Sharpening with Whetstones

Botch

As both an avid cook and amateur woodworker, I've tried a lot of different sharpening systems over the years, and watched a lot of "how-to's" on the 'tube.  Recently I bought some larger diamond plates for the woodshop, and decided to move my Japanese waterstones up to the kitchen.  I had purchased a ChefsChoice "Trizor" electric sharpener a few years ago, both for ease and to regrind my nearly-40-yr-old Slavic sustenance slicers to a narrower, Japanese-type angle; but my Henckels knives all have a thick heel on the blade which really didn't work with a pull-thru electric grinder, which I will be selling.
 
This afternoon by chance this 2021 Adam Ragusea video popped up; it's kinda long but he openly admits he's not a sharpening expert, so he interviewed/filmed a guy who was.  The expert is a good teacher, and at one point was sharpening the knives of many nearby chefs, but gave that up to go back to being a professional chef, because sharpening was too hard on his body (think about that for a moment!).  
 
Anyway, I thought this was the best manual-sharpening video I've seen, and very approachable to anyone, so thought I'd post it here.  The actual sharpening technique starts about halfway thru the video, and might be a good reference.  
 
https://youtu.be/KY8jvFqpZ_o?si=7inTAy72-tr-8WzM
 
I have to disagree with Adam on one thing he said; he didn't recommend the waterstones that were two different grits laminated together, as "getting one side un-flat/un-level would affect the flatness of the other side/grit".  If you flatten each side with a diamond plate before each use, as the expert recommends, that can't happen.  Just my 2-scents...
 
(oh, and I can now post a video directly like I used to; either Apple or EweTube fixed something in their software since Sonoma  ).  

lousubcap

Excellent tutorial.  I work with whetstones at the low amatuer level.  Tomorrow I will see if I can lift my game a notch or two.  Thanks @Botch. 

dmourati

I've seen this before but then again I watched a *lot* of sharpening videos on youtube. Thanks for the refresher.