Things You'll Need:
- Brown stone
- Ceramic stone
- White fine-grain stone
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Step 1
Use sharpening stones and strop to sharpen wood-carving knives; they are often called ceramic stones, Japanese wet stones, diamond hones or Arkansas wet stones. Ceramic stones are often the best option because they don't require any lubricants and are small and easy to carry.
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Step 2
Choose one method of sharpening the knife and stick with it so that the angle and type of sharpness obtained stays the same on the knife.
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Step 3
Lay the knife's blade on the flat edge of the stone (use a brown stone in this step). Raise the blade just slightly at the back end (about 10 degrees). Create a tight edge on your knife (good for carving) by keeping this degree small; this will keep the steel biting into wood.
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Step 4
Pull the knife against the stone, moving the it away from the cutting edge. This is one stroke. Flip the knife over and repeat the same process with the other side. Always keep both sides exactly same to create the best blade and edge possible on your wood-carving knife or tool.
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Step 5
Maintain the knife by using a white fine-grain stone. Repeat the sharpening process with the angle of the carving tool at the same angle you used previously. Usually 5 to 8 passes is necessary at first to create the angle, with 4 to 6 passes for sharpening the stone after the angle has been created.
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Step 6
Create a single-edge tool such as a straight chisel by sharpening in the same method, but using different strokes. Instead of balancing the strokes on each side, the edge side should be sharpened more than the dull side. For example, do 4 to 5 strokes on the sharp edge and only one on the dull edge. All wood-carving tools with one sharp edge can be sharpened in this manner.
