Shad, the water keeps the steel shavings from clogging the pores and thus the grinding performance of the stone. Good job explaining to non sharpener people how the whetstones work! I'm 41 and started to learn to sharpen blades at about 10 years old. Sharpening is not quick but nor is it difficult. just maintain your angles, establish a burr, then polish the burr off, next strop both sides on good leather strop and WHAMMO mate your blade is sharp.

The whet in whetstone means to ‘ready’ as in “whet your appetite.” So a whetstone is a stone to prepare or ready a blade. They work better when wet because there is less friction when running the blade across making sharpening easier, and protects the stone from any damage.

Tip for beginners or bad eyes, run a sharpie along the edge before starting. This will show you if you're keeping the angle consistent and can help you sharpen the same amount on both sides as you're done when the marker is removed.

As a bladesmith, its awesome to see someone else learning parts of the trade! Dont let the strop intimidate you. Its super simple

I have sharpened my swords and knives by hand for years now. I did mess up on a few of my first tries, but now that I have got past the learning curve it has become a relaxing and rewarding pastime

It may help to soak the stones for longer. Clamp the blade down flat by the blade not the guard so the edge you're creating is more consistent. Also try not to push as hard if using a pallet as it's bending the blade and changing the edge angle.

I just want to take a moment to appreciate this community. I love this comment section. KZfaq comment sections are known to be cesspools, but not Shad's (or others' in the sword enthusiast community AFAIK) and I think that's something worth acknowledging and celebrating.

Bit of advice to take you to the next level Shad. Whenever you step up a grit, change the direction of your stroke in some way--go from along the edge to circling, for example. When you do this you will always be able to see a difference in texture between the current grit and the last grit. Then you can easily spot any place where you haven't finished. I like to use long strokes along the edge for my final grit as I feel this is superior for minimizing the burr. Then learn how to strop.

6:00 shaaaaad, you should put wetstone into water for 10-30 minutes by default

This is one thing I've yet to attempt. Sharpening my swords just makes me nervous as I don't want to royally fuck up the edge geometry.

Keep up the good work mate, God bless ;)

Would love to see the other sword community youtubers respond to this, telling us how they do it. I know that Skallagrim sharpens his blades, for example.

Whet doesn't mean Wet. Whet is basically "sharpening" or "to sharpen". Whetstone means "Sharpening Stone"

Indeed, just sharpening smaller knives can be tricky without experience and practice, so I can only imagine how hard it is to sharpen a much larger and longer blade by hand, especially without the proper materials and equipment. Really goes to show how tough people had it back then and why swords were so valuable and glorified in cultures around the world.

Well Done Shad! Now I have a challenge for you. Go and sharpen the Angus Trim Leaf-Blade that you have on ONE edge and test the difference between the factory edge and your sharpened one. Also I recommend "Burrfection" on KZfaq, he mostly does knives but also katanas. That's not the main reason to look at him though. He has the best recommendation on what sharpening stone work the best.

If you read whetstone directions, they tell you to soak the stone before use

Learning to sharpen is a fun skill to develop, I’ve been doing my own knives for about 8 years now. Just to answer your question Shad the reason the stone works better wet is because it builds up an abrasive slurry that helps with the re-profile/sharpening of a blade, if you really want to get into it I recommend using leather strops and stropping compound and tormeck paste. It’ll get your blades frighteningly sharp.

Shad's learning curve is always on the up, proud of you sport.

I think if you move the sword down a little so the handle and the gard is hanging off so the blade is completely flat and does not flex when you put pressure on the edge you would have better contact with the edge of the blade and the stone

That's crazy! I've been thinking about this for the past 3 days without telling anyone and here you are!

You might want to try building a sharpening jig, which holds the blade flat and also keeps your stone at a consistent angle. You also mentioned learning about stropping. See any time you do a grinding operation on metal there will be a burr. When you strop, what you're basically doing is bending that burr back and forth until it breaks off leaving just the sharp edge. All you need is a decent piece of leather.

