Hey TheZenful1
Sharpening can be (and still is) a frustrating task at times. While I am by no means a doctor of sharpenology, I have noticed a few personal mistakes that have I made and maybe there's something that might help.
If you are convexing, make sure you are not using too slight of an angle, somewhere around 20 degrees seems to work for me but, if I go too much below that I run into problems. I also found that on some knives it was best to stop at around 400 grit and giving the edge a good stropping. I take my JK's to 2000 and they seem to like it.
For a long time, when using a flat stone I would develop an edge that was very sharp through the belly area of the blade but the tip and area closest to the handle would not be nearly as sharp. Finally, I noticed that I was actually lifting the handle in relation to the stone as I attempted to follow the curve of the blade. I now try and maintain not only the angle of edge to stone but also limiting the elevation of the handle (keeping the handle as perpendicular to the stone as possible) helped me produce a uniform edge.
Also, when I purchased my first flat diamond stone the gentleman that sold it to me showed me how to use it by sharpening one of my knives. His technique used a dry stone and a forwards/backwards stroke that had the edge in contact with the stone the entire time. He also recommended at least 50-100 strokes per side before checking for sharpness. I have used this technique for 20ish years and still do today. While it differs from mqqn's, I bring it up not to say that this is by any means "better", it's just a slightly different path to the same end. mqqn was kind enough to bring numerous blades for us to play with at the Gathering and as you probably felt as well, all were sharpity sharp! Just keep at it and you will develop your own methods and the "feel" of it. I hope this helps along with all the other advice, if it doesn't than you should take John up on his offer!
