How to Sharpen a Knife: Whetstone, Rod and Pocket Knife

Here is how to sharpen a knife: hold one steady angle, work coarse grit to fine until a burr forms, then remove the burr and test the edge.

Last updated: October 12, 2026 · Originally published October 8, 2026

A dull knife is slower and less safe than a sharp one, and most kitchen, camp, and pocket blades can be brought back with the same basic idea: a controlled edge against an abrasive. This guide covers the common tools, whetstone, sharpening rod, and the simpler methods that work on a pocket knife, so you can match the tool to the blade. By the end you should know how to set an angle, raise a burr, and finish an edge that cuts cleanly instead of tearing.

So here is how to sharpen a knife the plain way, on a whetstone, a rod, a pocket knife, a serrated edge and a coffee mug. The angles and grits come from the people who make the knives and the stones, not from me guessing.

Find Your Angle First

Every lesson on how to sharpen a knife starts with angle. DMT puts it bluntly in its own FAQ: holding the proper angle “is not as important as sharpening at a constant angle.” A wobbly 20 degrees makes a rounded edge. A steady 17 makes a sharp one.

Start with what the maker ground. Buck’s sharpening guide says it tends “to grind to 13-16 degrees per side,” and that the angle on each Buck knife is set by how it will be used: heavy work gets a strong, blunt V, while skinning and filleting get a deeper, more delicate one. WÜSTHOF tells owners to sharpen its kitchen knives at 14.5 degrees and its Asian-style knives at 10. If you cannot find a number for your knife, DMT recommends 20 degrees as a starting point.

Now, how do you find 20 degrees without a protractor? DMT offers two tricks. Lay two quarters on the stone and rest the spine on them, or hold the blade straight up at 90 degrees, halve it to 45, then halve it again to 22.5. Buck’s rule of thumb works too: raise the back of the blade about one blade width off the stone.

The Felt Marker Trick

This one comes straight from Al Buck, and it is the best five-second test in sharpening. Color the edge bevel (the shiny strip along the edge) with a black felt pen, take two strokes on the stone and look.

When all the black is gone, you found the angle. Black left on the top of the bevel, Buck says, means you are holding the back of the knife too far from the stone, so lower it. If the top is clean but black is left down at the edge, you are laying the knife too flat, so raise it. Repaint and try again until it comes off evenly.

How to Sharpen a Knife on a Whetstone

Buck breaks sharpening into three stages: coarse, medium and fine. First, look down the edge under a light. Nicks and flat spots reflect light, and a sharp edge does not.

1. Prep the stone. WÜSTHOF soaks its whetstones in water for about ten minutes. DMT diamond plates are used dry or with water only. Natural stones, per Buck, work best wet with water or honing oil.
2. Stage 1, coarse grit, only if it is truly dull or nicked. Buck calls this the rough cut, taking the edge “from a round ‘U’ to a strong ‘V.'” Do 5 strokes per side, then check your bevel.
3. Raise a burr. Keep going until you can feel a slight lip of metal (the burr) along the far side of the edge. That means you ground all the way to the apex.
4. Stage 2, medium grit. Same angle, same strokes. Buck says you can stop here with a good working edge by honing “with light, single strokes, side-to-side, until you feel no burr on either side.”
5. Stage 3, fine grit. Light single strokes, alternating sides one at a time, until the burr is gone and the scratches from the last stone are gone.

Remember the stroke rules, because they matter as much as the stone. Buck’s are short: always cut into the stone, never drag the edge backward, and keep the tip on the stone so it does not round off. Do the same number of strokes on each side. Also, on the coarse and medium stones, do not flip sides every stroke; Buck says that makes it harder to hold the angle and to find the burr.

Which Grit Does What?

Grit numbers confuse more people than angles do. Basically, a lower number means bigger abrasive and faster metal removal. DMT publishes the clearest ladder I have found from a stone maker, with what each step is for.

