Have to add another AHA moment, when I realized a need to tailor the edge to the chore - that there is no one type of edge prep that can claim to outperform all others at every task.
At one point we were having a lot of trouble with the inline sheeters on our presses choking on heavy cover stock, especially clay coated papers. This required the operator to manually cut the jam out - several 20" passes each time, and rethread the press. I had made a ton of progress in terms of a refined edge - not quite hair whittling (my finest stone was a hard Arkansas), but could shave my face pretty comfortably and crosscut light paper with a push. My edges weren't lasting long at work, at all. My coworkers on the floor started declining to have me touch up their knives for the same reason. I started testing all my edges from a coarse reprofiled edge up to what was my best refined edge. Then started moving downward in grit. My best performing edges in this environment came from a 60 grit stone - they could shear through this nightmare cover stock many times more efficiently than the fine edge I had been killing myself to produce and lasted weeks instead of days. My coworkers started testing them and concluded the same.
After achieving my coarse edge and learning to reliably deburr them, was quite content for a long time. Never stopped learning though, and after being able to produce a hair whittling edge set about testing those as well. Was impressed at how this edge type on a 3 1/2" folder could chop through green branches about 3/4" thick, while my coarse edge could barely make it 1/8-1/4" in the same wood. The same coarse edge was capable of parting free-hanging canvas using only the belly of the blade, while the polished edge could barely make a surface cut in the outtermost fibers. Coarse edge tears through the backing of a carpet better, fine edge slides through vinyl flooring better. And on and on.
Added to this was my observation that using the edge type in a complimentary manner could increase its longevity - draw with a coarse edge, press with a fine edge. Now when I move to sharpen a tool, I take into account its primary purpose. General utility I make it somewhere around 600-800 grit / 1200 2k JWS - anything outside that range is a specialty edge and will struggle if used for a task too far on the opposing end of the spectrum...IMHO...
). I sharpened to an apex, then removed the burr alternating, reduced the pressure, continued on the same stones alternating and for the first time I became aware of how sharp an edge can be off a coarse stone as long as the apex is clean and even, even without stropping (at the same time I realized edge-leading strokes is the way to go to do burr removal, at least on those kind of stones). I still love that kind of edge - but nowadays even more if I come off a coarse stone freehand with the "same" results, ha!!
