In praise of the whetstone
Have you ever seen a butcher or a chef sharpen his knife before using it?
Usually he uses a special tool, a long thin cylinder made of very hard metal.
And in a smooth and elegant gesture, he very quickly passes the edge of the knife against the rifle, which makes a very characteristic noise, and in a few seconds the knife is again well sharpened, ready to slice.
I am very impressed by this sharpening gesture which seems very simple, but is not at all, there is a question of blade angle, direction, and intensity of pressure to obtain a nice edge or thread on the knife, and not to crush it completely.
Usually he uses a special tool, a long thin cylinder made of very hard metal.
And in a smooth and elegant gesture, he very quickly passes the edge of the knife against the rifle, which makes a very characteristic noise, and in a few seconds the knife is again well sharpened, ready to slice.
I am very impressed by this sharpening gesture which seems very simple, but is not at all, there is a question of blade angle, direction, and intensity of pressure to obtain a nice edge or thread on the knife, and not to crush it completely.
12 K 4.8/5 (17 reviews)
Last modified on: June 5th 2021
In praise of the whetstone
So I always envied it, but I almost never got it right, and yet my son who is in the business showed me several times "Look dad, it's easy, you put the tool like this, the knife like this and go!
But nothing to do, I can't sharpen a knife properly with a that...
And yet I have, like you perhaps, a good set of knives at home, and since there is nothing more painful than a knife that cuts badly when you cook (a knife "just good for ruining your appetite" say the cooks), as soon as the need was felt I called a sharpener. He sharpens well, he uses a grinding wheel, but each time I have to go and come back, not easy.
So I was overdoing it when it came to sharpening, until I finally switched to the sharpening stone.
If you're not familiar with it, it's very simple: it's a stone (some of them natural) with a fairly long rectangular shape, which you simply wet generously before passing it gently flat over the knife blade, from the thick side towards the edge.
That's all there is to it! No need for any particular skill, the gesture is very simple, I can do it by myself that's to say, and above all very efficient: the stone, very fine in texture, polishes the blade in a way, and as you work flat, no or few risks of dodging the edge.
You just have to re-wet the stone from time to time and rinse the blade to eliminate the stone and metal dust that forms.
All this to say that if you have difficulties sharpening your knives, the sharpening stone may be the solution you need.
If you are thinking of buying one, you will find artificial ones, which are made in Asia from silica powder, very very cheap, but not much better than that.
And if not, for a much better quality, did you know that we have in the Pyrenees the last whetstone factory in Europe, which extracts from a local quarry and shapes natural whetstones of exceptional quality?
Well I admit that before I saw it in a "Faut pas rêver" topic, I had never heard of it! But they're out there, making great stones, not very expensive, that will last you at least a lifetime.
See their site, they have dealers in quite a few corners, I bought mine here, and before you kid me on that, no I don't have any stock or percentage with them :-).
Note that the stone comes with a little instruction manual, very pictorial and very well done.
In summary: Not comfortable with a tool to sharpen your knives? Try the whetstone, and in this case let yourself be tempted by a beautiful natural stone from the Pyrenees.
But nothing to do, I can't sharpen a knife properly with a that...
And yet I have, like you perhaps, a good set of knives at home, and since there is nothing more painful than a knife that cuts badly when you cook (a knife "just good for ruining your appetite" say the cooks), as soon as the need was felt I called a sharpener. He sharpens well, he uses a grinding wheel, but each time I have to go and come back, not easy.
So I was overdoing it when it came to sharpening, until I finally switched to the sharpening stone.
If you're not familiar with it, it's very simple: it's a stone (some of them natural) with a fairly long rectangular shape, which you simply wet generously before passing it gently flat over the knife blade, from the thick side towards the edge.
That's all there is to it! No need for any particular skill, the gesture is very simple, I can do it by myself that's to say, and above all very efficient: the stone, very fine in texture, polishes the blade in a way, and as you work flat, no or few risks of dodging the edge.
You just have to re-wet the stone from time to time and rinse the blade to eliminate the stone and metal dust that forms.
All this to say that if you have difficulties sharpening your knives, the sharpening stone may be the solution you need.
If you are thinking of buying one, you will find artificial ones, which are made in Asia from silica powder, very very cheap, but not much better than that.
And if not, for a much better quality, did you know that we have in the Pyrenees the last whetstone factory in Europe, which extracts from a local quarry and shapes natural whetstones of exceptional quality?
Well I admit that before I saw it in a "Faut pas rêver" topic, I had never heard of it! But they're out there, making great stones, not very expensive, that will last you at least a lifetime.
See their site, they have dealers in quite a few corners, I bought mine here, and before you kid me on that, no I don't have any stock or percentage with them :-).
Note that the stone comes with a little instruction manual, very pictorial and very well done.
In summary: Not comfortable with a tool to sharpen your knives? Try the whetstone, and in this case let yourself be tempted by a beautiful natural stone from the Pyrenees.
Lasts posts
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20251,6095
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,3065
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,200
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20253,4735
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20258,0323
Other pages you may also like
Perpetual stock
It's something you have probably have done yourself: cooked or pre-cooked vegetables before adding them to a recipe. This is almost always done the same way: peel the chosen vegetables (carrots, for example), cut them up, boil them in salted water (using a tablespoon or so of coarse salt per litre),...November 22th 201631 K5
Should I believe my oven?
Can you really trust your oven? This is an important question as we are always tempted to take the temperature indicated as gospel truth and, unfortunately, this is rarely very precise. .July 4th 201133 K4.6
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201768 K 24.2
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...November 26th 201857 K4.6
The bitterness of endives
As I write these lines, we are entering the endive season, and if you like it, it's time to enjoy it, if possible with your local producers. Endive is good, but the reproach that is often made of it, and children in particular, is: "It's bitter! And it is (somewhat) true of course, endives...February 9th 201914 K4.9
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.