I would focus on getting one of the Henckels sharp before doing anything else. Don't bother with the white rods for know, just use the brown medium rods to get the knife sharp for know. Once accomplished you can add the fine white rods.
The kit is great at maintaining edges already established at 30 or 40 degrees, but I'm betting with NORTHWEST_KNIFE_GUY that your missing the edge, the apex.
Sharpie and your cell phones camera are your friend, a hobby shop magnifying glass works. If you have already tried a bunch of your knives, you might even clean the rods with some powder cleanser like barkeepers friend/Ajax and a new sponge with green scubie to start with freshly cleaned rods. The motorskill of keeping vertical heel to tip, counting, and rotating rods is gonna be useless if your not scrubbing right on the bevel's edge/apex.
The knife blades Sal sharpens are actually establishing the edges angle at 30 or 40 degrees, first with the brown, then refining the edge with white rods. You need to experience that success with a Henkels. Why one of those? Because the steel is a known quality that will not introduce potential problems into your first focused successful sharpening. Don't be suprised if it takes 40 minutes to establish the edge with those brown rods. Idahone makes course triangle rods that fit perfect, and would accelerate the edge establishment work, before moving to you medium rods.
