recommend a good whetstone to buy in NZ (budget)?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › recommend a good whetstone to buy in NZ (budget)?

Batman

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#260065 8-Nov-2019 20:15

sorry a bit random, i see a few on trademe - 25, 60, 80 bucks ... is the 25 dollar one any good?

my kitchen knives that i bought from farmers are horribly blunt

(i've had them for a few years and didn't realise i could sharpen them, but they were blunt from day 1 - i knew because my MIL gifted me another cheap knife from countdown that sliced through everything while my knives won't even cut potatoes)

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#2350453 8-Nov-2019 20:24

I got one from Amazon. After spending a couple of hours my initial impression is that you should just buy a knife sharpener, manual or electric. A whetstone seems like a great idea after watching YouTube with an expert, but in practice they take a lot of time and effort.

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#2350500 8-Nov-2019 22:58

As above, don't bother with a whetstone, get a good knife sharpener.

I got one of these Wiltshire-3-Stage-Knife-Sharpener on 50% off sale at Briscoes

Does a great job.

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#2350511 9-Nov-2019 00:43

thanks. looks like knives condemned.

i have a two stage sharpener - does squat to the blunt german hard steel set

brilliant for the countdown el-cheapo.

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#2350542 9-Nov-2019 07:09

edit: ordered cheapest 400/1000 whetstone from aliexpress for the price of a mcD's

wazzageek

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#2350546 9-Nov-2019 07:38

Keen to hear how you get on, I have the sharpening steel from Farmers that I use (https://www.farmers.co.nz/5862729) on my knives and that gets them sharpened again nicely. (To be fair, the knives were all sharp when I got them)

timmmay

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#2350548 9-Nov-2019 08:09

My whetstone from amazon is 1000 / 6000, from memory. 400 is fairly coarse, but maybe good for really blunt knives. I just found that I spend an hour or so and while the knives were sharper, it wasn't like the youtube videos where you can effortlessly slice through paper, tomatoes, etc, and I ran out of time so I gave up. I mean to look for an electric knife sharpener one day.

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wazzageek

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#2350549 9-Nov-2019 08:14

timmmay:

. I mean to look for an electric knife sharpener one day.

... Bench grinder? 🤣

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#2350551 9-Nov-2019 08:39

timmmay:
My whetstone from amazon is 1000 / 6000, from memory. 400 is fairly coarse, but maybe good for really blunt knives. I just found that I spend an hour or so and while the knives were sharper, it wasn't like the youtube videos where you can effortlessly slice through paper, tomatoes, etc, and I ran out of time so I gave up. I mean to look for an electric knife sharpener one day.

Yea after reading your post and putting it all together I thought I'd try a 400/1000. That's assuming my burger priced stone is actually 400/1000.

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#2350553 9-Nov-2019 08:40

wazzageek: Keen to hear how you get on, I have the sharpening steel from Farmers that I use (https://www.farmers.co.nz/5862729) on my knives and that gets them sharpened again nicely. (To be fair, the knives were all sharp when I got them)

Yea I don't need them to be amazing sharp, i just want the knives to actually cut stuff.

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#2350554 9-Nov-2019 08:53

Batman:
wazzageek: Keen to hear how you get on, I have the sharpening steel from Farmers that I use (https://www.farmers.co.nz/5862729) on my knives and that gets them sharpened again nicely. (To be fair, the knives were all sharp when I got them)

Yea I don't need them to be amazing sharp, i just want the knives to actually cut stuff.

might be worth looking at that sharpener, it’s good for keeping knives sharp, so they can cut properly (my test is tomato’s) = currently on special too, and doesn’t take hours to make the knives sharper again.

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#2350555 9-Nov-2019 09:04

I have a sharpener already albeit a two stage one

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#2350677 9-Nov-2019 11:47

Got given this as a 50th present. Best sharpener ever. Brilliant system.

Furi Tech Edge Pro Knife Sharpening System

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

mdf

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#2350732 9-Nov-2019 13:37

Best ever DIY knife sharpening approach, courtesy Paul Sellers:

Easy, fast, reliable, and you have to be in a real hurry or totally ham handed to cut yourself or ruin your knife.

I'd recommend the diamond sharpeners. You can get locally at hardware and outdoor stores, e.g. Bunnings:

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/eze-lap-fine-diamond-hone-stone-sharpener_p00141136

Or buy the set from ebay or similar:

https://www.ebay.com.au/p/5034424005

mdf

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#2350734 9-Nov-2019 13:40

Stones are great if you know what you are doing, but I'm a total convert to diamond sharpening for everything from garage to kitchen. You won't get a hollow, so you never need to dress or maintain the stone. As I understand it, steels are more to help maintain an already sharp edge rather than sharpening something blunt.

Again from Paul Sellers, I use window cleaner as a lapping fluid. Works really well and costs next to nothing compared to genuine lapping fluids.

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#2350891 10-Nov-2019 00:12

I would be very cautious with knife sharpeners, in particular the popular pull-through carbide ones are terrible, they chew up your blade, great for demonstrating how "effective" it is in a sales pitch but terrible for your knives.

First, you need to steel your knives regularly. What you do next depends on the quality of the knives, if they're cheap Warehouse ones toss them and get new ones, if they're cheap Briscoes ones use an at least vaguely decent-quality sharpener, if you're going to the trouble of using a whetstone then you'd better have pretty decent-quality knives.

So I guess the first question is, what are the knives?

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