The one thing I noticed right off, with all the knives you tried on it, is the apparent pressure exerted, which looks a bit heavy; I'm seeing it in how your hand seems to be gripping the knife, and also hearing it in the sound made against the rods. As 'light' as you might currently think you're going, you need to go lighter in pressure. When I use these V-crock sharpeners, I'm always reminding myself to handle the blade as if I'm just brushing some dust from the surface of the rods, and no heavier. Modifying the hold/grip on the knife can help with this. Instead of wrapping the hand/fingers around the handle, hold the forward end of the handle just between the pad of your thumb on one side, and the side or pad of your index finger on the other side, with placement of each approximately over the blade's pivot on each side. With the ring and pinky finger, place the ends or pads of those fingers snugly against the outside-facing side of the handle, instead of wrapping them around it, to keep the aft end of the handle snugly against the base of your palm (that lends control, to keep the angle steady). The objective in doing all this is to let just the ends of your fingers exert control, which will help you moderate pressure exerted against the rods.
I'm also noticing a slight inward tilt of the blade, toward the center of the 'V' formed by the rods. This might indicate the edge angles are a bit wider than the set angle of the sharpener, if you're tilting the blade inward to find contact with the edge. That's common with a lot of knives.
Your mention of the S30V's edge going 'dull' after cutting some cardboard is a pretty common remark with S30V blades. The steel is often known for holding a coarser 'utility' edge for a long time, but quickly losing a finer shaving edge produced by refined sharpening. That's one aspect that might be creating frustration for you. S30V is a very different animal from many other steels, for that reason. Lansky has a TurnBox kit that includes diamond rods; that would be a better option for S30V's vanadium carbides, as it'll cut them much more cleanly and produce edges that are both crisper and more stable, so there's less tendency for it to 'dull' as much after cutting cardboard and such. With the rods you have now, the ceramics (both the medium and fine) won't be hard enough to abrade the vanadium carbides at the edge (they just get fractured out of it instead), which means the edge will never be quite as thin and fine-cutting as it could be. Any issues with inconsistent angle control or other marginal technique will tend to round off and/or burnish the apex on the ceramics; so 'fixing' all that will become exponentially harder without being able to re-cut a crisp edge, needing diamond to do that.
The 154CM blade looks to have a pretty thin edge grind, and I'm assuming the factory edge angle is also at least within the set limits of the sharpener. Both of those things could be making the difference in making that one easier to sharpen.
The 14C28M blade, I'm betting, probably has a wider edge angle than is comfortable to maintain on the sharpener. That steel, in itself, usually should be pretty easy to sharpen (Sandvik's steel is known for this), but a too-obtuse factory edge angle can make sharpening most any blade frustrating on these devices.
In ALL cases though, I'd first work on reducing the pressure exerted against the rods, as I believe that's the greatest obstacle for you right now. To 'practice' with that, you might use that 154CM blade that you're finding easier to sharpen, and use the hold/grip tips I mentioned above to reduce pressure to EXTREMELY light, to see how that edge responds. All other things being the same, it should get even sharper than you're getting now. Practicing with a good blade edge like that is a good way to discern if your methods or techique are working (by seeing improvement) or not. Go very slow, very carefully looking at how your edge changes after every two or three passes on the rods. If you see it changing in the wrong direction (getting a little duller), STOP what you're doing and re-think what needs to change, to correct it.
BTW, you'll also want to mark the edge bevels with a Sharpie or similar dark-ink marker, and watch how the ink is coming off as you work. If the ink is only coming off the upper portions of the bevels near the shoulders, that indicates the edge angle on the blade may be too wide (obtuse); this is what may necessitate tilting the spine of the blade inwards toward the center of the 'V'. If the ink comes off at the edge itself, that indicates the factory edge grind is at least within the set limits of the sharpener. If you're really lucky, you'll see the ink come off cleanly along the full width of the bevels, indicating 'flush' contact on the rods.
AND, I also noticed the table setup for your sharpener may be a tad too high. It looks like it's making you tilt or lift your shoulder & arm higher than is comfortable, and that'll make it difficult to maintain control of angle and pressure. Lowering the working height for the sharpener, so your elbow is comfortably at your side as you work, should help.
David
