Problem sharpening small blade

[Deacon Snitch]

I've got this lil Boker here. I'm trying to sharpen it with a Lansky 3-stone system. I am inexperienced at this, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I seem to get a good edge when I sharpen my SOG Twitch II, and my cheap kitchen knives. But for this thing, I just seem to be making it more dull. I'm guessing it has something to do with the size and shape of the blade, but I'm not sure. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[gadgetgeek]

A couple ideas. Since that blade is mostly curve, it may be hard to keep the part of the edge in contact with the stone traveling straight along the stone. so instead of sharpening against the edge, you are sharpening along it, which isn't as effective.
Have you tried the sharpie trick to make sure your bevel is staying flat?

 

[aesmith]

How are you mounting it in the Lansky clamp? Maybe put up a picture of it in the clamp for comment.

 

[FlameCycle]

How are you mounting it in the Lansky clamp? Maybe put up a picture of it in the clamp for comment.

Agreed - the problem is probably from bad clamping due to the blade shape and pictures would help. That thing looks to be full flat ground, and possibly with a distal taper. Such shapes are difficult to get the lansky to clamp reliably. Try your best to get the clamp to lay flush with both sides of the blade - because of the grind this will mean the guide hole portion of the clamp will point inward over the blade somewhat. That will nullify the angle measurements, but that's ok, just put the rod about one hole shallower than you would have otherwise when you begin sharpening. In order to secure the clamp in this position you will have to tighten the back (red handled?) screw very far in. If you can't go far enough to match the blade angle, you may have to go find a longer screw at the hardware store to allow it.

 

[gosuto]

What I'd do is clamp onto the flat behind the grind and keep checking the sharpie lines on the secondary bevel to see where you're hitting and you can move the clamp to compensate

 

[Deacon Snitch]

I adjusted the way I clamped it, to better center the curve of the blade. Also, I used a marker as suggested. This showed me I was missing quite a bit. I switched from the 20* hole to the 25* hole, and that made things a lot better. The blade is sharper now, although doing a paper cutting test, I get a snag or two, so I think I need to work on those spots. Except at the tip. The tip is still dull. I think I may need to re-clamp just to get the tip.
Here's a pic of how I clamped it the second time around. The black line at the tip is marker. The black line further down the edge is oil and debris.

Thanks