# No love for Wicked Edge here?



## bm11 (Jul 17, 2019)

A little bit of a background on myself- I’ve been a knife guy since I was a kid. At a real young age I used a hand-me-down whetstone to put an edge on a butter knife. 

As an early adult, I started collecting a “nice” kitchen knife set (Henckels Professional S,) and maintained them on a Spyderco sharpmaker.

A couple years later, I got into tactical knives, including both big fixed blade choppers (mostly Busse) and high end folders (Hinderer, Chris Reeve, Strider, etc.) At this point I really got into sharpening. I never invested in a belt sander or paper wheels (both very popular for the big fixed blades,) but I did invest in a Wicked Edge for the folders.

That Wicked Edge has served me well for about four and a half years. I’ve reprofiled many knives and put on many mirror edges. With work, I’ve been able to put an edge on a thick tactical folder that can literally whittle hairs. It also served me well to keep my kitchen knives sharp, as well as repair some major edge damage to a couple of friends Shun knives. 

Fast forward to now- my wife is a hell of a cook, known for it among a large group of friends and also at the workplace. She isn’t a trained chef, which is one of her few regrets as her passion truly is in the kitchen. Recently I started building up a much nicer set of knives for her- I bought a Masamoto KS 240 Gyuto, a KS 165 Petty, and a Shigefusa 300 Yanagiba. Along with this newfound passion in Japanese knives, I’ve also renewed my passion for sharpening, as knife maintenance is my department.

That said, based on all of the reading here I’ve bought a starting setup for freehand sharpening, something I haven’t truly done since I was a kid. I’ve picked up a Chosera 400, 1k, and 5k stone and have been practicing my skills on the old kitchen knives. The results I’ve gotten have made me second guess why I went away from the Wicked Edge, as the results are as you’d expect- no where near the same. I’ve accidentally scratched blades and the edge results are no where near impressive.

So that brings me back around to the topic of this thread- I’m seriously second guessing myself on hand sharpening, as upgrading the stones on my Wicked Edge to Chosera’s is an option with guaranteed results. Obviously I won’t be able to sharpen single edge knives like my Yanagiba with it though, so there is that. 

Should I persevere and keep practicing on my hand stones? Or should I stick with my tried and true Wicked Edge? I just feel like I’m a little overwhelmed between trying to learn the technique, stone maintenance, etc etc. Hoping to hear from some who have used both freehand stones and Wicked Edge (Edge Pro users as well as they are competitive products,) and which way they decided to go.

Thanks, and sorry for the long read. This long post was fueled by coffee and OCD!

-BM


----------



## Michi (Jul 17, 2019)

I haven't used a Wicked Edge, but I have a Lansky sharpening kit that I bought back in the late nineties and I used it for more than fifteen years.

Personally, I don't have an aversion towards guided sharpeners. They take the most important source of error out of the exercise, namely, how to not wobble and maintain a constant angle. If you are comfortable with the Wicked Edge, and if you are happy with the results you get, why change? I mean, to me, it doesn't make sense to sharpen on stones just to adhere to some sort of sharpening doctrine…

Having said that, I haven't used my Lansky for quite some time now. I find that hand-sharpening on stones is quicker, easier, and more efficient, and I get better results than I did with the Lansky. (Not that the results with the Lansky were bad; they were quite good, actually.) All the sharpening I did with the Lansky was for German knives. When I got into Japanese knives, I bought some stones as well, so I've never tried the Lansky with the harder Japanese steels, and I don't know how well it (or the Wicked Edge) would work with Japanese knives.

Regardless, if you are not comfortable with hand sharpening, either find someone to help you with technique, or just stick with the Wicked Edge. If you can get Choseras to fit the Wicked Edge, I have no doubt that you'd get something very close to hand-sharpening.

When it comes down to it, what matters is how sharp your knife ends up at, not how you got it there.


----------



## Carl Kotte (Jul 17, 2019)

Michi’s post is words of wisdom. 

I’ll just add: don’t let a few rounds of less than optimal free hand sharpening sessions discourage you too much. If you have the time, and you enjoy using the stones (at least to some extent), just continue and the results will (in all likelihood) improve. And throw in some Pete Nowlan youtube tutorials every now and then.


