The other week I took my first sharpening class at a kitchen knife store that also does sharpening on water stones. It was a beginner's class, but it was interesting to see how their technique differed from mine (which is largely based on Murray Carter's). The sharpening is usually performed on Ohishi stones during the class, but they also had a set of Shapton Glass stones. The Ohishi's worked fine when sharpening shirogami#2, but were a bit frustrating with Aogami Super. I switched to the Shapton Glass stones and was impressed. The difference was huge. I'm not sure how they'd differ from the chosera stones I have at home (except for being available in more grits). I'm guessing they'd be similar. I was very tempted to get a set (they had strategically stacked boxes of stones on a table next to the sharpening area), but I can always get them later 
.
No big point to this post, I guess, except that I picked up a couple of new things (despite the teacher telling me to go home after looking at the knife I had brought to practice on, which I had already thinned and sharpened
). One thing was putting the thumb of your "handle" hand on the blade when sharpening the heel. Another was to sharpen in straight lines across the stone (keeping the blade in an angle, but having the stroke go in a straight line from one side of the stone to the other). I tend to run the blade diagonally across the stone, which dishes the stone faster. Lastly, they started with the tip, where I used to start with the heel.
If you have the chance, I recommend taking a class if there is one (this is the first one - ever - that I've seen in my area), even if you know how to sharpen. I found it very rewarding.
.No big point to this post, I guess, except that I picked up a couple of new things (despite the teacher telling me to go home after looking at the knife I had brought to practice on, which I had already thinned and sharpened
). One thing was putting the thumb of your "handle" hand on the blade when sharpening the heel. Another was to sharpen in straight lines across the stone (keeping the blade in an angle, but having the stroke go in a straight line from one side of the stone to the other). I tend to run the blade diagonally across the stone, which dishes the stone faster. Lastly, they started with the tip, where I used to start with the heel.If you have the chance, I recommend taking a class if there is one (this is the first one - ever - that I've seen in my area), even if you know how to sharpen. I found it very rewarding.