For most of us, a two-sided stone covers it. Work Sharp’s Angle Set kit, for example, ships with 320 and 600 grit diamond plates plus a fine ceramic, which lines up closely with DMT’s coarse, fine and finishing steps. Skip the extra-coarse plate unless you are repairing a chip. It removes steel in a hurry, and that steel does not grow back.

The Sharpening Chart

Here is how to sharpen a knife of each common type, on one page. Print it and tape it inside the cabinet where the stones live.

Angles from Buck Knives, DMT and WÜSTHOF; grits from DMT’s grit guide; kitchen schedule from Stahl; serrated method from Buck. Scandi grind per Morakniv, which lists a 37-39 degree total edge angle on the Garberg.

Honing Rod: Touch-Up, Not Repair

A rod is not how to sharpen a knife. It is how to keep one sharp, and knowing the difference saves a lot of steel. WÜSTHOF explains it well: honing “realigns the microscopic teeth” on the edge, while sharpening “takes a small amount of steel off the blade, creating a new edge.” So a rod brings a rolled edge back. It cannot fix an edge that is worn round.

Here is WÜSTHOF’s method. Stand the rod point down on a nonslip surface. Tilt the knife to about 14.5 degrees against the rod, then draw it down from heel to tip while pulling it toward you. Switch sides and repeat 6 to 8 times, alternating. Then hand wash the knife to get the steel dust off.

My rule is simple: when the rod stops bringing the edge back, it is time for the stone.

Pocket Knives and Small Blades

Learning how to sharpen a knife this small is the same job as a big blade, just with less room for error. The trouble spots are the ends of the edge. Buck warns against letting the tip skip off the end of the stone, which rounds the tip, so on a short blade keep the whole edge, tip included, on the stone for the full stroke.

Before you sharpen a folder, clean it. Our pocket knife maintenance guide covers the cleaning and oiling side, and it lands on the same 15 to 20 degrees per side for most EDC knives.

Steel matters here too. A hard, wear-resistant steel takes longer to sharpen than a simple one. In our knife steel comparison chart, 1095 scores 8.5 out of 10 for ease of sharpening and M390 scores 3.5. Same stone, same angle, a lot more strokes. (Plan your evening accordingly.) If you are still picking a pocket knife, our guide to choosing an EDC knife weighs steel against upkeep, and our rundown of EDC knife blade shapes shows which tips and bellies you will be working around on the stone.

Serrated Edges

Knowing how to sharpen a knife with serrations takes a different tool and a lighter hand. Buck points out that serrated blades are ground on one side only, and a flat stone “will grind off your serrations.” Use a tapered or cylindrical fine diamond or ceramic rod instead, and only work the ground side.

1. Hold the knife with the edge away from you and the ground side up.
2. Seat the tapered rod in one scallop so it fills the curve, at the original edge angle.
3. Draw the rod toward the edge, rotating it as you go. Buck says it should take “at most 5-8 strokes” per scallop if your angle is right.
4. Use the marker trick on each scallop so you know you are hitting it evenly.

Each scallop gets sharpened on its own, which is why this is slow. It is also why Buck says not to sharpen a serrated edge “unless dull spots are truly visible.”

How to Know It Is Sharp

Buck’s fingernail test is the one I trust. Rest the edge very lightly on a fingernail and draw it along. If your sharpening reached the edge, you will feel it catch. Any spot that slides “with no drag” is not done yet, and now you know exactly which spot to go back to.

Stahl lists two kitchen tests. Slice a sheet of paper held up by one corner: a sharp knife cuts clean and a dull one snags or tears. Or slice a ripe tomato without pressing; a sharp blade goes through the skin and a dull one squashes it. (The arm-hair test I will leave to the guys who like bald patches.)

How Often Should You Sharpen?

Sharpen when the edge tells you to, and hone in between. For kitchen knives, Stahl puts a full sharpening at about every 3 to 6 months for an average home cook, with honing before each use. WÜSTHOF says to use the coarse slot of its hand-held sharpeners only once or twice a year and the fine slot for regular upkeep.

