This is more of a question for the "Maintenance Tinkering and Embellishment" subforum, but here's my 2 cents.
Yes, get a cheap knife to practice on. You will probably be able to put a working edge on your knife with a little practice, but you'll be removing a lot of metal needlessly. Get the basics down before you have a go at a knife you care about.
Always sharpen standing up at a counter or workbench, not sitting down.
Use a Sharpie, mark up the bevel you're working on and check to see where the marker is being ground away. Don't be stingy, re apply frequently and check often.
Counting your strokes, grind one side until you see a burr along the entire edge. Flip and repeat the same number of strokes. If the Sharpie and visual inspection say you need more strokes to get a good edge grind, then do it. The burr should have completely flipped sides at this point. Continue flipping sides using less and less pressure and fewer and fewer strokes till the burr is very small.
If the burr is very stubborn and will not shrink for you, use a draw cut across the grain on a piece of hard wood. Repeat several times till the burr gets the hint that it's not wanted. It may help at this point to back drag the edge across the same piece of hardwood a few times at a fairly steep angle. Any larger burr that's left should be brought to attention and can be ground off by cross cutting the hardwood again.
At this point you should have a pretty good edge. Stropping on some cardboard or leather loaded with any number of compounds should remove the rest of the burr and refine the edge a little more. If you opt for compound, use a grit that's close to the grit you were grinding with. Jumping from a 600 grit stone to a .5 micron stropping compound won't give you the best results, using black emery or similar following a 600 grit stone will do a much better job.
You can continue to repeat this procedure on finer and finer grinding media depending on the edge you're after, or you could stop right here.
For the actual sharpening, I highly recommend wet/dry (silicone carbide) sandpaper glued to a flat piece of hardwood, metal, glass, corianne, Anything flat that won't move around too much. The bonded fabric sheets hold up a lot better than the paper. 600-800 grit would be good for a touch-up, 1500-2000 will put a face-shaving edge on her, and 220-400 for a hard-use edge or to restore a battered edge prior to further refining. I prefer a toothier edge on my smaller knives, as they get larger I tend to refine them a bit more on my belief that the finer edges chop better, the toothier edges draw cut better. The BK2 would probably do well with something in the middle, 600-800. You can use an edge-trailing motion, an edge-leading motion, or a back and forth - combining both strokes. When stropping you must use an edge-trailing stroke.
There are many types of sharpening stones etc, but the basics of raising a burr and removing it are universal and the key to good edges no matter how you create them. There is a ton of variables that go into sharpening, it's a journey not a destination, even after you arrive at a method you prefer and master.
Best of luck!
HH
Ethan will thank you 
until your hand is sticky with blood, it is pretty sharp ! Yup, I did that while wiping the oil & debris off the blade, in a hurry, right before work ! 
