Whetstone

I have been wanting to get a new whetstone for some time. My knives aren't as sharp as I want them to be and the stone I have doesn't seem to be doing its work. The stone I had been using is of unknown quality, I don't know the material and grit size at all, other than it seems to be in the 1000 grit or finer category and looks like an oilstone.

Today I finally got the chance to shop at a specialty store to get one. They have a varieties of them but other than different prices the girl at the counter doesn't seem to know more than what I've already known. So that was pretty disappointing considering it's a professional kitchen supplies store. Anyway, I picked a Henckel with 250 grit on one side and 1000 on the other. The stone is encased in a plastic container which when opened can be used as a non-slippery base. Alas, the casing broke or had been broken when I took out the plastic sheet wrappings. Usually I am much more careful at checking merchandise but I guess I missed this one. In the store they opened one for me to feel the grit, that is at my request, and when I paid they gave me a brand new one with the plastic wrapping intact. I found the plastic casing totally unnecessary. You put the stone on a wet terry cloth kitchen towel and you are done. The case just gets into the way and inflates the price for no good reason. The stone does come with some instructions on maintenance which is nice especially on specifics like there is no need to soak the stone prior to use except wet with water. For general grinding instructions and techniques, you can easily find them online. What I don't like, in addition to the poor packaging is it does not spell out what the stone is made of. I want to know my stone better now I just can't. Why doesn't it give that information out I don't understand. I much prefer manufacturers list out minute details of their products. I don't think it's natural stone, more like artificial. In the beginning I thought 250 maybe too coarse. But I think it's fine. I ran my knives through the stone and I think it's definitely better than my older stone but I still need to see. Stainless steel knives are harder to hone or sharpen I guess I may try some higher carbon content knives some time in the future.