With most whetstones you actually want to soak them completely before you use them, it helps the stone break down as it wears out, which keeps the abrasive fresh and prevents clogging. Many people actually just store them in a tub of water so you don’t need to constantly re-soak them

Got the notification for this while watching your spear cutting video right as you said "this is *hard* wood". Just found it funny.

Shad post let’s goo

you can simply wrap the blade with a piece of cloth to grab it firmly,... thus sharpening it as intended... you sharpen one half of the blade and then the other half (tip) also if you look at japenease sharpennir they are mostly in kneeled in water, with water pooring and flowing on the stone constantly while sharpening it.

I'm surprised you never asked Matt Easton or Skallagrim for advice in sharpening swords, since they both have made videos about sword sharpening in the past.

You can hear the blade when Shad slices the paper at 15:35. It's such beautiful sound.

Can you imagine Aragorn sharping his sword, out in the wilderness like this? Good stuff!

Since he practically lives and breathes swords, I assumed that weapon sharpening would be old hat to him. Unexpected.

Historically was done on a stone wheel so the wheel moves and you just hold the sword at the angle you want to sharpen too . today we bench grinder and belt grinders same principle as historical grinding wheel just faster and option to adjust the abrasives to get better results 👍

If you have an old coffee mug or tea plate, you can use the bottom to polish an edge after sharpening. I don’t use it anymore because my sharpener has a polishing grit side but I swear by using ceramic to polish an edge to a mirror.

Whetstones will work best when soaked so water builds on the surface. The reason is some of the grit will actually break loose from the surface of the stone and create a slurry on the stone which will help hone the edge.

Shad, Firstly there are multiple types of sharpening stones the most common types are water, oil, ceramic and diamond stones. Water sharpening stones are generally softer & more porous than other types. Most water stone manufacturers recommend soaking them in water for a short period of time before each use. Some of them can be safely stored in water others will dissolve if left in water too long. Oil sharpening stones tend to be harder & more porous than water stones. They are generally designed to be used with mineral oil as a lubrican. If used with water they will likely clogg. Ceramic stone are generally harder than water & oil stones with a basically non-porous surface. A lubricant is not needed but a splash of water will help keep it cleaner.

Fantastic info in here, definitely gonna try on one of my swords that came with a crappy edge bevel. You should do this to one of your war swords next, Shad!

The same excellent quality videos as always. Hope the algorithm grants you more mercy in the future.

“Mom that crazy guy next door is sharpening his sword.” “In public!?!?”

My friend dunks his stone (which you did) then holds the hilt with his offhand with the flat of the blade on his thigh and goes over it with a stone. That's how I've seen him do it.

Other comments have already mentioned this but you don't need to clean the "slurry" from the whetstone until you're done, it actually helps the sharpening process 👍🏻

I just love this comment section and the community, such fun. By the way, you not "bend" the burr back to center, you acually grind it back and brake it off. If done correctly the point of contact where the burr broke off is your actual cutting edge. Good luck with all coming exploit👍

Got halfway though this video and felt inspired to sharpen all of my kitchen knives :D They are very sharp now :)

Loved the way Kingdom Come: Deliverance let you sharpen your own swords. Even as basic as it was.

tip for sharpening: when you are clamping down the blade, let the handle hang over the end of the board you are clamping to. that allows for the blade to be clamped flat onto the board and prevents it from flexing while you are grinding. this gives you more/easier control over the actual angle the whetstone is touching the blade while making it easier to apply more pressure during the first coarser stages of the grind

I'm not getting notifications from these big videos, but these shorts you are posting I am getting notifications for.

It's just so nice seeing Shad going about his business, doing his medieval things. He comes across so happy and satisfied! Amazing :)

Shad, I'm no expert on sword sharpening but have experience on my woodworking tools and some of my knives and axes. You can get a paddle style strop and probably could run it perpendicular to the blade to get that edge finished. You can use strops with or without buffing compound.

