From personal experience I can tell that once I went for the basic knive sharpener, the mean sharpness of my knives increased significantly. Yes, the whetstone makes them sharper, but it takes so much tile that I usually used my knives far too long before I sharpened them again. Once I got some basic knives sharpener (thebthings you pull your knive through), I suddenly started to sharpen the knives the moment I noticed they became a little dull.