Having a really good, sharp knife is one of the fundamental necessities of good cooking, and most of all enjoying your cooking. The feeling of sawing away at vegetables and (particularly) meat with a dull blade makes prep work feel like a chore. Producing effortless, beautiful, even cuts with a razor-sharp edge makes you feel capable and in control, and enhances your cooking experience no end.

Sharpening is a little time-consuming but strangely satisfying, particularly with some good music on and real concentration. Basically, if you're willing to pay out for a good quality non-serrated kitchen knife, you should also be willing to pay out for the means to keep it sharp. Knives are not self-maintaining, a good quality blade needs regular attention to keep that lovely razor-sharp edge on it.

I spent £45 on my Global chef's knife (in a New Year's sale), and have never regretted it. I spent £60 on my double-sided wetstone, and only regretted it briefly. The first time I put my blade on it and turned it back to that cut-anything edge I knew it was worthwhile. This was particularly true since I'd previously ruined a good paring knife on one of those cheap "easy sharpen" gadgets - it left sizeable grooves all the way along the edge of the blade. With patient work on and off, after about 6 months that knife is finally coming back to being excellent again. The easy sharpen gadget went right in the bin. Not worth the savings in time or money.

The following applies to straight-bladed kitchen knives, penknives, camping knives and pretty much anything with an edge.

A good wetstone - and the Japanese ones are pretty much the best - should actually be two stones in a sandwich (or two separate stones). On mine the rough side is 240 grade and the fine side is 1000. The stone must be soaked in water (or, occasionally, oil) for at least 10 minutes to lubricate the action of metal on stone. Then you rest the blade against the top surface of the stone, starting on the rough side, and move it back and forth.

The angle is vitally important - it must rest on the stone at the angle of the edge. In the case of a Global knife the blade curves toward the edge, making this harder to judge. On most knives the edge is a bevel, with a distinct angle which makes it easier to pick out, but it's still hard to judge when you rest it against the stone. Fortunately there's an easy way out - most good kitchen shops should be able to sell you a little clipon guide which keeps the knife at just the right angle. Once you've learned the correct angle you can stop using the guide. One warning based on my own experience: Gritty slurry from the stone will tend to work its way under the guide while you're sharpening. Rinse it out thoroughly before you try and slide it off the blade, or the grit will score the sides of your (I assume) beautiful knife.

Once you've got the angle right, there's the action. There is a heck of a lot of debate about this issue, whether you should make vertical or horizontal strokes, pull or push, away from or toward the edge. I went with long strokes for a good while, but recently I found a great article from Cook's Illustrated (it's no longer available, unfortunately) where they'd done some real research on the different methods. They concluded that the easiest method is also the best - continuous circular motions. You keep the blade moving round and round in small circles on the stone, and slowly move up and down the length of the edge. Just continue this for a minute or so on one side, then flip to the other. Once both sides are done, switch to the fine side of the stone and repeat the action - it doesn't need as long on the fine side as you're just smoothing off the rough bits left by the first side. And that's it!

When you're done, test the blade to make sure it's up to scratch. Hold a piece of paper up by one end, and use the knife to cut a strip off it from top to bottom, moving the knife back and forth in a slicing motion. It should slide cleanly through, without catching or tearing. If it doesn't, back to the stone.

Many people advise stropping the knife after sharpening on a steel or a leather strip - it's supposed to make the edge more durable. I have to say I've never gotten round to obtaining either, and my knives hold up okay. But it might be something to try.

Mark Hewitt is an English foodie, cook, philosopher, geek, shaman and writer. At the start of 2007 he sold or gave away almost all his possessions and left on a backpacking journey round the world, the purpose being (at least in part) to figure out why he would want to do such a thing. You can follow his journey and find other articles at Seeking An Extraordinary Life.