I've actually never sharpened a sword, but have done plenty of axes and they use circular whetstones but you use the exact same motions here or small circular motions. I feel like using your method with a circular stone that fits better in the hand might be the perfect combo!

The best sharpening stone i got is a piece of slate i found in the river. I polished it with another rock i found i the same river and now my knives are razor sharp. I prefer wet stone over dry stone because when you sharpen something the water will mix with the metallic dust and stone dust to make a "sharpening mud" that help a lot. You can use that mud to polish your metal object too. And sharpening a sword is different from sharpening a kitchen knife. If you look a kitchen knife with a microscope you'll see that the blade look like a saw. Really good at cutting soft object but weak. A sword blade would look more flat, less efficient at cutting but more solid.

Thats it! no more fancy sharpening tools that fail me, time to get some proper whetstones. This is the way.

In addition to the cost of swords, the effort and costs required to maintain a sword might be one of the reason that they were not more prevalent as the primary weapon of soldiers back in the day. A knight in shining armor could probably pay for the required tools and have his squire maintain his sword, but your man at arms would have to do it himself and they couldn't just go on Amazon to get clamps, workbenches, sharpening stones and oil while on campaign. It must have been a real pain in the backside and I can see how the soldiers back then would be thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I will buy myself a war hammer for Christmas."

Yes shad, you generally let your whet stones soak in water before use…

The reason whetstones work better when wet is that particles of steel and stone are suspended in the water, and work as an additional abrasive. The water makes the stone glide more smoothly, which one would think would reduce the friction, but the reduction is actually in scratches made by the protruding grain in the stone; the water-grit mixture fills the pores, and evens out the abrasive effect. Because of this, you don't want to clean of the grit too often; I generally just wipe off the edge, to have a look, and then continue, though, if the edge needs a lot of sharpening, you'll need to clean the stone occasionally. As you'll have noticed from this, not all the material in the water is steel from the sword; a good portion is from the stone; a good whetstone is supposed to wear down with time. Water also keeps the blade cool, though I doubt anyone has ever succeeded in heat damaging a blade through manual sharpening, and definitely not by accident. If you make a really fine edge, _with a single bevel, you want to finish the sharpening by moving the whetstone exclusively and gently towards the blade. This will take a tiny bit of the edge off, but that will be the part that's too weak to hold up when you cut, and will inevitably bend during use, making the edge nearly useless. For slicing, you don't want the edge to be too fine; you want the micro-serration created by a slightly rough stone; the more force you use, the more cleaving action you get, and the less serration you need. I usually make a double bevel on anything that needs to stay sharp through heavy use, but doesn't need a razor edge. A second bevel can also be added for quick touch-up of the edge, but will then require more sharpening to remove the second bevel at a later stage. A double bevel sacrifices some sharpness, but not much; Japanese swords commonly have double bevel, and the samurai weren't exactly famous for the bluntness of their swords... Convex bevels are easier to make, as you have more flexibility in the angle of each stroke of the stone, and they're not necessarily inferior. Always clean your stone well afterwards, as the loose grit will get stuck in the pores, altering the quality of the stone; you'll want the stone to work the same way every time. Also, they end up stained with rust, if they're not properly cleaned; that's mainly just annoying, though. P.S.: I've never sharpened swords, but pretty much everything else, such as knives (some of which might as well be swords, for their length and type of edge), machetes, scythes, axes, and more.

This is super helpful! I needed something exactly like this!! Got a new sword but despite the company selling sharpened swords in the past, they'll now only sell swords that are blunt so if want it sharp... gotta do it yourselves... thanks Shad!

Why did you not put the blade flat on the wood to support it, as every time you applied pressure you bent the blade changing the angle for your stone. Get the handle off the end so the blade if supported by the wood.

When doing a casual sharpening of a knife, including my 14in bladed hand crafted Bowie, I spit on the stone. BUT, if the knife needs a lot of work I use honing oil. Honing oil provides the lubrication and metal suspension and reduces the heat created by sharpening. If you don't use water or oil, you fill the pores in the stone with metal shavings and then it stops sharpening.

