Water, Water Everywhere!

Whetstones are one of the oldest methods of sharpening tools.  "Hone slates," similar to modern day portable whetstones, have been found in and around Roman ruins and were used for swords, knives, stone-working tools and woodworking tools.  Hone slates may have used many cutting fluids, oil, water, spit, or nothing (dry), whichever was readily available ("nothing" is almost always available).  Initially just as common, were large grinding wheels which became more and more prevalent throughout the years.  These wheels often used water as a cutting and cooling fluid (if any was used at all).
Waterstones as we know them today vary in size, type, material, origin and quality.  Natural waterstones have been mined and used in their natural form for several thousands of years in Japan.  They are newer to western woodworkers though, who traditionally have used oilstones.  The first modern synthetic stone made in the US was by Norton Abrasives in 1993.

These videos are an introduction to the use and care of waterstones, just one type of whetstone.  My acting hasn't improved any, but hopefully the video is at least marginally informational.  If you have any questions or want to see a tutorial on something specific email me and I'll see what I can do.  Thanks for watching (like how I assumed you'd actually watch these?).

You can check out these videos in HD on my YouTube Chanel here:

Polthaus Workshop YouTube Chanel