Whetstone

Whetstones were used for sharpening knives, scissors, needles, fishing hooks, sickles, adzes, as well as other various tools and iron utensils. They were used in households as well as in specialized workshops for smoothing the surface of objects made of non-ferrous metals, bone, antlers and wood. Small whetstones with a hole for hanging on a string or leather strip had a different function. These items are mostly no different in form from ordinary tools used to sharpen small utensils, such as needles, but they bear no marks of use. They were worn around the neck or attached to the belt. Excavations in Wolin resulted in artefacts – whetstone pendants with metal ferrules with an eyelet, adorned with anthropo- and zoomorphic ornaments. The whetstone from Wolin has a form of a bar with rounded ends. One surface bears clear marks of intensive use – it clearly had a utilitarian function.

Grzegorz Durdyń