I am a knifemaker and I learned to sharpen knives when I was a kid. I have also taught people how to sharpen knives. My first recommendation to anyone wanting to sharpen their knives is not any sharpening gizmo but one of these cheap, two-layer silicon carbide stones. And soaking the stone in a bucket/bowl of water is a part of my lesson. It is always a good idea to soak the whetstone, whether synthetic or natural. If the stone does not soak in any water, no harm done. If it does soak water, then it would soak it in during the sharpening anyway. And pre-soaked whetstone loosens swarf more easily.

I know you've had a problem with KZfaq lately but THIS is the type of video I subscribed for! Thanks, Shad!

@Shadiversity Just one little point, about the burr on the edge: grinding an edge on steel always produces a burr - *except* when the direction of the stroke is *against* the edge (the way you have it set up in the video, that would be towards you), as any metal that becomes so thin it bends is ground off. Usually this is one of the functions of the strop, but in general, it can be done with the finest (last) step of grinding being done. Both the circular motion and the long strokes along the edge will burr the edge, and grinding to center the burr will usually only make it fold over. Further note: if using power tools (angle grinder, belt sander etc) grinding against the edge can be really dangerous, as if the angle becomes too steep or the belt/disc bites too deep under pressure, the blade can come loose from the mounting because alot of torque is generated, and in some cases can even slice through a sanding belt - potentially sending it (and also the blade) in a random direction at high speed (keep your body out of the line of fire as much as possible!). With manual methods, the forces are much smaller, leading to better control and the danger is negated. In sum: rough grind can be done from blade center towards the edge, fine grind should be done against the edge towards the center. Also, a jig to help keep the stone/sharpening tool keep the same angle against the edge helps more than one thinks.

fun fact the sharpening stick/steel/honing rod doesn't actually sharpen the blade but realigns the slightly dulled edge to extend the time you need before you actually need to sharpen it

Water is added to whetstones for a few reasons: Lubrication: Water helps to lubricate the surface of the whetstone, which helps to prevent the blade from getting damaged or overheated during the sharpening process. Without water, the blade may get too hot, which can cause the metal to expand and warp. Cleaning: Adding water to the whetstone helps to clean the surface of the stone by removing any debris, metal shavings, or grit that may have accumulated during the sharpening process. This helps to keep the stone in good condition and ensures that it continues to sharpen effectively. Preventing clogging: Some whetstones are made of materials that can clog easily with debris and metal shavings. Adding water helps to prevent clogging by flushing away any debris that may have accumulated on the surface of the stone. In general, using water with a whetstone helps to ensure that the sharpening process is more effective, efficient, and safe for both the tool being sharpened and the person doing the sharpening. (This is a ChatGPT answer)

perfect! this video helped me sharpen my sword ready for my murder court case next month. I don't even need a lawyer, i can just plea trial by combat

When you’re piling the blade would A Gun oil/lubricant suffice? Does it need to be mineral oil? And also what would be the better oil to use actually. Could Gun Oil be better than mineral oil?

There are brands of professional artist pencils that are sold completely unsharpened because it's assumed different artists will want different sharpening profiles for their pencils. I think a similar logic applies to swords, expecting that people who buy real swords also know how to sharpen one and they don't know beforehand what a random buyer wants that sword for so they give them a shallow angled edge such that it can either be made to what edge angle the buyer wanter or be blunted relatively easy for martial arts practice.

Love The Energy You Bring To Your Viewers and Great Content. Respect !

Um, I think I learned the crazy trick of soaking the whetstone before using it from the instruction manual. It's something you should >always< do. It's also in every tutorial on YT, manufacturers sites etc. Also, the stuff "comming off" isn't metal for the most part. It's the paste that is >supposed< to build up on the stone and do most of the sharpening. Constantly cleaning it off will severely reduce the lifetime of the stone and also be much harder on the blade. You only clean it of when you're finished so the metal particles don't sink in and form rust.

