Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Half Hour)
Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Half Hour)
This event was on
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.
Question:
When using a Whetstone to sharpen knives, do you try to stick to the manufacturer's angle, if you can find it, or use one setting for kitchen knives? 20 degrees?
— Sylvia Edwards
Answer:
If you go down the wetstone rabbit hole, a lot of, there are many, many factors to take into consideration. And I'll stop myself right here and say, when I bought my wetstone, I went to a very reputable culinary store here in Philadelphia called FTE's. It is 115 year old store that is sort of like whatever you need, they have. And I like to shop there for a lot of items because the people who work there are very knowledgeable and can explain everything to you in a very understandable way so that you get the best use out of your project product, rather. So it depends on what you're looking for, but I'm suggesting to follow the instructions from the wet stone maker. It depends upon, excuse me, the, uh, uh, grit count that you are going to use. So if you have a, a low grit count, like a 360 grit count, it's going to do an okay job. If, as you, as the numbers go up to a thousand, mine is a thousand, I think, um, it'll cut, it'll sharpen your knives more easily. So you're gonna u most of the instructions that are with your, um, wet stone are requiring that you use either a 15 degree or a 20 degree angle. And if in doubt, always check the website. And this is where I always like to say that sometimes supporting local who really know the products that are in their store is the best way to shop. So Sylvia, I hope that this is helpful to you. And my other suggestion is that twice a year I take my knives to the, uh, knife sharpener who's at my local farmer's market, and I give him my two favorite knives. And then I come back 20 minutes later and give him $20 or whatever, and my knives are done. But it is important to keep your knives sharpened and important to use the wetstone to your advantage in keeping those knives good. So I hope that this is helpful to you. And, um, one last thing. Uh, the care in your kitchen of the wetstone is very important and remember about, uh, soaking it. And it also needs to be lubricated. So make sure that you read the, uh, pamphlet that may have come with the webstone or always go to the website and do some more investigation.