----------



## Jville (Jul 17, 2019)

There is nothing wrong with using a guided sharpener, but you can get the same results with hand sharpening on stones. It will take practice though. Is your highest stone on wicked edge a 5k, because i dont usually see people whittling hairs of a 5k? I dont think its frowned upon to use wicked edge. Some people might cringe at using systems like a tormek, but in the end they are your knives and your perogative how to sharpen them. I dont think you shpuld be surprised either that your results dropped, when beggining hand sharpening. Its a skill that takes time, practice, and knowledge. if you dont want to spend the time developing it, there is nothing wrong with that. Also, i think.most people dont have a wicked edge and buy waterstones to hand sharpen on, when starting down the rabbit hole and thats what they become proficient with them making it unnecessary to buy a wicked edge. Unlike you, who already had one.


----------



## Jville (Jul 17, 2019)

Some people also like the ritual of hand sharpening. It can be enjoyable, relaxing.


----------



## Carl Kotte (Jul 17, 2019)

Jville said:


> Some people also like the ritual of hand sharpening. It can be enjoyable, relaxing.



Amen!


----------



## Lotmom (Jul 17, 2019)

What I did when I was learning hand sharpening was I went down to the thrift store and grabbed a bunch of cheap knives for almost nothing. They are perfect to practice on as they are usually soft steel (so if you pay attention you can quickly catch any errors) and if you mess one up, it isn't a big deal. One of the biggest walls for me when learning something is fear of messing up. I find that if you remove that fear, progress is 10x faster.


That being said, I fully agree with the others here. If you have a system that works, and you enjoy it, there's no sense in leaving it. _If it ain't broke, don't fix it._


----------



## Sailor (Jul 17, 2019)

You folks are very kind

As for the guided system: ten years ago I picked up the Edge Pro Professional because I lacked confidence in my freehand ability. Soon after use I saw knives sharper than I’d ever seen. However , within 6 months it became boring to use but it helped me to become a better freehand sharpener. 

I think you need to manage your expectations. You can’t go from a guided device to freehand and expect the same results right away. The fact that you scratched your knife is an indication of a lack of angle control, something everyone experiences until those awesome sharpening muscles grow. 

These days I rarely ever use the EP and I can tell you that freehand edges by folks who have put in the work will surpass the guided system edge. 

Don’t give up but as Michi the wise said, don’t feel pressured to freehand. You’ve got a good system there so perhaps becoming efficient with both the WEPS and freehanding could be a goal to set for yourself. 
Bottom Line: Make your knives Sharp but enjoy the process or it just becomes a chore


----------



## MarkC (Jul 17, 2019)

My suggestion would be to see if there is a sharpening class in your area. We have some around here and you can learn from experts without making an investment in equipment. Ones around here provide stones and knives to use and you get to see if it is for you.


----------



## Paraffin (Jul 17, 2019)

I went from many years hand sharpening on diamond grit/plastic base, to an Edge Pro (the fancy version) for about 5 years, and then finally back to hand sharpening on water stones for the last couple of years. It did take me a while to get consistent results with hand sharpening, but it's just so much faster and easier to use the stones. 

I'm a fairly lazy person by nature, so that was one factor in the switch. I have a plastic tub set in a utility sink, with JKI Gesshin 400, 2k, and 6k soaker stones immersed in water. There's a sink bridge over the tub to hold a stone while sharpening. If I need a quick touch-up on just one knife, it's easy to pick up the 2k stone, hit a few licks on it with the knife, put the stone back in the water and I'm back to cooking. I still have a routine for sharpening a group of knives together for regular maintenance, but I was never able to do this kind of quick touch-up with the sharpening gadget, because it took so much time to set up. I'm not familiar with the Wicked Edge, but from looking at a demo video, it looks equally fussy to set up, compared to hand sharpening on stones. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure my edge angle when hand sharpening is as consistent as it was when using the gadget, but I'm not getting noticeably convex edges either. My knives have good edges, pass the tomato test every time, and have good edge retention. That's all I need, and I like how fast I can get good results on the stones. 

So I guess my advice to the OP is to just keep at it, and you should be able to get consistent _enough_ by hand sharpening, even if you can't exactly match what the gadget does. And the more you do it, the better it gets.


----------



## HRC_64 (Jul 17, 2019)

One of the downfalls of fixed-angle sharpening systems is dealing with "thinning" and blending convex bevels.
Perhaps this is ultimately the main reason why they are a dead end for professionals enthusiasts alike.

They are probably great for quick touch ups or whatever, where you just need to burr/debur/polish
on a perfectly set up edge and there are no real issues with geometry or alteration.

