For some bizarre reason, many people consider using one a daunting prospect. With a little help from your friends (us), sharpening with a whetstone is actually (aside from putting it in the sink for half an hour) an easy five minute job. The result - a knife that glides through ingredients - is well worth the time and care.

Hold the blade against the stone at the appropriate angle (15 degrees for a Japanese Knife, 20 for a European) and push backwards and forwards, using a small amount of pressure. To get a sense of the appropriate amount of downward force, you can put the whetstone on your kitchen scales - you should be sharping with around 2kg of pressure.

After 5-10 upward and downward movements, if it's a long blade, move the knife along and repeat until you have covered the length of the blade.

The knife should make the same sound with each stroke. If it doesn’t, you’re not keeping the angle consistent. A sharpening guide may help.

Powder will appear as you sharpen. The powder is a good thing – it helps sharpen the knife.