Jon has been busy carving recently so has needed to do lots of this!
First he soaks the Japanese whetstones in water.
![knife sharpening](//4.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x0SYmEDsI/AAAAAAAAAh8/DUv1JecfTUE/s200/spooncarving+firststeps+puukko3.jpg)
Using the rougher side first, he sweeps the blade 10 strokes up and 10 strokes down, and then 10 strokes alternate.
![Japanese whetstones](//4.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x018mqm4I/AAAAAAAAAiE/hdHSBZ0e-wY/s200/spooncarving+firststeps+puukko5.jpg)
Then he wipes the blade to remove the larger particles from the bevel.
![spoon carving](//1.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x1hzWbrnI/AAAAAAAAAiM/vdf9qYJl7-I/s200/7.jpg)
He repeats the sharpening process using the finer side of the whetstone until he is happy that the knife is sharp.
![Devon Dartmoor](//2.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x2pU7u7FI/AAAAAAAAAiU/yzBlAP6vpWY/s200/spooncarving+firststeps+puukko13.jpg)
Then he wipes the blade again before stropping. He strops to break the very fine foil edge off the blade that has formed during the sharpening process.
He uses a leather strop - an old leather belt.
![devon spoon carving](//2.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x4nGVvIuI/AAAAAAAAAic/Shb9FP59r1Q/s200/spooncarving+firststeps+puukko19.jpg)
And when this is all done, the blade is sharp enough to shave with...
![spoon carving first steps](//2.bp.blogspot.com/_D_E5598eI3o/S1x46Q_-A5I/AAAAAAAAAik/6_LvYa7Aoa8/s200/spooncarving+firststeps+puukko22.jpg)
...and he can return to his carving work.