For a pocket or hunting knife, there is no calendar, because use varies too much, and knowing how to sharpen a knife includes knowing when not to. So use the tests. When a few rod or strop passes no longer bring back the catch on your fingernail, go back to the medium stone. Remember that every trip to a coarse stone takes steel off that you will never get back.

How to Sharpen a Knife Without a Sharpener

In a pinch, flip over a ceramic coffee mug. Stahl notes that the rough, unglazed ring on the bottom of a mug or plate will sharpen a knife, slowly and with many passes. Hold your angle and stroke edge first, just like on a stone.

Stahl also suggests medium to fine sandpaper wrapped around a softwood block, at a steady 20 degrees, about 20 passes per side. Not pretty, but it gets you through dinner.

Push or Pull?

Both work. Buck says your stroke can run hilt to tip or tip to hilt, straight or in small circles, as long as the edge leads into the stone. Buck actually recommends the circular stroke for beginners because it helps you keep the angle instead of finding it again every time you lift the blade. What you never do on a stone is drag the edge backward. That is how you roll it over.

A strop is the one exception. Stahl’s method for a leather strop is to lay it flat and draw the knife across it on both sides, pulling the blade toward you.

Mistakes That Ruin Edges

• A power grinding wheel. Buck warns it can “burn the temper from your blade,” leaving the edge brittle, and it voids Buck’s warranty.
• Too much pressure. Buck says heavy pressure can crush the grit on a diamond plate and cut deeper scratches you then have to remove. WÜSTHOF gives the same warning for pull-through sharpeners: use only the weight of the knife.
• Rounding the tip. Let the tip run off the stone and you get a blunt, rounded point.
• Uneven sides. If you do 15 strokes on one side, Buck says do 15 on the other.
• Putting it away dirty. DMT says to clean its plates with water after each use, wipe them dry and store them dry. Dry the blade too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to sharpen a hunting knife?

Match the factory angle on a medium stone, refine on a fine one, and carry a small diamond or ceramic rod for touch-ups. If it has a gut hook, Buck says to use the narrow end of a tapered sharpener and not to fill the whole hook, or you will enlarge the curve. If you are still choosing the knife itself, our hunting knife guide covers blade shape, gut hooks and steel.

How many strokes does it take?

Start with 5 per side and look, which is Buck’s advice. On a rod, WÜSTHOF uses 6 to 8 alternating strokes. Stop when the burr is gone and the fingernail test catches the whole length.

Should I use oil or water on my stone?

Follow the stone. DMT diamond plates should be used dry or with water only. WÜSTHOF soaks its whetstones in water. Buck says natural stones can take water, water-based fluid or petroleum honing oil.

Can I send a knife out to be sharpened instead?

For a Buck, yes. Buck offers its own sharpening service, but it does not sharpen serrated edges.

How do I know if my diamond plate is worn out?

Clean it first, because a plate loaded with steel dust feels dead. Then DMT’s test: rub it on an old glass jar. If it scratches or frosts the glass, there is still diamond on it.

Pick one angle, hold it like you mean it, and let the stone do the work. A dull knife is just a pry bar with ambition. And if you are still shopping for the blade before you sharpen it, Popular Outdoorsman walks through how to choose a hunting knife.

Sources: Buck Knives, “How to Sharpen Your Knife”; DMT, “DMT FAQ” (diamond grit guide and angle advice); WÜSTHOF, “How to Sharpen Your WÜSTHOF Knives”; Work Sharp, Angle Set Knife Sharpener; Stahl, “How to Sharpen a Knife”; Morakniv, Garberg (S) specifications; Popular EDC knife steel comparison chart (September 2026).

James Nicholas

NFA Firearms Manufacturer & Professional Gunsmith The XDMAN has a talent for taking complex firearms subject matter and breaking it down into an easy-to-understand format that all experience levels can relate to. James is an 07/02 NFA Firearms Manufacturer, a Professional Gunsmith with over 20 years of experience, and a Firearms Writer, Photographer and Firearms Expert. Connect with him on Instagram, X, and Facebook as @therealxdman.

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