Wet whetstone

When folks come to the booth and see me sharpening, they might wonder if I’m using a whetstone.

I do use a stone (made by humans) that’s wet, so I say yes.

But here’s the thing: I don’t explain what a whetstone is. Spoiler alert—it’s not a WET stone, but a stone to sharpen the edge of a knife that happens to be wet.

Sounds confusing? Kinda. “Whet” means ‘to sharpen.’

At a restaurant, you might order an appetizer to ‘whet’ or sharpen your appetite. A whetstone doesn’t have to be wet to be a whetstone. A stone designed to be used with water is called a water stone, and in the past, stones were often used with oil, so they were called oil stones.