Whetstone grit, explained: the two stones most kitchens need

Whetstone shopping is where a lot of people give up on sharpening before they start. The stones are numbered from 120 to 12000, every guide recommends a different combination, and it's hard to tell whether you need one stone or six. Here's the plain version.

What the numbers mean

Grit is how coarse the stone is. Low numbers remove metal fast and leave a rough edge. High numbers remove almost nothing and polish the edge fine. That's the entire system. A 400 stone is for fixing damage, a 1000 stone is for sharpening, and a 5000 stone is for refining an edge that's already sharp.

The one stone to start with

If you only buy one stone, buy something around 1000 grit. It's the workhorse of the whole range: coarse enough to raise a fresh edge on a dull knife in ten minutes, fine enough that the edge it leaves is already sharper than most kitchens have ever seen. Sharpen on a 1000 every few weeks and a home knife never really gets the chance to go dull.

The second stone, when you're ready

A finishing stone in the 3000 to 6000 range takes the edge from sharp to genuinely pleasurable. Tomatoes stop being a test. It also teaches you more about angle control, because a fine stone is honest about your technique in a way a coarse one isn't. Most home cooks stop here, and there's no reason to go further unless you fall in love with the process.

The very coarse stones, 400 and below, are repair tools. You want one the day a knife tip meets the counter or an edge picks up a chip, and almost never otherwise. It's a fine third purchase and a strange first one.

A note on soaking

Most stones want a soak before use. Put the stone in water until the bubbles stop, usually five to ten minutes, and keep the surface wet while you work. The slurry that forms on top is doing part of the cutting, so don't rinse it away mid-session. Some stones are splash-and-go and need no soak at all; the packaging will say.

What we'd pick

We carry Naniwa, who have been making sharpening stones in Osaka since 1941, and their stones are what we use ourselves. Start with a 1000 grit from their line, add a finishing stone when the 1000 starts feeling routine, and you're equipped for a lifetime of sharp knives. Browse the range in our Naniwa collection, and if you're unsure which fits your knives, write to us. Sharpening questions are our favourite kind.