Wicked Edge Blade Sharpeners and Stones
Wicked Edge manufactures a variety of honing products, including knife sharpener devices and sharpening stones. Knife sharpeners are available in configurations that may offer whetstones with varying grits or employ features such as a vise to hold the knife and change its angle. Knowing what types of kits are common, the features they may include, and how to use them may help you narrow your search and find the one that meets your needs.
What are the common types of knife sharpeners?Most of these products come in two basic configurations: kits or sharpening stones. You may also purchase a kit that includes several whetstones without any other accessories.
- A knife sharpening kit includes a device for holding a knife in place and various accessories for honing it. The clamping system on sharpening kits may allow you to adjust the specific angle of the blade to meet your sharpening needs. Kits may include clamps, angle settings, guide rods, and stones.
- Sharpening stones are the basic blocks you can use to sharpen your knives manually. These stones are available in different grits to sharpen knives that have varying levels of Rockwell hardness.
Choosing the right products will depend on your specific sharpening needs and may vary from one scenario to the next. However, there are some basic rules you can follow to narrow down your search:
- Choose a grit that works for you. Which grits are effective will depend on the hardness of your knife.
- Fine grits are useful for touching up the edge of your knife while coarse grits may help you sharpen a dull knife or remove nicks from the blade.
- Choose a whetstone or kit that is sized to accept common edge lengths.
- If you're purchasing a kit, check that it has the angle requirements that you need.
- Usually, one stone in a fine grit and one in a coarse grit work together to do the whole sharpening job.
Sharpening kits and stones both use the same basic premise to hone the edges of your knives, but each one performs the task differently.
- If you're using a stone, clean the surface area with water and dry it.
- Starting at the base of the stone, draw the edge of your knife along its length in a slicing motion.
- Begin this motion with the base of the blade touching the whetstone and pull the knife down as you go so the tip makes contact with the stone.
- Repeat this process as many times as necessary on one side of the blade.
- Flip it over to sharpen the other side of the edge.
- Keep the angle steady throughout the process.