That looks like a great option, too.
How necessary is a coarse/fine diamond stone if I also have a sharpmaker to finish a blade off with?
My thought process was:
1. Diamond stone for easy, effective, quick reprofiles.
2. move to the norton india stone
3. finish on sharpmaker
The coarse can be aggressive but it is not SUPER aggressive. It can work to profile and sharpen out nicks and dents, rolls, etc etc. I have established edges and reprofiled quite a bit with it. The coarse is also good because it can really save you time in the sharpening process. Diamond stones are nice because it doesnt take a lot of pressure to remove material, but you can give it pressure to haul off more material. I'll kinda try to explain my method with it.
Start on coarse, depending on the severity of the edge I start with multiple back and forth passes on one side of the edge. (really dull or chips, I will do 20 at least on one side before flipping, but just for sharpening purposes I go with ten.) So 10 strokes... towards the edge like normal then back like you are stropping. One full movement equals 1. So I do that 10 times, flip, do the same. check the edge, and repeat if necessary. Until all imperfections are gone. Then I do normal sharpening towards the edge like you are cutting into the stone over the amount of the previous strokes. So if I just did 10 on each side, I am going with 20-40 strokes to finish that grit, all depends on the dullness. I dont leave the coarse stone until It can pop hairs off my arm. Then I go to the fine, repeat the 10 on 10 process, then do the alternating strokes. I can typically stop there as long as nothing has happened and that should shave hairs with no to barely any pressure. If I have the time then I strop on a clean leather belt about 50-100 times just to refine further. Check the edge. Then I am good. I can abbreviate any of this if I need to, just go to the fine if necessary, etc etc. It sounds like a lot but really it only takes a few minutes once you have it down path. Also you just have to watch out for any burrs. With a diamond it seems like this doesnt happen as often, but when finished you will have a lasting and good sharp cutting edge.
I have a crock stick thing which is similar to your sharpmaker someone bought me, and I rarely use it. I also finally got to mess with one of the sharpmakers and was meh to me. It has its place, not downing the sharpmaker. I could go on about why I dont really care for those type of sharpeners, but Its hard to explain without visuals. ANYWAYS, You might find that just with a diamond stone you wont even need to touch anything else. I have been doing this for awhile, and I am in no way an expert. When people start talking about stropping compounds, micron paste, special stones, edge angles, edge grains, carbides, and degrees my head starts to spin. I sharpen each knife a little different based upon my experience with the knife and the experience I have. No angles or degrees, just a stone, the knife, and my hands. Really simple. For me its mostly technique and barely the tools.
Well I certainly rambled there didnt I? Either way, get one of those stones and try it out. Also the DMT butterfly sharpener Murph was talking about is a good option. I used to have one, but a guy I used to work with jacked it. They are more compact and come in different grits etc etc, but I like the smiths because its just what I use the most and if I loose it, they are easy and cheap to replace... whew.... lol
Yesterday actually was a pretty good day. It snowed a couple inches, took the kids out to play, lit a fire out in the snow, got a lot of house work done, and aced all my homework. Finished things off with some knife sharpening and some bourbon. Good day... Hope all of yall had a good weekend, and I hope your week goes good.