However, in the "real world" alot of what you are wanting to do with sharpening is

1) correct factory profile
2) correct factory grind
3) manage any chip/repair and damange

You're going to have do so some of this 100% with any knife because as the knife dulls and metla is lost the stock geometry is lost (even if it was perfect), however, most people also would benefit from some minor thinning or profile alterations out of the box. 

Just my $0.02

Don't take anything said here personally or dismissively, alot of the above is perhaps experience, and everyone will think of things and make different tradeoffs (time/money/complexity, etc)


----------



## bm11 (Jul 17, 2019)

First, "thank you" to everyone taking the time to reply so far! I really appreciate all of the responses. They are helping me to understand the tangible benefits of hand sharpening that extend beyond the satisfaction factor. 

The Wicked Edge has been a good product for me due to my OCD- KNOWING that an angle is set properly. This may be the single biggest issue for me thus far in learning to hand sharpen- not really knowing what angle I'm holding the knife at.

That said, it does have some limitations. As pointed out, there is some setup involved, and it can be a pain. Also, on long thin knives (like kitchen knives) there can be some flexing which alters angles. Sometimes due to the fixed pivot point the tip doesn't come out right. 

To answer the question about the grit level used to get hair popping sharp- my diamond stones go up to 1000 grit, at which point I strop (I believe my strops are 5 micron and 3.5 micron.) 

After typing up my thread this morning I did take another practice knife out, and the results are getting better, so I'm making progress. I just needed a little justification from you guys on why everyone hand sharpens, before I go all in on something new while having what many would call one of the best sharpening systems in the world already at home.

Sounds like it is time to get serious. I'm ordering a sink bridge, that'll allow me to start practicing more conveniently. I'm going to finish sharpening all of my old knives, and then I'm moving onto friends knives. Once I get more confident, I'll need to get a good finishing stone as well, either a Chosera 10k or a JNat. 

Thanks again really, knowing the reasons why really helps, and everyone is right- I just need to practice until I perfect it.

-Bob


----------



## Lotmom (Jul 17, 2019)

bm11 said:


> First, "thank you" to everyone taking the time to reply so far! I really appreciate all of the responses. They are helping me to understand the tangible benefits of hand sharpening that extend beyond the satisfaction factor.
> 
> The Wicked Edge has been a good product for me due to my OCD- KNOWING that an angle is set properly. This may be the single biggest issue for me thus far in learning to hand sharpen- not really knowing what angle I'm holding the knife at.
> 
> ...


There are two reasons I hand sharpen. One, I find it incredibly relaxing, zen almost. Two, It's often faster than guided in most situations.

Here's how I see it.
I own a KME and I absolutely love it. It's my Go-to for folders. I don't use it on kitchen knives, or any time I have more than 3 knives to sharpen. Why?
Because clamped systems are inherently slower than non clamped/free hand.

It seems that you are already quite knowledgeable in the theory of sharpening, the burr, apexing, different finish levels... All of those skills transfer over to freehand.

What I would suggest, before spending tons of money on something you aren't sure about, is to get a simple set of stones. 220, 1k, 3-6k. I wouldn't recommend buying new equipment until you can get comparable results between the wicked edge and freehand.

The great thing about sharpening in general is how personal it is. The way I see it, everyone has their own style of sharpening. You should try to find yours.


----------



## bm11 (Jul 17, 2019)

Thanks Lotmom! I enjoyed it this morning as well. I need to get something to help make it more convenient to use my stones- most likely a sink bridge only but maybe a tub also (I'm worried about seat hight for that setup.)


----------



## Matus (Jul 17, 2019)

Where are the good old times when we would ban system users on the spot 

It is all about what works for you. Learning free hand sharpening gives you more freedom, stone selection and ability to maintain the geometry of your knives - especially as when thinning a knife one needs access to a whole range of angles along the blade.

With that said - I sharpen my pocket knives first on a 1k or 2k stone at relatively small angle and then finish the very edge with Spydeco Sharpmaker (grey and white sticks. 

So while water stones will give you more options, do not hesitate to keep your Wicked Edge. What matters is that you get the results you are after. How you get there is secondary.


----------



## Nemo (Jul 17, 2019)

I started with Edgepro (the cheaper one) and it does a good job of sharpening to a consistent angle. Using it taught me a lot about burrs and edges. It also gave me the courage to try freehanding because I had a fallback if I stuffed up. I never did need to use that fallback and IIRC, I haven't used the Edgepro in almost 3 years.

