8 Reasons Why a Whetstone Is Better Than an Electric Knife Sharpener

Keeping your kitchen knives in shape is as essential as purchasing a quality knife, as that quality means nothing without maintenance. 

Depending on how lazy you are and how much you’re willing to spend, there are two primary methods of sharpening a knife — whetstones and electric sharpeners. 

The former has been around for centuries, and the latter comes with all the modern tech you can accumulate. Logic dictates that the contemporary options should be superior to the age-old method, yet they need to be revised. At least not yet. 

That’s what we’ll discuss today — why a whetstone is better than an electric knife sharpener, that too by a long margin. We’ll also examine how much you should invest in a whetstone and whether you need 50.  

Whetstones and Electric Knife Sharpeners — The Basics

Let’s get our terminologies up to date before we get to the nitty-gritty. 

Whetstones, Not Necessarily Wet Stones

Contrary to common knowledge, a whetstone doesn’t necessarily mean something you have to wet. The term literally means ‘sharpening stone,’ saying nothing about whether you submerge in water. 

Hence, a whetstone can refer to all sorts of sharpening stones — not just the Japanese wet stones. 

Speaking of which, there are a bunch of alternatives for these tools. Primarily, we can divide them into natural and synthetic options. 

Natural Whetstones

Whetstones’ properties vary depending on where they’re sourced from. For instance, Arkansas is known for a vast collection of novaculite, which primarily consists of silica. 

Japanese water stones are another example of natural whetstones, a large amount of which comes from Kyoto. These stones tend to be softer and easier on the knife’s blade, thanks to the finer grain and clay composites. 

Natural sharpening stones require some form of lubricant for best results. This makes the sharpening surface smooth and consistent, blocking out any pores. 

For instance, Japanese water stones should be submerged in water before you can use them (note that water stone doesn’t necessarily refer to naturally-found rocks). 

These stones are quick to produce results due to the rapid production of slurry. Although, this very property makes them wear out quicker. 

On the other hand, many stones require a few drops of mineral oil for the best results. Novaculite is an example of such a stone. 

While these stones last longer than water stones, they will take longer to sharpen a blade. Furthermore, cleaning them up is trickier than water stones. 

Most natural stones last longer than synthetic whetstones. While they take slightly longer to sharpen blades, that also allows for superb control over the sharpening process. 

The drawback, however, is the need for more consistency in grit. Since these aren’t artificially manufactured, the coarseness of the stone can vary (although it’s minimal for quality products), which is something synthetic options are better at. 

Synthetic Whetstones

Synthetic whetstones have become quite common, with materials ranging from diamond to ceramic. 

These stones will deteriorate quicker than natural stones, and the sharpening process is also faster (the diamond options differ from the pack). However, you’d have to lap them more often to maintain a flat surface. 

These stones are incredibly accurate in grain size, as manufacturers have more control over that. And if you go for materials like ceramic, plenty of affordable options are available. 

Diamond-coated sharpening stones are another alternative. These come with a thin layer of diamond, and the incredible rigidity of diamonds allows for quick and effortless sharpening. 

And as the material doesn’t wear out like traditional options, purchasing one can last a long time. 

However, diamond-coated whetstones remove a lot of material from the blade, so you will need a finer and less coarse option to go with it. 

Synthetic whetstones can work with or without any lubricants. Nevertheless, using at least a spritz of water is usually recommended to smoothen the flow of sharpening. 

Electric Knife Sharpeners

Electric knife sharpeners are pull-through, except the sharpener does the work for you. These usually come with multiple slots, each with a different coarseness level. 

The coarseness of these blades can go high up, going all the way up to coarse diamond particles. 

The slots have fixed levels of coarseness and remove a significant amount of steel with each pass, which can make sharpening quick. 

You have to go through each slot gradually, from coarse to fine. The last stage is usually reserved for honing (here’s a guide for the primary distinctions between honing and sharpening). 

The sharpening process requires the user to pull the whole blade through with each pass, from tip to heel. 

Electric sharpeners also come with specific blade shapes to produce results catered to the knife’s original shape. The most common design would be chef knives, but there are options for most shapes and profiles on the market. 

These sharpeners usually have a particular specification about how tough the blade should be on the Rockwell scale. There’s no preparation process for these sharpeners, so you can begin sharpening from the get-go.

Why Whetstones are Better than Electric Knife Sharpeners

So, we’ve cleared up the major distinctions between the two. Let’s move on. 

1. Whetstones are Compatible with Many Knives

If you have knives of drastically different designs and profiles, you must buy an electric sharpener for each type. Each sharpener has slots dedicated to specific knife profiles and shapes. 

If your blade has a wider angle, it will grind it down to an acuter one — whether you want it or not. 

That limits your use of a particular sharpener if your knife drawer is diversified. Even if you have multiple electric sharpeners, having to use different options is rather annoying. 

Additionally, this brings the issue of cost. You could spend hundreds of bucks on a premium electric sharpener. Still, owning a knife with a different profile will be useless. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of an electric sharpener varies with every user. 

On the other hand, there are no compatibility issues with whetstones. 

No matter what knife you own (apart from some serrated knives), you can use the whetstones to sharpen it. Hence, these stones are the superior choice if you want the highest cost-effectiveness and compatibility. 

2. Electric Sharpeners Remove Too Much Material

Electric knife sharpeners are fast, which can be a pro if you want to get things done quickly. The grinding mechanism has to be aggressive to achieve that, meaning it can remove more material off your blade than necessary. 

Not only is it unnecessary, but it can also reduce the lifetime of your knife. And if you’ve got an expensive Japanese knife, that’s the last thing you want. 

Furthermore, it’ll remove even more material if the grinding angle of your blade doesn’t match the preset angle of the sharpener. 

