My dad taught me how to sharpen knives with a whetstone, and why I should avoid it.

One day in my early 20s my dad sat me down to teach me an important lesson that his dad had once taught him: How to sharpen a set of knives by hand. We spent the next couple of hours carefully honing his set of blades with an old-fashioned whetstone. And I walked away with this bit of wisdom: Get a goddamn knife sharpener.

So I bought a Smith Electric Knife Sharpener and sloughed off that burdensome family tradition. I mean, seriously. We were two grown men spending an afternoon sharpening knives? Our time is surely worth enough we could have bought an entirely new set with four man-hours.

Not only that, but the Smith sharpener actually SHARPENS the knives. I mean, sure, my dad and I were able to improve our knives' cutting ability, but the diamond and ceramic wheels on the Pro Edge Elite sharpener turns them into freaking razorblades. Seriously, I would shave with these things if I didn't already ignore my dad's straight-razor lesson and buy an electric one.

But if my dad asks, just tell him I sharpened these with a whetstone. It would be a bummer if he learned about the electric sharpener and had a coronary.

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