You said it better than I could but than again, English is not my native language
When it comes to free hand sharpening I agree with this statement completely also when you use a jig or a system the end result still takes a degree of finesse to tweak the edge and that ability only comes after knowing what a sharp edge looks like. Part of recognizing art is learning what it is and looks like. Some artist drew a perfect circle free hand and was hailed as genius, an artistic innovator. He had to recognize a perfect circle before he could reproduce it.
Fred you know I love your system and I think it produces fantastic edge for what it's meant to be used for and the environment it was designed for which is a pretty varied range. That being said and having seen the edges produced by machines versus by hand on bench stones, hones and strops. I think the art comes when you give a man a hunk of heat treated steel and by hand, without the aid of any jig/mechanism or mechanical assistance and you produce a perfect edge for the purpose intended.
That might only be for slicing cardboard and paper, knowing the type of edge to put on the blade for the intended job is an art form, knowing the type of edge and being able to apply it to the steel and compensate for speed of cut, strength of edge, duration of edge retention, that's an art form. Ask any competitive cutter if the edge put on his competition blade was put on by a mechanic or an edge sharpening master. The problem is at is subjective and in a production mindset you look to get an end result that's repeatable and consistent, individual tastes in edges for particular knives/steel varies and being able to interpret what is wanted/needed and create it with what ever is available is an art form and when it's accomplished its art.
Even using your system with the intricacies of different steels, heat treats and blade cross sections, compensating for wear on the system and knife and still coming out with the desired edge is an art form. Some people just want a highly polished blade that can slice the letters off of news print and be so highly polished as to be able to read the fine print on prescription bottle is an art form. With that being said, sharpening free hand is an art form in my opinion, people who sharpen as well as any system or jigs are artists and when a knife is done and finished by hand to the desired finish it can be art.
I've seen edges produced by machine that were perfect but it always takes some one to check up on equipment to make sure it's tweaked to produce the best possible edge to get a job done. Consider a butcher, machines can cut meat and butcher meat producing consistent cuts of quality meat but the butcher who recognizes the contour of the muscles, the level of marbling and the grain of the meat to and how to slice that and get the best cut with the least waste is an artist.
Also, the human hand has developed over eons into one of the most amazing tools on earth. But, I send my machine tools out to be sharpened and they are done on modern CNC controlled machinery. They told me, when I inquired, that the tools sent to them are scanned by computer and then the information is transferred to the machine doing the work in code that the machine can interpret. The results are amazing. I would do it in shop, but its not something I can match skills with. Is it art? Machine art possibly.
Again the art is the end result, the machine is the brush with the edge being the canvas and the person marrying the two together providing that edge is the artist. Because art is subjective basically one can claim anything is art and don't have to prove it, just rationalize it and if I can convince someone else that it's art than to me and then it's art.
I'm sorry to go on for so long but being an artist of some types myself and having been a mechanic/machinist I tend to see art everywhere so on this point my friend I have to disagree.
One last thought, even the software used to run sharpening equipment can be considered art, ask any software engineer what they do and they'll tell you it's either art or magic.
It's an art to have the mechanical skill to create a perfect edge on piece of steel using stones....
I agree, take two people give them the same equipment to accomplish the same end result with the same level of training and one will always be better, throw 1,000 people together with the same training on the same equipment and the differences become so blatantly obvious there will always be a few who just are better and in the even in that group there's obvious differences, eventually you realize that 1 or 2 % are so much better, they've mastered the skill and have imparted their own experience with the medium and tools to be considered artists. It's how you use what's available, how most see the end result of your labors that determine if it's art. Even as an artist just because I say it's art don't mean a thing but if somebody else says it's so then I have credibility, I become an artist and what I do is considered art.
Sorry to go on for so long Fred but the definition of art was always a sensitive spot with me.
as these are only my opinions they are subject to change so anyone is welcome to convince me that they're right and I'm wrong.
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