Suppose the blade’s edge is thicker to give it extra strength. In that case, the sharpener will remove everything until it fits the pre-defined requirements. This makes a blade increasingly brittle over time. 

Along with reducing the knife’s lifetime, this can even alter the overall experience of the knife. That’s not the case with a whetstone, where you have all the control. Let’s move on to that. 

3. Whetstones Provide Granular Control

As mentioned, every electric knife sharpener has a preset griding angle, and your knife has to adhere to that. It also removes too much material — over which you have no control. 

Secondly, you have to pull the whole blade through an electric sharpener when sharpening. There’s no way to be selective or to sharpen only a portion of the knife (this is common if the blade is damaged somehow). 

A whetstone solves all those problems. Firstly, you can sharpen at any angle you want, regardless of the knife’s design and profile. 

You could retain the original profile or even change it to something more acute if need be. This is why professionals always prefer whetstones. 

Secondly, you can be as selective as you want with them. If you only need to sharpen one side more than the other — you can! 

Whetstones allow us to determine the sharpening angle, the number of strokes, and the amount of pressure we apply. Such remarkable control is unachievable anywhere else. 

Another issue is that an electric sharpener may not reach deeper curves or tricky areas. That often results in an uneven sharpening process. 

A whetstone can alleviate that, as you can sharpen any section selectively and reach every nook and cranny. 

4. Electric Knife Sharpeners Can Create Hairline Scratches

Ironically, an electric sharpener that’s supposed to eliminate scratches can often do the opposite. 

Even with high-end electric knife sharpeners, you will find that your knife has a bunch of thin scratches throughout the body. And that occurs way past the blade’s edge, meaning you can’t fix it with an electric sharpener either. 

While this may not directly affect the knife’s performance, I don’t want my sharpener to ruin my blade’s appearance. Having my Damascus steel knife come out of the slot with scratches was lesson enough for me. 

In contrast, you won’t create any unwanted scratches with a whetstone. And when you develop scratches through everyday usage, you can quickly fix them! 

5. Repairing Deep Damages or Little Scratches

I’m sure you’ve had a dented or chipped knife or two during your lifetime. And unless you’ve sent it to a professional for repair, you know what a chore is. 

An electric knife sharpener could be better at fixing a dent, regardless of the blade’s material or design.  

While many argue that electric options are always quicker, that’s undoubtedly not the case when fixing up a blade. I had to go on for over half an hour for a carbon steel blade with a little dent, and it still didn’t do a good job. 

Despite removing so much material, it failed to achieve the uniformity and smoothness the knife initially had. In contrast, using a whetstone with coarser grit allowed me to fix the blade within a similar time frame. 

On the other hand, getting rid of hairline scratches requires exceptional control over the sharpening process. 

However, that’s not achievable with an electric sharpener, as you can’t control which part of the blade you sharpen at a time — the whole thing must go through at once. 

That and the fact that electric knife sharpeners can create hairline scratches make these products unsuitable for repair workloads. 

6. Electric Sharpeners’ Bulkiness & Power Requirements

You could quickly put your whetstones in a drawer or leave them in the corner. However, a decent electric sharpener would be much larger and take up more space on your countertop. If you need more space, that’d be an issue. 

Secondly, an electric knife sharpener requires, well, electricity. That means you always need to be close to an outlet, prohibiting you from sharpening the knife elsewhere. 

That renders electric sharpeners unusable during a camp or tour. You’d also need more time during a power outage. 

Additionally, connecting your knife’s sharpener to an outlet is an extra hassle, which is okay with whetstones. 

The stone’s power source is you and your elbow grease. Granted, many whetstones need to be soaked before you can use them, but that doesn’t limit you to a particular place. 

Hence, they’re also better, as they’re to store and can work anywhere you want, without worrying about power.  

7. Whetstones Don’t Produce Heat

Knives are heated to a high temperature and then cooled down quickly, increasing their hardness, strength, and durability. 

This is known as the tempering process. However, the tempering may lose its potency if the blade is exposed to higher temperatures again. 

Many electric knife sharpeners produce a significant amount of heat when sharpening. The exceptional speed and coarseness are the primary culprits for that. 

Exposing it to too much heat can be harmful, depending on your knife’s tempering. Consequently, the blade can become more brittle and directly affect its longevity. 

In comparison, a whetstone doesn’t produce as much heat (especially if you soak it beforehand), and you have control over the whole process. 

8. Whetstones Don’t Make You Go in Blind

Throw the knife into that pit of darkness and expect it to return something good — that’s not what I want in any aspect of life, let alone sharpening. 

You cannot see what’s going on when sharpening with an electric knife sharpener. No matter how premium your electric sharpener is, this is an issue you cannot escape. 

This prevents users from making conscious and selective decisions depending on a particular blade’s necessities. Comparatively, a whetstone remains in the open. You get to see which part of the blade is being affected, along with the sharpening angle.

How to Know if Your Knife Needs Sharpening

Sharpening will only be accurate if you own whetstones of the correct grit. It’s also crucial to know when to sharpen the knife. 

Being too late would require more effort to get it back to sharpness, and too early would uselessly reduce the blade’s lifetime and require more effort. 

One of my favorite ways to determine that is by cutting through a piece of paper with the blade. It should cut through without creating jagged edges on the page. 

If you feel any obstructions or resistance, then it can signify that the knife requires sharpening. 

Even running your fingers by the edge can be enough if you know what you’re looking for (careful, though). You can feel the dullness or the burrs and determine if it needs sharpening.  

My Last Words!

Well, there you go — a whole host of reasons prove why a whetstone is better than an electric knife sharpener. 

Even if manual sharpening seems daunting at first, it provides superior control over the process and allows for an outstanding result. Ensure that you choose suitable stones and that you are good to go!