Sharpie and some youtube video's along with some reading will take you extremely far with some practice. But one of the other reasons why I recommended the sharpmaker was I heard the instructional DVD was actually pretty decent and knowledge is quite powerful. Combine that with something which makes sharpening easier and it's a winning combo in my book.
I see where your coming from with your point of view I can't argue with that logic. I just like approaching it from a different angle, it's all personal preference. I think making it easier to maintain a high level of sharpness would be a better 1 time investment even if you don't have as large of an allowance of money to spend on a knife. Though admitably if the OP wants to go freehand all bets are off on what you can do with some basic materials is quite amazing if your willing to put in the time and effort.
Though on the stone if you want to go cheap I think a basic silicon carbide norton ecnonomy stone that you can pick up from home depot for $6 would be better once you flatten it on the sidewalk. And pair that up with some green compound and an old mousepad or drawl liner to hold the stone in place. I've picked up some cheap $3 craftsman green compound that requires the strength of a bear to apply to a piece of paper which I used to use as a strop wrapped around the stone. It wasn't pretty but it worked. The drawl liners I've picked up for $1 before. Surprisingly enough I found you get more feedback from the norton economy stone than you did from the diamonds from what I recall and I found it a lot easier to work with less wear resistant steels as it wasn't overly aggressive.
Though if money permits I would go with a norton india or crystolon (silicon carbide) combo stone which cost you roughly $20-25 and some better compound than I mentioned as it make life easier and will probably last you a lifetime. So far in my limited experience I've had good luck with flexcut gold which set me back around $10 that I bought at the recommendation of a fellow forum member, but by no means are these the only way to go about it.
I see where your coming from with your point of view I can't argue with that logic. I just like approaching it from a different angle, it's all personal preference. I think making it easier to maintain a high level of sharpness would be a better 1 time investment even if you don't have as large of an allowance of money to spend on a knife. Though admitably if the OP wants to go freehand all bets are off on what you can do with some basic materials is quite amazing if your willing to put in the time and effort.
Though on the stone if you want to go cheap I think a basic silicon carbide norton ecnonomy stone that you can pick up from home depot for $6 would be better once you flatten it on the sidewalk. And pair that up with some green compound and an old mousepad or drawl liner to hold the stone in place. I've picked up some cheap $3 craftsman green compound that requires the strength of a bear to apply to a piece of paper which I used to use as a strop wrapped around the stone. It wasn't pretty but it worked. The drawl liners I've picked up for $1 before. Surprisingly enough I found you get more feedback from the norton economy stone than you did from the diamonds from what I recall and I found it a lot easier to work with less wear resistant steels as it wasn't overly aggressive.
Though if money permits I would go with a norton india or crystolon (silicon carbide) combo stone which cost you roughly $20-25 and some better compound than I mentioned as it make life easier and will probably last you a lifetime. So far in my limited experience I've had good luck with flexcut gold which set me back around $10 that I bought at the recommendation of a fellow forum member, but by no means are these the only way to go about it.
