How to use whetstones.

 Whetstone/waterstone. This course will show you how to use them and give you an idea of whet tools are needed.

 Though "whetstone" is often mistaken as a reference to the water sometimes used to lubricate such stones, the term is based on the word "whet", which means to sharpen a blade, not on the word "wet." 

Artificial stones usually come in the form of a bonded abrasive composed of a ceramic such as silicon carbide (carborundum) or aluminium oxide (corundum). Bonded abrasives provide a faster cutting action than natural stones. They are commonly available as a double-sided block with a coarse grit on one side and a fine grit on the other enabling one stone to satisfy the basic requirements of sharpening. Some shapes are designed for specific purposes such as sharpening scythes, drills or serrations.

Modern synthetic stones are generally of equal quality to natural stones and are often considered superior in sharpening performance because of consistency of particle size and control over the properties of the stones. For example, the proportional content of abrasive particles as opposed to base or "binder" materials can be controlled to make the stone cut faster or more slowly, as desired.