Diamond sharpeners and whetstones

No matter how good a knife you own, it will eventually need sharpening. The better the knife, the better the steel used in it, and it often requires better sharpening materials than the simplest knives. We offer plenty of sharpener models for different types of blades and steels, and in the category below you will find diamond whetstones. We will distinguish between types of diamond sharpeners, what gradation has to do with sharpening, and how to sharpen a knife so as not to destroy the cutting edge. To begin with, we must answer the question: why diamond and not ceramic or carbide? Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance in nature. It obviously has a strength advantage over ordinary stone or ceramic sharpening tools and is more precise. In addition, the hardest premium steels such as S30V, CTS XHP or even 154CM can effectively resist basic whetstones and, although the above steels provide unprecedented sharpness and dull very slowly, sharpening should be carried out precisely with high-quality diamond whetstones, and you will be able to sharpen the other steels more precisely and faster.

Militaria.pl offers many models of different sharpeners, and depending on what kind of knife you have, you will need a slightly different type of sharpening tool. If you are just beginning your adventure with sharpening, you should get a whetstone that has fixed angles to guide the knife. There are whetstones in the form of two V-shaped rods, which are the easiest to use for beginners. Depending on the model, you need to move the knife parallel to the ground from top to bottom on the rod or move the blade back and forth. Don't use a lot of force to do this, as it can damage the cutting edge or chipping of the diamond, which will shorten the functional life of your whetstone. It is then important to know at what angle the manufacturer sharpens the knife, as sharpening at a different angle may involve laborious re-sharpening of the cutting edge. The second type of diamond whetstones are flat stones sprinkled with diamond dust. In this case, a fixed sharpening angle requires a steady hand (since you are tilting the blade yourself against the whetstone) and the necessary practice, so we recommend practicing on cheaper knives before getting down to harder types of steel. The advantage, however, is that with the right amount of self-denial and discipline you will learn to sharpen knives more accurately, and the satisfaction from the sharpening itself is incomparably greater. And then there is the price - whetstones in the shape of flat stones are usually slightly cheaper. Finally, you have the choice of getting a whole sharpening system with adjustable angles and mechanical instruments to help you sharpen - this is the most expensive option, but also the most precise and does not require as much practice as manual sharpening.

There are also compact whetstones in the form of rods themselves, which fit in a pocket. As a rule, they are used to give working sharpness when you are in the field or need to sharpen something quickly. You should also pay attention to the gradation of the stones or rods used. The lower the gradation, the more aggressively the steel on the cutting edge will grind off. Usually, to sharpen a very dull knife, it is enough to use gradations of about 300 and 600. If the knife only needs to be sharpened, only a gradation around 600 will suffice. The whetstones that have gradations above a thousand are used for final sharpening and profiling of the cutting edge, so that the blade remains sharp for a long time. While in Europe numerical categorization is used, meaning we know exactly what gradation a particular whetstone has, American manufacturers usually use descriptions like medium, fine, extra fine, etc. All diamond whetstones that we offer are characterized by high durability and precision in sharpening, so we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the offer of our store. Companies such as Taidea, Lansky or Spyderco will give your blade the same or even better functionality than the day you bought it.