These are so easy to sharpen, it's not even funny. But they are different, and sharpening freehand is the way to go. But most people make the mistake of thinking about it too much, and making it more complicated than it has to be. First, forget about everything. Don't think about exact angles and micro bevels and what color compound to put on a strop. Just take a stone, and the knife. I've been using my old boy scout stone I found in a box in the attic, and it works fine.
With the stone in your left hand, if your right handed, take the knife in your right hand, and lay the blade on the stone at 90 degrees, like you're gonna saw the stone in half. Now tilt the blade over halfway to horizontal. That's about 45 degrees. Now cut that angle in half again, and that puts you about where you want to be, 20 something degrees, give or take a few degrees. This an't rocket science so we don't have to be exact.
Now, with the knife on the stone at the 20 something degrees, start honing the blade in a small circular motion starting at the kick, and very slowly working your way to the tip of the knife. During this, do not lift the blade off the stone. After abut a minute, you reach the tip, and then turn the knife over and do the same thing on the other side. If you need, use a dry erase marker to mark the edge so you can see where your honing.
I was taught this way when I was a kid, and it always works. Keeping the knife in contact with the stone in the small circle method, does away with the problem of people not being able to keep the same angle as the method where they take the blade off the stone after a slicing motion. It's easy, fast, and it works. If you want, you can strop it on an old belt to finish it up. You can even hone your pocket knife on the bottom of a coffee mug. In fact, I love coffee mugs to sharpen. Some of them have a nice unglazed ring on the bottom that is a grate knife sharpener. Take a little Scotch Brite and smooth the ring out a bit for a very good edge.
Hope this helped.
Carl.
