Asa Merritt operated the Huntington whetstone factory with his sons in the early 1800’s. The stone was quarried from the mountainside not far from the mill. One of his sons drowned in an ice pond with his horse. The stone was used for sharpening tools, and still used today. Whetstone, a.k.a knife sharpening stone, is a rectangular stone block that sharpens a knife’s blade as it is pulled across the stone’s surface. Whetstones today come in two forms: Natural and synthetic. Synthetic whetstones are typically made of silicon carbide or aluminum oxide as opposed to real stone, or they may be coated with a fine layer of diamond particles. Synthetic stones are manufactured to have consistent density and grit size, which makes them more efficient and easier to use. You may even have one in your kitchen!
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