Product Description

This Shun Combination Whetstone includes two types of ceramic grit, a 300 grit and 1000 grit which allows you to sharpen your knives and then hone the edge to a smooth finish. A rough to medium grit, this stone works best when wet down for both lubrication and cleaning.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5866 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Shun
• Model: DM0708
• Dimensions: 1.75" h x 3.25" w x 6.13" l, .88 pounds

Features

• Combination whetstone
• 300 Grit over 1000 Grit
• Sharpens and hones
• Gift-boxed

Customer Reviews

Good whetstone, however...
This is a fine whetstone, the fact that it has a Shun logo stamped on it is beside the point really as it has no bearing on the performance and I am relatively positive it is not made by KAI/Kershaw anyways.

The reason I detract one star is because you can not achieve a factory 'mirrorlike' edge with this whetstone. The fine side of the stone is 1000 grit, whereas you need at least a 3000 grit and probably more realistically a 5-6000 grit stone as well as very good technique to achieve a mirror like professional edge. That is not to say you cannot achieve a very sharp edge with 1000grit, you can, but it does have noticably more drag when cutting things like tomatoes and it will not stay sharp as long.

Shun does sell another combination stone which is 1000/3000 grit so I would probably choose that one over this one if I was only going to have one whetstone. I would say it is not that often that your knives will get dull enough to really need the 300 grit coarse side on this one (although if they do get that dull you will be mighty thankful you have the 300 grit).

Aside from purchasing another whetstone with a finer grit, other options for getting a 'mirrorlike' finish are using a fine grit ceramic honing rod, or using a leather strop with aluminum oxide honing paste (an old leather belt with tripoli paste from any hardware store works fine, although a wider strop makes the process easier). I mention these as alternatives because a good quality 6000 grit whetstone is not cheap.

If you doubt the importance of having a 'mirrorlike' finish on your blade, just ask anyone who has ever used a straight razor. The drag from a razor sharpened with a 1000grit stone will pull on the hairs, which actually makes you much more likely to cut yourself, that is why owning a good strop (and good sharpening/honing technique) is mandatory for using a straight razor.

Very Easy and Effective
I don't have a thousand dollar knife set, but I love to cook and all of my knives were quite dull. We tried a couple of the "sharpener systems" without a satisfying result. I remembered as a little girl seeing the old timers sharpen their pocket knives with a stone, so I did a little searching and found this one.

It arrived quickly and well packaged. The instructions are understandable enough, but clearly translated by a person whose native language is not English.

My husband spent about 1 hour and all my knives were good as new. First you soak the stone in water for about 5 minutes. Then you run the blade along the stone in the pattern indicated. There will be a bit of sand residue, so you will want to set it on something that washes well (dish towel). Also, it will stay wet for a long time. I had to wait 2 days to put it away.

Note, you will still need a knife steel to keep the blade nice.

If you Google "sharpening knives" you will find several videos demonstrating the proper technique so it will not be so intimidating.

This should be the last $41 you will have to spend on sharpening your knives, ever.

An excellent product from an excellent company
Shun makes some of the best knives. Period.

They also make a wonderful whetstone for their knives, or any other knives out there. I sharpened some of my other knives with this whetstone (haven't had a need to sharpen my Shun's yet... which is a testament to their quality) and it was perfect. It does take some practice to get a nice sharp edge, but this with a honing steel will do all the sharpening anyone will ever need to do.

The key feature for me is the fact that it has two grits, so even your dullest knife can be sharpened easily.