Water is to a wet stone as oil is to a dry stone . It allows metal to be ground away without generating enough heat to affect the temper . Also the pores are full of fluid and not packed with metal which defeats the ability to grind .

the metal on the wetstone actualy helps the grinding process

Shad, I just want to say, I've been a fan for a long time. I started watching back in 2014 while playing D&D with my Navy buds, and bro you've done so well

I've only just started to learn how to sharpen blades myself. It is interesting watching someone else go through this process. I love watching their methods of working things out. This was a really interesting video Shad. A pleasure.

ngl i thought people used to sharpen swords with a spinny wheel thing

Shad, just get that spinning stone wheel everyone else uses.

Nice job. I like the methods you come up with. Very natural and effective!

I'm glad to see several of us here already sharpen swords and knives by hand! Someone else already mentioned what I was going to suggest of clamping it down on just the blade to give a more consistent angle. From everything I saw in the video it looks like your getting the hang of it! Now you just need to find what methods, angles etc work for you. I've been sharpening by hand enough to agree that you definitely can tell by feel, look, and even sound of the stone on the blade, what angle or consistency of angle you're getting. Have fun learning more!

Well done Shad. Learning a skill like sharpening is useful, and it was good seeing it done on such a cool sword. Can be app,ied to every sort of blade.

Shadiversity, after I saw you in the last Nerdrotic stream and heard what you said, I shall from now on call you Chadiversity.

Now that I think about it this is first time I have seen someone sharpen a sword

I wish you hadn't sped up the sharpening sequences. I would happily watch a 3 hour video of you sharpening swords! Such a relaxing sound and movement.

In this video Shad does something I seem to know more about. Hooray! As several people have pointed out, that blade flex isn't doing you any favours. Move the sword so that only the blade is on the work surface so the whole length is supported. Water enables the removed metal, and broken pieces of the stone to form a slurry, which becomes part of the abrasive and prevents the stone clogging. That said, this means some of your abrasive is uncontrolled. A better solution would be having a constant fluid flow to transport the slurry away. People sharpening carbon steel blades don't tend to want to just run the garden hose over what they're sharpening though. As a few people have pointed out, the final edge is often about the burr. Or the microscopic parts of metal pulled past the edge, forming a flap that is usually rolled over in one direction or the other. A fine stone can be used to grind into the edge, avoiding this. This is also the main purpose of a sharpening steel. The final grinding/honing/etc generally has to be into the edge to make sure there's no burr. Apart from stropping. The hope with stropping is that we're finally working on a fine enough polish that any ability to create a burr will be so tiny as to be ignorable

I've never thought of doing it that way to sharpen a sword. Now I've got to try it thanks for the info Shad.

Just bought my first ‘battle ready’ sword, and your absolutely right that there’s very few videos on how to refine the sharpening on long blades out there… except for you. So I thank you sir!

You know what? It is neat to see you evolve from just talking about Medieval historical things to living and doing things in the lifestyle. Good on you mate!

Hi Shad I do in fact have a lot of experience with whetstone work. The true whetstone process sharpens via the slurry that forms when they are wet, instead of a raw dry grinding which is much more like honing instead of sharpening. Normally we soak the stones at least until no more air bubbles come out. I would personally submerge whetstones for no less than 2 hours, and still have a bowl of water on hand to keep the surface fresh if needed. It's important to work up the slurry/paste before committing to the sharpening work, and it's important to keep that slurry at a certain workable moisture level. You will see it change color as the steel is abraded off the weapon/knife, which is the sign you're using the stones correctly.

I really love how much effort you put in here

A small amount of dishwashing liquid helps as well. It is a surfactant and makes the stone more easily wetable. An easy way to see where you have ground on the bevel is to run a Sharpie down it. Then you can easily see where you have missed by the remaining black marking.

There are really good KZfaq tutorials on how to sharpen with a myriad of implements, Shad.