I found the JKI videos on how to hold a knife for sharpening to be very helpful in maintaining a consistent angle. Also, make sure you flatten your stone before each sharpening session.

There are some problems with using a guided system on Japanese style kitchen knives. They are ground quite assymetrically, which means that you often need to sharpen at different angle on each side. This is not only a pain with a guided system, but it is not as easy to follow an existing edge bevel as it is freehand- you will get some tactile and aural feedback from the stone when you are sharpening at the edge when freehanding (it may take you a little while to recognise this).

Importantly, Japanese knives often have convex grinds above the edge and you will need to follow this convexity when thinning. Even if it is a wide bevel knife with a flat thinning bevel, it is much easier to follow the exact thinning angle freehanding than with a guided system. The thinning angle will also likely be different on each side.

Essentially, when freehanding, you can use the blade face as the guide for your thinning. Just remember that steel gets removed from directly under where you put pressure on the blade. Jon's videos on single bevel sharpening describe this quite well (when he talks about raising the shinogi vssharpening at the edge).

Freehanding has also taught me a lot about burr control and deburring. Essentially, once you have developed a burr on your coarest stone (whether that be 400 or 5k for this particular sharpening), you should continue sharpening with a series of gradually reducing pressures (I usually use 3 or 4 steps) until you are sharpening with only the weight of the blade on the stone. This is well described in Pete Nolan's (@Sailor 's) videos on knifeplanet.net. You will feel (and maybe see) pieces of burr break off during this process. Burr control is particularly important with highly alloyed steels, including most stainless steel because they tend to form more tenacious burrs.

Keep practicing with freehanding and don't be disheatened. Watch the videos, keep practicing and you will soon be making acceptable edges. Then you can spend the rest of your life getting better and better. Freehand sharpening is easier than you think to learn but it's very nuanced and can take a loooooong time to master.

Also, it's worth looking at Kippington's thread on assymetry: https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/index.php?threads/33951/

Dave Martell's thread on assymetry is also helpful:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/index.php?threads/5656/

It can get a bit brain bending at times but the TLDR is that you need to follow the existing contours of the knife when thinning or even sharpening.

Hope this helps.


----------



## Kippington (Jul 17, 2019)

It's the speed of hand sharpening which makes a huge difference.
Imagine you're using a knife while cooking dinner and you notice your edge is going dull. You can stop what you're doing and re-sharpen the knife in seconds - even a good portion of users here wouldn't believe just how fast it can really be.

If you rely on a jig, sharpening becomes more of a '_I'll set some time aside later_' kind of a deal. As the knife loses sharpness you just kind of have to put up with it, or use a different knife.
______________

Also as others have said, you can't thin knives with an Edge Pro/Wicked Edge. It's not so much of a big deal on some knives, but for many kitchen knives its higher up in importance than you might think.
You often see this kind of picture of a big shiny bevel in relation to sharpening jigs:





Many sharpeners take a look at this picture and see a really nice polish and it's association with sharpness.
All I can think of is how freaking huge that bevel is, and how thick that knife must be as a result. It would be terrible at going through many foods/materials no matter how sharp it is.

And yeah, sharpening long/flexible knives is easy by hand if you know what you're doing.


----------



## ian (Jul 17, 2019)

bm11 said:


> The Wicked Edge has been a good product for me due to my OCD- KNOWING that an angle is set properly. This may be the single biggest issue for me thus far in learning to hand sharpen- not really knowing what angle I'm holding the knife at.



The thing is, it doesn’t matter that much what angle you sharpen at (say, if it’s within 10-20 degrees) as long as you’re consistent with the angle as you sharpen. Chilling out about that is the first step toward mastering freehand sharpening, as many people told me when I was stressing out about it.


(Or rather, yes the angle matters, but not as much as you think, and there are so many other things going on that you shouldn’t spend all your time thinking about that.)


----------



## nutmeg (Jul 17, 2019)

Systems may give great results. 
To me it's a bit like taking pictures with auto-focus. It works but I find manual much more fun and I have the feeling to learn more of the craft over the years.


----------



## Paraffin (Jul 18, 2019)

bm11 said:


> The Wicked Edge has been a good product for me due to my OCD- KNOWING that an angle is set properly. This may be the single biggest issue for me thus far in learning to hand sharpen- not really knowing what angle I'm holding the knife at.



