Shopping and Maintenance
When buying a water stone, look for a large one, at
least 2½ inches wide and 8 inches long and an inch
thick. Stones come in various grit sizes, ranging
from around 100 up to 10,000+. The lower the
number, the coarser the grit, and the more material
it will take off your knife. The higher the grit, the
sharper the edge you will get, but the more strokes it
will take to get you there.
I recommend keeping two stones in your kit: one
with a medium grit (around 800 or so) to perform
major sharpening jobs and one with a fine grit (at
least 2,000) to tune the edge to a razor-sharp finish.
For real pros, a stone with an ultrafine grit (8,000
and above) will leave a mirror-like finish on your
blade, but most cooks won’t notice the difference in
terms of cutting ability. If you only have the budget
or space for a single stone, I’d recommend one with
a grit between 1,000 and 1,200. Two-sided stones
are also available (coarse and fine grit), but these
are usually of inferior quality. You will also need a
stone fixer to repair any unevenness in the surface of
your sharpening stones. I’ve yet to go farther down
the rabbit hole to purchase a stone-fixer fixer. Both
stones and fixers are available through
Amazon.com.
Carefully dry your stone after each use, and store
it wrapped in a kitchen towel in a dry, grease-free
environment. Oil can soak into the porous material,
ruining its sharpening ability (and your chances of
nandana
(Nandana)
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