How to Sharpen a Knife With a Stone

If your knives are too dull to cut efficiently, you just may need to resharpen them. Here's how to use a sharpening stone to have your knives cutting like new.

Things You'll Need

• Sharpening stone

Instructions

1. Lay your knives in a safe spot, near enough to be easily reached when you're ready for them.

2. If you're using a "wet" stone, moisten it with water. Dry stones don't need any moisture.

3. Place the sharpening stone in front of you at a safe working distance. Lay the edge of the blade nearest to the knife handle on the stone at a 45-degree angle.

4. Slowly scrape the knife blade along the stone with a consistent rhythm, keeping the blade at the same angle. Repeat this step several times.

5. Turn the knife blade over and repeat Step 4.

6. Try the knife out to see how sharp it is. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 if the blade isn't sharp enough.

7. Wipe off the blade when you're done to remove any debris from the edge of the blade.

Tips & Warnings

• It doesn't matter if you have a wet stone or dry stone to sharpen with.

• Wet only the wet stones. Dry stones should never be wet down as the pores within the stone will only get clogged and render it useless.