I have no experience sharpening, and after lurking on the forums for a few weeks decided that I needed a sharpening system so that I would be less likely to damage my knives while learning. After reading what many of you wrote about different systems, I settled on the Wicked Edge, which arrived today. My goal is to get my pocket and kitchen knives decently sharp - enough so that they become easy to use again. At this time I'm not worried about razor sharpness, mirrored finishes and the like - perhaps later after I've learned the basics. So here are my questions:
1) What angle do I need to use for Global and Chicago Cutlery knives? Based on http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=795747 and http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=630514 I assume I should use a 15 degree angle on the Global but do I also use 15 degrees on the Chicagos or do they require something larger? And would 25 degrees be appropriate for the Global cleaver? Is the angle the same for chef's and (smooth edged) steak knives?
2) how do I tell when I need to change to a finer grit? Would this be where I should get a magnifying glass to examine the edge? The other tricks I've seen listed are using a marker or cotton swab on the edge but I'm not sure I'm doing that right. Of course it could just be that my pocket knife was too dull for 20 strokes/side with the coarse stone to raise a burr.
3) Do I need to worry about stropping or getting a set of stones finer than 600? For now I'm assuming that falls under advanced/mirror edge sharpening.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you have any other advice for a sharpening newbie I'm all ears.
1) What angle do I need to use for Global and Chicago Cutlery knives? Based on http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=795747 and http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=630514 I assume I should use a 15 degree angle on the Global but do I also use 15 degrees on the Chicagos or do they require something larger? And would 25 degrees be appropriate for the Global cleaver? Is the angle the same for chef's and (smooth edged) steak knives?
2) how do I tell when I need to change to a finer grit? Would this be where I should get a magnifying glass to examine the edge? The other tricks I've seen listed are using a marker or cotton swab on the edge but I'm not sure I'm doing that right. Of course it could just be that my pocket knife was too dull for 20 strokes/side with the coarse stone to raise a burr.
3) Do I need to worry about stropping or getting a set of stones finer than 600? For now I'm assuming that falls under advanced/mirror edge sharpening.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you have any other advice for a sharpening newbie I'm all ears.