Wästikivi Whetstone

[Notredame11211]

Does anyone have experiece with a Wästikivi Wästilä whetstone? I hear that they are quite a fine stone and work well. They are made in Finland, and seem like a great field sharpener. http://www.wastikivi.fi/english.html

[JEEP]

This is, apart from furs, the oldest known Finnish export article. These stones are found at archaeological excavations all over Scandinavia (and to a certain extent; northern Germany), the oldest dating back to the pre-roman iron age. I have one myself, found together with ceramics dating it to around 1500.

I have another, which belonged to my grandfather on my mothers side, who was a carpenter. He bought it new sometime during his apprenticeship in the 1940's.

Both stones are, though well used, any bit as good as the day they were made!

I also have two new pocket sized stones of this type, I always carry one in my pack when out and about.

I have many whetstones, both large benchstones and small pocket stones - but none as good as my traditional Finnish stones.

The stones are best described as medum/fine, quite hard, long lasting and very resistant to cold (even when wet).

These stones are to be used with water exclusively! Using oil will make the stone brittle and cause it to deteriorate.

[Notredame11211]

Wow Jakob, thanks for all the great information!:D I will definitely be picking a couple of these stones. Most likely the pocket sized stone you mentioned and the larger bench sized stone in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnT0GDBnsq0&feature=related

[JonnyP]

Nice one Jeep, great info.. :0)

[luresalive]

Are they anything like arkansas stones??

[JEEP]

An arkansas stone is much harder and finer than a traditional Finnish stone.

A Finnish stone is a "does it all" kind of stone, wheras an arkansas stone is (at least imho) more exclusively for honing and finishing up.

If you like to have one stone, then go for a Finnish one - if you like to have many specialized stones, then you may find a Finnish stone to be too general purpose for your taste.

Traditionally, here in Scandinavia, you had one stone; a Finnish stone. Today, the Finnish stone has largely been replaced with the cheaper artificial carborundum stone. But, the tradition of having one stone still lives on. If you tell a Sami that you need four different stone to sharpen your knife, he will shake his head and advice you to practice your sharpening skills some more.

[luresalive]

T^

[mr.joel]

Interesting perspective. I don't know if I agree with the "one stone" tradition, but then again I've never tried a Finnish stone. I'll try one out when I get a chance. Surprising you don't see more of them if they're that good, there seems to be a good market for quality stones.

[JEEP]

A lot of good things are very popular here in Scandinavia, but surprisingly unknown to the rest of the World :)

[mr.joel]

Yeah, I wouldn't mind living there for awhile except for the taxes. Nice place though surely, I'd pay them to be around such nice forests.

[Notredame11211]

Jakob, Do you know what grit the pocket sized stones are?

[JEEP]

Unfortunally not. Being natural stones, the actual grit varies from medium/fine to medium.