Beginner's Guide to Whetstone Sharpening

- (Note: this is just the 1000 grit, if you can only get one grit, get this one.)

Today, I'll be showing all the basics of sharpening a knife on a whetstone. First, we are going to go over the 4 fundamentals of sharpening, which are: 1. The abrasive 2. The sharpening angle 3. The burr & 4. Consistency.

Next, I will do an end to end sharpening of a cheap $11 knife, showcasing that you don't need expensive knives to get a screamingly sharp edge.

A sharp knife is a happy knife, A sharp knife is a safe knife. Once you enter the world of whetstone sharpening, you'll never want to go back.

OTHER CHANNELS WITH GREAT SHARPENING CONTENT

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MISC. DETAILS

All sources used:
- An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward

Music: Provided by Musicbed
Filmed on: Sony a6400 w/ 18-105mm F4
Voice recorded on Rode Video Micro
Edited in: Premiere Pro #SharpKnifeHappyKnife

Affiliate Disclosure:
Sources

Squeamish Intro: (0:00)
Importance of sharp knives: (0:34)
4 Fundamentals of Sharpening: (1:27)
The Abrasive: (1:50)
Sharpening Angle: (3:32)
The Burr: (5:15)
Consistency: (6:00)
Whetstone Sharpening Tutorial: (7:00)
EPIC BROLL: (29:40)

[EthanChlebowski]

Useful links and stuff:

- (Note: this is just the 1000 grit, if you can only get one grit, get this one.)

All sources used:
- An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward

[Tam_Eiki]

After having watched dozens of knife sharpening videos on Youtube, yours is the first one that even addressed when to apply the pressure to the knife (down or upstroke). Also, I realize now that I was applying way too much pressure and just curling the burr over and over. No wonder my knives would never sharpen to the point I needed. Thank you for the extremely detailed information, Ethan!

[TrellVerde]

I've tried sharpening guides from several different videos, with little success.
This was the one that finally clicked for me!
I spent the whole afternoon undoing years of abuse to my main kitchen knives. The satisfaction from a clean cut through paper was unbelievable!

[danielchong]

Excellent video...ive been a professional chef for 10 years and have been servicing my blades for 15 years and u have explained in the best terms many people need to know according to the fundamentals of edge manipulation and sharpening..keep it up!!

[opiumisaiah]

Him: sharpens knife Apple Watch: WHY ARE U RUNNING

[drankclaw]

I was starting to get overwhelmed, because I have a bunch of good expensive knives, some whetstones, and I've been trying to learn for weeks now how to sharpen them felt like such an idiot for wasting so much money on something I could never learn. Aaaand now I saw this video. Idk what I'd do without you Ethan you've improved my life a millionfold with the amazing tips/suggestions/research you provide - and you do it in such a non-condescending, honest, clear way. Your channel is a gem - you are a gem.

[patg]

Thank you! Your instruction were so clear and thorough. My ex-husband was the knife sharpener and always told me that if the angle was 1 degree off at any point the knife would be forever ruined. I am no longer intimidated. Bought my own knives and whetstone and am confident and ready to go!

[tomstage]

I really enjoyed the video, Ethan. In case it hasn't been mentioned already, isopropyl alcohol (e.g. 91% or greater) also works great for removing permanent marker - like a Sharpie pen - from non-porous surfaces. And it will be kinder on plastic-handled knives than acetone.

[gregkosinski]

You should wipe the knife clean when changing stones. Otherwise you introduce some of the larger grit particles into the finer medium and don’t end up getting the best effect from finer stone.

[jaklegacy]

I've watched like 10 videos on sharpening knives via whetstone now and for some reason this is the first time I've seen the sharpie trick.

[JohnFaire]

Good consistent logic to your method. Thank you for sharing. Always takes me a lot longer than I'd like to sharpen. Maybe 20-30min per knife on 1000/5000 stones. Watching you gave me some nice tips, and I now know that I am spending the correct amount of time sharpening my knifes.

To add - slicing, slowly, through thinner paper, eg receipt paper, like from the food orders' ticket machine, let's you know where the blade hangs up due to uneven blade edge, not sharpened enough, or stuck burr. Should go through very smoothly, and evenly at very slow speed through the thinnest paper, from the heel to tip. Going slow let's the edge hang up more easily where it needs more work.

[BluishGnome]

Your analogy of snapping a paper clip is what made the concept click in my mind. Now I know what I'm actually looking for when I feel the edge with my thumb!

[lqr]

Excellent video. Let me add some points:

1) when you sharpen, you're also removing a bit of stone. So when sharpening the point or heel of the knife, if that's in the middle of the top, you'll be cutting a light groove into the stone. I do the same move but with the tip (or heel) of the knife right on the edge. Granted it still cuts the stone, but instead of a groove has more of a slight rounding effect.

2) Once I find an angle that works, I put enough of my index finger on the lower side of the knife that it maintains light contact with the stone as I move. That keeps the angle precisely the same. If you don't have the angle very close to precisely the same, you won't get as sharp relative to the amount of metal you take off.

[johncall]

“I’m going to be blunt” hahahaha I guess that’s much better than being dull. This is cutting edge!

[Ionic]

Since Josh Wiseman fell off and turned into a meme machine for 10 year olds, I'm so fucking thrilled you are keeping true to yourself. You were recommended in many reddit threads and you've become one of my favourite channels.

[tegekgast]

Excellent beginners video, many of the Pro's have kind of forgotten what its like to really start from a blank slate and I picked up quite some good tips here. The theory at the beginning for example was helpful. Thanks!

[austindavis]

I appreciate you showing your finger, I needed something like that to drill the importance of sharp knives into my head. I bought a kit and am gonna get to work

[briangardner]

My new whetstone set and this video allowed me to easily slice through a tomato with a really old never sharpened knife.

[marysibley]

Just sharpened a knife for the first time in my life. Waited until we had a knife so dull I figured I couldn't make it worse if I flubbed the job. Following the tutorial assiduously, I estimate I brought the edge to about 70% cutting efficacy. Better than I expected for a first try! The video's carefully presented concepts along with detailed, real-time demonstrations of the end-to-end procedural steps demystified the process and gave me enough information for a reasonable success given no prior experience. Thanks!

[TmasterREY]

This is probably the most helpful whetstone video I've seen on Youtube and I've watched as many as 3.