I can sharpen free-hand!

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Regarding finding the burrs:

I was in the habit of using water for lubrication, when I used my Lansky. I kept a couple of paper towels handy, for mopping up the resulting 'drippings', and also for wiping down the edge periodically. A side-benefit of doing that was, I noticed the damp paper towel did a great job in revealing where the burrs were. The paper towel, being wet, would sort of cling snugly to the edge. And in particular, any burrs present on the edge would snag fibers from the paper towel, leaving little 'flags' hanging on the exact location of the burr. Very convenient, couldn't have done any better if it'd been a little neon arrow saying, "LOOK HERE!" :)
 
Way to stay with it, you are definately on the right path. I've never used a 'jig' but can see how it could be a helpful learning device, on the way to free handing. Either way it's great that you are pushing your envelope.
 
I've free-handed for quite a while, but I haven't reached my "complete minimalist" goal of only having a honing stone. I still use stacks of coins and a marker to make sure I've got the right angle each time I sharpen.
 
I'm working toward my minimalist goal of convexing with a hard stone (and still having it look good). Glad to say its coming along well at the lower grits. Biggest issue is that with the hard stone, the "radius" of the blade face needs to fit fairly evenly against a flat plane at any given point. That's not the case as I get further and further back from the edge. It WILL come around, but I'm going to have to take a little metal off to make it fit the stone (if any of that makes sense...) The edge is turning out very well and that's the important part.

To the OP, finding that burr can be very tricky sometimes. Nothing is more merciless than a 15-20x loupe and some good lighting, though just having good lighting is frequently enough. Look for a slight halo just off the edge as the blade is slowly rocked back and forth - edge pointed down - under some bright light. Knifenut also advocated in a different thread stroking your thumb nail across the edge from the spine toward the cutting edge. Some very small burrs can be felt in this manner, and any nail shavings left behind will signal their presence as well. The burr is your best friend till it overstays its welcome.

HH
 
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