Hamp,
Sorry to hear the dge was not to your liking. If Justin was in-country you could send it back to him for a new edge.
Rather than use the Sharpmaker (should be called the Sharpkeeper) you may want to use much coarser abbrasives to set the initial edge. Probably the easiest and cheapest method is to glue some sandpaper on a sheet of carboard and use it is a very large hone. IF you have a protractor at home, you can get tape it to the wall next to where you are working, set the spine at your desired angle (probably 15-18 degrees per side is what I would use) and it is easy to keep the angle consistent.
Use a thicker cardboard as a backing, one that deforms a bit under light pressure. This will add some convexity to the edge (which adds strength) and will help bleed the edge back into the priamry grind, this is also called breaking down the shoulders of the edge.
You can a pack of AO sandpaper of different grits (usually course, 90 grit, the 150 and 400 grit) for under $3 and you will want to get some finer grits as well to polish the edge.
5160 works very easily, it should only take ~20 minute to reset the edge and polish it to a high polish. The coarse grit paper will take off metal really fast.
When you are done, use the Sharpmaker at the 20 degree setting and add a slight microbevel to the final edge, work it through the corners and flats on both stones, then strop for a bit on leather or cardboard (charged with polishing compound if you have it).
The result should be a vorpal sharp (an old James Mattis phrase) high polished edge, it should easily push shave hair.
If you don't want to use the cardboard and sandpaper, just use a soft arkasas stone or similiar, try to hold the angle pretty constant, and use the sharpmaker to even it all out at the end.
Hope that helps,
KT