Here's the trick I use to get in the ballpark on a good angle when hand sharpening double bevel kitchen knives: 

First, it's easy to visualize what a 45 degree angle to the stone is, right? Start with the blade at 90 degrees to the stone, straight up, then drop the back edge of the knife (facing you) down to an estimated 45 degrees with the blade edge resting on the stone.

Now that you're at 45 degrees, drop the back edge of the knife again to half that angle. You're now somewhere around 22 degrees, an angle I use to sharpen softer stainless steel kitchen knives or utility knives. 

If you halve that angle one last time you'd be at 11 degrees (very roughly), which is lower than I'd want for Japanese knives, so I start at the roughly 22 degree angle and drop it just a bit more, but not as much as halving the angle. That puts me somewhere in the ballpark of 15-17 degrees, which is what I want for my Japanese kitchen knives. One you do this often enough you can go directly to the final angle you want, because it's in your "muscle memory" for holding the angle. As others have said, it's less important to hit an exact known angle than it is to be somewhere in the ballpark but very consistent in holding that angle, whatever it is. After using the Edge Pro I had to lose the idea of knowing exactly what the angle is, and focus on consistency.

I also second the recommendation of using the technique shown in the JKI sharpening videos for training one hand to do just one job -- holding the angle -- while the other hand pushes and pulls the blade against the stone:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEBF55079F53216AB

The "sharpie trick" mentioned in those videos is also useful as a reality check.


----------



## inferno (Jul 18, 2019)

the problem with all guided systems is that they are too slow for kitchen knives. you can have a much bigger contact area and much higher pressure to get stuff done with bench stones.
I can take any of my home knives and if dull i can put a new edge one it very quickly. I mean i take out the stone holder and a stone, splash some water on there, sharpen for 30 seconds, done!
flush the stone and holder, and let dry. 

also if you look at the pic kippington posted you see exactly the result *you dont want* towards the tip of the blade. the bevel is now 100% longer... *** right. 

I think the stones are superior for thinning, reprofiling, and for longer blades than 6 inches. 

I have the sharpmaker. and i used to use it on pocket knives. but now in the last years i have not used it at all. i use small coticule in my hand for pocket knives now. 
i still think the sharpmaker is a good device for "regular people", you cant do it wrong. and it will get stuff sharp. very sharp actually. but its not very fast


----------



## Midsummer (Jul 18, 2019)

I have a wicked edge that is about 5-6 years old. I did learn some from it. I have not used it for nearly that same time. Despite that fact my kitchen knives are currently all very sharp. I might pull it out again if I thought I needed to sharpen a pocket knife...maybe?. 

I guess fundamentally I found it inferior to free hand sharpening for the purposes of maintaining my kitchen knives. I am not smart enough to tell you exactly why that is, but that's the fact.

I hope you find what works best for you.


----------



## bm11 (Jul 18, 2019)

Thanks all, I’ve been practicing freehand and the results are starting to show. I’m beginning to develop confidence that I can get good enough to retire the Wicked Edge!


----------



## slickmamba (Jul 18, 2019)

bm11 said:


> Thanks all, I’ve been practicing freehand and the results are starting to show. I’m beginning to develop confidence that I can get good enough to retire the Wicked Edge!


Thats awesome, it definitely takes practice, and like others have said, you will get better results after some time. Gotta take those training wheels off


----------



## bm11 (Jul 19, 2019)

Looking forward to my sink bridge coming in today, it’ll definitely help with the convenience of practice for sure.


----------



## Receiver52 (Jul 20, 2019)

One other advantage to hand sharpening is that once you get good at it and find that you really like doing it, there’s a whole new rabbit hole to fall into called Jnats.

Enjoy


----------



## Benuser (Jul 21, 2019)

Have seen quite some blades sharpened with jig systems. Invariably, great edges, poor cutters.


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Jul 22, 2019)

Good advice here. Never used a guided system my old man used stones for his wood chisels and turning tools.

