- 1). Soak your whetstones in water for 10 minutes before use. Watch as tiny bubbles escape from the stones while the water soaks them. They must be thoroughly soaked before use, and you may need to occasionally splash them with water during use to maintain smooth sharpening.
- 2). Begin with arato if your knife is very dull, or nakato if you have sharpened it recently. Hold your knife at a 10- to 15-degree angle to the surface of the stone. This is about the thickness of two pennies.
- 3). Draw your knife blade across the stone, from base to tip, at this angle. Guide the blade with your other hand as you draw it across, pressing down gently so the blade is constantly in contact with the stone. Be careful not to get your fingers too close to the blade, as even dull knives can cut skin.
- 4). Pull the knife back across the whetstone at the same angle, using the same method. Repeat the drawing and pulling process five times, rewetting the stone if it seems dry. It is not necessary to soak the stone if it needs rewetting; a simple dousing with water will suffice.
- 5). Repeat this process with the other side of the blade on the same stone. Then repeat this process with both sides of the blade on nakato, if you started with arato. If you started with nakato, skip to the following step.
- 6). Sharpen with siageto in a slightly different way. Instead of gently drawing the knife along the whetstone and guiding it with your other hand, hold your knife right at the bolster near the base of the blade. Steady it with your thumb, then swiftly push it away along the whetstone so that the entire surface of the blade slides against the surface of the whetstone at a 10- to 15-degree angle.
- 7). Repeat this process five times with each side of the blade.
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