Product Review

Although waterstones are low maintenance and the clean-up is easy, they do need to be flattened from time to time. For professional sharpeners using waterstones, it can be as much as 2 or 3 times a week. If you are only using your stones once or twice a week, you can probably get away with flattening them 2 or 3 times a year. The more often you do it though, the less effort it will be each time. To flatten your waterstones, just make a grid with a pencil in both directions of your stone. Make sure you've gone from end to end in both directions and just leave about a quarter inch between lines. Put the flattening stone (grooves down) on your stone and move it with a reasonable amount of pressure in a figure 8. You'll see the pencil marks where your stone is not flat (usually where you sharpen a lot) and needs to be worked until there is no markings. Do this regularly and you will have a nice flat stone that gives you the results you're looking for. A flattening stone is a must if you use waterstones!! We also include a free leather pocket hone. These are great to touch up knives from time to time to keep a really sharp edge. One side is smooth and the other side is rough. It measures 7" and is 3/4" wide so it fits nicely into your pocket.