For maximum efficacy, make it an act of meditation. Prepare your workspace. Take a moment to put things away in their proper place. A clear workspace fosters a clear mind. It’s time to sharpen your tools and inattention can result in painful mistakes. Pull the whetstone from its case and place it on the counter. Feel the subtle grit that will do the sharpening between your fingers. Turn on the tap and listen to the stream of water as it fills the pipes, flows through the faucet, and ricochets off the basin as it strikes the sink. Take a small amount and moisten the stone, again feeling its sharkskin-like surface. Sharpening your blade is 80% attention and 20% physical.
Find your angle. Lay your blade on the stone at a soft angle. Ten to thirty degrees is optimum and the feel of the blade against the stone, your intuition, and practice, will be your guides. Relax. Take a breath and test your angle again. Get the feel of it in your hand before you make the first pass of the blade over the stone. Adjust your grip to apply the proper pressure and hear the steady “scritch” of the blade as you smoothly pull the knife across the stone, staying in tune with the angle, holding it as precisely as possible with each pass.
Your blade now sharp, clean the excess with a few passes over your strop, finishing the job with a micro cloth. Time to test your handiwork. Place a freshly washed tomato, a few beads of water still gleaming on its ruby surface, on your cutting board. With minimal pressure, draw your newly sharpened blade across its skin, allowing the knife to do the work. If you’ve honed your knife well, the blade will effortlessly slide through the flesh, slicing cleanly.
Practice is the art of sharpening your skills. Preparing your physical and mental space is the first step, clearing away any clutter that can muddle your efforts before you begin. Your attention to the external physical space extends to your mental and internal physical space. Relax your body and spend some moments focused on your breathing. Your intention for the day’s practice is akin to setting the angle of your knife. Intention directs your energy toward honing a specific skill. Pressure and repetition refine your practice’s edge, removing excess thought and action until only the essentials remain, leaving your blade sharp and in a state of readiness. Go whet your stone and set your edge to grinding.
Until next week,
Jason