Hand sharpening is fast once you get the feel for it. Dave Martell thins a little behind the edge before putting on final edge. This keeps a good cutting edge over time instead of wider bevels as diagram above. Also you can get creative blending several bevels together. You can hand hold smaller stones to sharpen garden clippers, carbon Japanese hedge shears, lawn mower blades etc. Just get a burr and take it off polish the back side a little. Sharpen wood chisels and folders on same type stones as my kitchen knives. You can use fingers and thumb on handle hand to help steady your spine height to get even bevels. Not to mention all the different types of tips on kitchen knives that can be addressed with stone technique. Then there are Japanese singe bevel like Deba & Yanagiba that only can be sharpened by hand. Good technique can produce edges unsurpassed on most other knives. That's the Zen of hand sharpening


----------



## Benuser (Jul 23, 2019)

Keith Sinclair said:


> Good advice here. Never used a guided system my old man used stones for his wood chisels and turning tools.
> 
> Hand sharpening is fast once you get the feel for it. Dave Martell thins a little behind the edge before putting on final edge. This keeps a good cutting edge over time instead of wider bevels as diagram above. Also you can get creative blending several bevels together. You can hand hold smaller stones to sharpen garden clippers, carbon Japanese hedge shears, lawn mower blades etc. Just get a burr and take it off polish the back side a little. Sharpen wood chisels and folders on same type stones as my kitchen knives. You can use fingers and thumb on handle hand to help steady your spine height to get even bevels. Not to mention all the different types of tips on kitchen knives that can be addressed with stone technique. Then there are Japanese singe bevel like Deba & Yanagiba that only can be sharpened by hand. Good technique can produce edges unsurpassed on most other knives. That's the Zen of hand sharpening


Got here the same trick of starting far behind the edge and only raising the spine little by little, working on that same side until the very edge is almost reached — or a burr has been raised, depending on the case. 
If you're fine with an existing geometry you can sharpen _any _blade without concern about angles or asymmetry, and move the previous configuration to its new place.


----------



## inferno (Jul 23, 2019)

imo the smaller the blades gets the more sense the guided systems, or all "systems" make.

but since a kitchen knife is so long, 150mm plus. then the stones make more sense and its gets very easy in no time. I taught my cousin to sharpen his kitchen knives in a about 2-3h on stones. i gave him a stone holder, and 2 glass stones. a 500 and a 3k. and he has never ever worked with his hands! 

I think the best part of stones is that you have this massive contact area and you can push as hard as you want on the stones therefore making them very very fast. this si something you cant do with "systems".


----------



## Huntdad (Jul 23, 2019)

ian said:


> The thing is, it doesn’t matter that much what angle you sharpen at (say, if it’s within 10-20 degrees) as long as you’re consistent with the angle as you sharpen. Chilling out about that is the first step toward mastering freehand sharpening, as many people told me when I was stressing out about it.
> 
> 
> (Or rather, yes the angle matters, but not as much as you think, and there are so many other things going on that you shouldn’t spend all your time thinking about that.)



Words of great wisdom as with the rest. The first thing I do when teaching someone to sharpen by hand is to tell them not to think about angles on either side of the blade, but rather consistency on each side. They have to find "their" groove first. Rough at the start, but after a while the brain and muscles just know what to do. To me there is something about the traditional way of sharpening when matched with good knives that I really enjoy....but I like to make my own sourdough bread and dill pickles as well. Sharpening by hand is kinda like brewing beer; only a few ingredients but so many possibilities; and you constantly learn something new.


----------



## Bert2368 (Jul 23, 2019)

HRC_64 said:


> One of the downfalls of fixed-angle sharpening systems is dealing with "thinning" and blending convex bevels.
> Perhaps this is ultimately the main reason why they are a dead end for professionals enthusiasts alike.
> 
> They are probably great for quick touch ups or whatever, where you just need to burr/debur/polish
> ...



♤ This.

I started with a stone and my two hands. Eventually, I tried a couple of guided sharpening systems. Now, I am back to hand sharpening.

A lot of this seems to me to be related to HOW MUCH experience you have/are getting, how much time, how many blades you have available to learn on?

Initially, I am certain that a guided system would have given me better results than I got by hand at 8 -9 years old! I was a klutz...

Then, while I worked as a prep chef and did general chef work while going to school, I got pretty darn good at using stones and steel FAST.

More recently, I tried several guided systems. The results WERE a good level of sharpness- And painfully slow, if a bunch of blades needed to be done, especially if they varied in the bevel angles required.

I can hand sharpen to an acceptable level now faster than I can set up and use any of the guided systems (which have worked well for me, I can't complain about results, only TIME).

If you sharpen 1 or 2 knives a year and are never going to burn in the muscle memory needed to efforlessly hand sharpen, buy a guide.

If you are going to do a good bit of sharpening, invest in practice time instead. If you find simple manual work meditative/therapeutic as I do, doubly so.


----------

