The blade is not just a weapon in the wilds of Ashenfall, it’s a tool. Sometimes it’s the difference between seeing tomorrow and having a very bad today.
Dwarves have always understood the importance of properly maintaining one’s equipment. They turned the care for their weapons into a ritual of almost religious significance. Blades would be cleaned, serviced and sharpened so that they might cut through deadlier dangers and challenge greater threats.
The whetstone is a simple device, but one that served as a backbone of this ritual. A smith would learn to gently sharpen the blade to the thinnest edge possible, treating it almost like a competition. They would boast and brag with each other about the sharpness of their blades.
A popular dwarven myth speaks of the Prime Whetstone, capable of sharpening a blade to the point that no armour or metal could withstand it. Sadly, or perhaps thankfully, no evidence exists to provide any truth to the myth.