized! ), rapidly rotating, fine-grit water-cooled

sharpening wheel.

The abrasive is spinning instead of the knife being repeatedly moved across a stationary stone, but the

underlying physics hasn't changed.

Abrasive + steel + correct angle = new bevel.

That is sharpening.

With a sufficiently large wheel, the curvature presented to the tiny section of blade actually being

sharpened is perfectly suited. Combine that with a highly skilled operator with a million plus sharpenings under his belt and a suitably refined abrasive, and an exceptionally precise edge can be produced.

What Matters Is the Person Holding the Knife

This is the part that is frequently overlooked.

Neither a whetstone nor a professional sharpening wheel possesses any skill whatsoever.

The skill belongs to the sharpener.

An inexperienced person can damage a knife on a whetstone. Equally, an inexperienced person can

damage a knife using powered equipment.

A skilled sharpener understands blade geometry, pressure, abrasive selection, burr formation, steel

characteristics, heat control and—perhaps most importantly—the correct angle for the particular knife

being sharpened.

The machine doesn't make those decisions.

The sharpener does.

Is a Whetstone More Gentle?

There is a widespread assumption that because whetstone sharpening is slow, it must automatically be

gentler.

Speed alone doesn't determine how sympathetic a sharpening process is.

What matters is the abrasive, its grit size, the pressure applied, the amount of steel being removed,

temperature control and the skill of the operator.

The professional water-cooled wheels used by Blade & Butler employ extremely fine abrasives. Around

1,000 grit can be used during primary sharpening, while specialist abrasive systems can extend into several

thousand grit for further refinement.

Water cooling is equally important. The wheel continuously carries water to the sharpening surface,

controlling temperature while the edge is being formed.

The objective isn't to grind away your knife.

It is to remove precisely what is necessary to recreate the cutting geometry.

Why Not Simply Use Whetstones?

There is nothing wrong with whetstones.

In the hands of an accomplished sharpener, they are capable of producing superb edges. For

enthusiasts who enjoy sharpening their own knives, the process can also be extremely satisfying.

But they are slow.

Achieving the same work through repeated manual passes over a stationary stone can take

considerably longer than using professional powered equipment in experienced hands.

For somebody sharpening one treasured knife at home, that may not matter.

For professional sharpeners servicing large numbers of knives while maintaining consistency from one

blade to the next, efficiency matters enormously.

Taking longer doesn't inherently make an edge better. It makes the service more expensive.

The Abrasive Doesn't Know Whether It Is Flat or Round

This is perhaps the simplest way to understand it.

Steel doesn't know whether it is touching a £100 Japanese whetstone or an enormous professional

water-cooled aluminium-oxide wheel.

It responds to abrasion.

Control the abrasive, control the angle, control the pressure and control the temperature, and you will

create the perfect cutting edge.

That is why the argument shouldn't really be whetstone versus wheel.

The important questions are:

Who is holding the knife?

Do they understand its geometry?

Are they using the correct abrasive?

Are they controlling the temperature?

And do they have the experience to know exactly how much steel needs to be removed—and no

more?

At Blade & Butler, we use professional water-cooled sharpening equipment identical to knife manufacturers specifications because it allows an experienced sharpener to produce an extremely precise, refined and consistent edge efficiently.

We then refine further on multiple different polishing and buffing apparatus.

Whetstones can produce excellent edges.

So can professional water-cooled wheels.

Ultimately, it isn't the stone that sharpens your knife well. It's the person holding it.