Was just thinking about how much I would love a sword sharpening video from Shad because yeah, there's lots of sharpening videos out there... but I have yet to see any of them prove it by chopping a spearhead off. And then like magic, Shad comes out with a sword sharpening video!! I cannot stress how much I love this channel, thank you Shad!

I wanted to let you know that baby oil trick worked great! All my blades are almost good as new and even the spots on them off corrosion seem to be almost melting away! Thanks Shad!

Thank you! I couldn't find a good sharpening video and this answered all of the questions I had. Now I can sharpen my own longsword.

So as a lazy sod, I needed to find an easy way to sharpen my dull cooking knives. I found an electric sharpener; it was like a die grinder or dremel that had a triangle pulley system that is used to run a sand paper belt over the device. The brand i have is called Works but i am sure it is just a rebranded generic tool. These triangle devices have a large selection of "sharpening angles" so you can get the bevel you want. All you have to do is run the blade through the angle cutout against the running sand paper belt and it grinds the bevels in. It is really quick and easy to use on kitchen knives, but i dont know how well it will work on swords. One word of advice, i have ruined the tip on a couple knives rounding them out. When mistakes happen they happen fast too. Either way just thought i would pass that along. Thank you for the video!

If you have a belt sander in your garage it can make the initial bevel shaping a lot easier. Just be careful not to run it too fast as you can overheat the metal and destroy the heat treatment.

Hey there's this guy named Jazza he's an artist who made a castle out of foam clay you should do a review on his clay creations. Honestly I think you guys would hit it off pretty well. 😜

Found this while sharpening my axe. Guess I gotta find my sword and do that too now.

Thanks for this video! :) Got here because I'm playing D&D with some friends and my character - who's pretty martial oriented - is going to go teach some of the NPCs the broader points of sword and armor maintenance next session. This video and a lot of the comments have been invaluable for me to prepare to roleplay that part. :) Thanks for all your work!

I’ve also had great luck with diamond plates-Atoma,being one brand that I have used regularly. No water or oil needed when sharpening with one. Happy sharpening 😎

Well done! I never have liked the sharpening "systems" too much. I hand sharpen all of mine. Worksharp stuff is alright but best for knives etc imo. Oh & the term whetstone literally means "stone to sharpen" for "whet" means "to sharpen". The reason they are best wet is that the liquid (oil or water usually) helps carry away the swarf or slurry of materials ground off the stone & the edge as well as helping keep everything cool. At least this is my understanding. I recommend CoalCracker bushcraft for stropping tips. Also you can use a leather belt if you dont have a strap, just lay it on a board or glue a strip of leather to one all are fine for the job.

one tip that I can give you, is to "paint" the edge with a Sharpie (felt tip marker pen). I use black on my knife when I sharpen it. that lets you know where exactly you are sharpening, and when you can no longer see any on the side you are working on, its time to switch sides.

Bomino this is really helpful thank you btw I am a huge fan of you and have read your book and I am anticipating the second one

My great-grandfather was a gunsmith whose Hobby was knives and sword making. I learned all of this technique from him. He had learned it from his grandfather who was a knife and sword maker whose hobby was Gunsmithing. There are still swordsmiths in to my personal knowledge England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan and Taiwan who still teach the old ways. Some of them even have tutorials online. But I say good on you because you have made it much easier for this technique to reach a much wider audience.

No one ever talks about sword sharpening. Just knives. Your content has always been helpful for my growing collection, but this video helped me more than I can express. I just started sharpening using this technique. Not quite there yet but it's a start!

Gonna have to rewatch this a few times to really absorb the info. Love to get my knives sharper! Especially explaining what and how to make new bevels.

Great vid and info on how you did it. I liked the board idea for mounting the blade. I went the oil stone method (each pass wiping the blade and stone then reoiling it) and all by hand while holding it. It got scary near the end. I used 200 grit to 6000 grit in steps. My katana cut twine and then cut thin chain once done. I removed the burr by running a piece of bass wood down it on the burr side. This was on a 440C Stainless Steel wall hanger too.