I bought a dual sided stone on the street today, with a light gray side and a dark gray side. Are you familiar with these? The guy said use the dark side first and finish with the light side.

This means the dark side has a coarser graining than the light side. With blunter knives, you should start on the coarse side shaping the edge of the blade. Then you move on to the finer side to create a smooth edge. When you're sharpening a knife that's already got a decent edge, passing it over the finer side usually sufices. What you want to do is soak the stone in plain (tap) water for about 10-15 minutes (assuming it's a water stone and not one that's used with oil -- but rest assured, 95% of of whetting stones sold in the street are water stones). Whetting a knife should never be done on a dry stone! You'll ruin both knife and stone. Also, during the whetting, keep adding water.

A very good instructional video, including some useful additional info is available here:

http://youtu.be/SIw5ChGOADE

Mind you, the guy uses whetstones that probably cost between 70 and 100 pounds. But still, even with a cheap stone, you can get good results. The problem with cheaper stones is that you'll notice a lot of wear on the stone and after 10-20 sharpening jobs, the stone becomes hard to use (it's no longer straight).

Edited November 18, 201411 yr by robenroute

Anybody seen an electric knife sharpener in Pattaya, Central@Festival doesn't have them?

ANCA GX7 I think is made in Thailand. Not 100% sure.

Anybody seen an electric knife sharpener in Pattaya, Central@Festival doesn't have them?

Something like this.

I bought a dual sided stone on the street today, with a light gray side and a dark gray side. Are you familiar with these? The guy said use the dark side first and finish with the light side.

This means the dark side has a coarser graining than the light side. With blunter knives, you should start on the coarse side shaping the edge of the blade. Then you move on to the finer side to create a smooth edge. When you're sharpening a knife that's already got a decent edge, passing it over the finer side usually sufices. What you want to do is soak the stone in plain (tap) water for about 10-15 minutes (assuming it's a water stone and not one that's used with oil -- but rest assured, 95% of of whetting stones sold in the street are water stones). Whetting a knife should never be done on a dry stone! You'll ruin both knife and stone. Also, during the whetting, keep adding water.

A very good instructional video, including some useful additional info is available here:

Mind you, the guy uses whetstones that probably cost between 70 and 100 pounds. But still, even with a cheap stone, you can get good results. The problem with cheaper stones is that you'll notice a lot of wear on the stone and after 10-20 sharpening jobs, the stone becomes hard to use (it's no longer straight).

I have used these for years. I don't bother soaking, just squirt on dishwashing liquid and Bob's your uncle. Not saying what I do is correct, but it works well enough - especially on cheaper knives - that I see no need to change my habits.

I bought a dual sided stone on the street today, with a light gray side and a dark gray side. Are you familiar with these? The guy said use the dark side first and finish with the light side.

This means the dark side has a coarser graining than the light side. With blunter knives, you should start on the coarse side shaping the edge of the blade. Then you move on to the finer side to create a smooth edge. When you're sharpening a knife that's already got a decent edge, passing it over the finer side usually sufices. What you want to do is soak the stone in plain (tap) water for about 10-15 minutes (assuming it's a water stone and not one that's used with oil -- but rest assured, 95% of of whetting stones sold in the street are water stones). Whetting a knife should never be done on a dry stone! You'll ruin both knife and stone. Also, during the whetting, keep adding water.

A very good instructional video, including some useful additional info is available here:

Mind you, the guy uses whetstones that probably cost between 70 and 100 pounds. But still, even with a cheap stone, you can get good results. The problem with cheaper stones is that you'll notice a lot of wear on the stone and after 10-20 sharpening jobs, the stone becomes hard to use (it's no longer straight).

I have used these for years. I don't bother soaking, just squirt on dishwashing liquid and Bob's your uncle. Not saying what I do is correct, but it works well enough - especially on cheaper knives - that I see no need to change my habits.

We always used spit when I was a kid.

We always used spit when I was a kid.

We used electricity when I was a kid. (ref post 34)

We always used spit when I was a kid.

We used electricity when I was a kid. (ref post 34)

Yep, that kind of electricity works fine on knives from Tesco's, 7-Eleven, and any other Tom-Dick-and-Harry brand. As soon as you're handling proper knives, you also want to properly care for them.