This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
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
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 20251,2075
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 20256,7623
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,1985
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,3085
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,4515
Other pages you may also like
Maillard reactions
This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...January 28th 201537 K4
The window-pane test in bread-making
The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...June 16th 202196 K 23.9
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021146 K4.5
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...October 10th 201819 K5
The right weight of pastry for a pie
Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...March 20th 202066 K4.3
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.