Which sharpener should I buy for S35VN?

[bnknf]

I was gifted a knife with S35VN steel about a month ago. It had a moderate usage on cutting food (just food in my hand, not touching wood or metal or anything else) and I noticed that it's not as sharp as it was. I also noticed that the edge is visible when I look at it, hence it became a bit dull. Even though it's still very sharp compared to any other knife I ever held in my hands.

I don't have a sharpener, what should I buy? I'd prefer something cheaper (yet I want it to perform well) and something that doesn't take a lot of space. I'll keep it in my drawer and take out whenever I feel the knife is getting a bit dull to touch it up. Don't forget that it's S35VN, which is a pretty hard steel compared to a lot of other steels. I'm actually very surprised that it got dull so quickly from cutting something as soft as food. Maybe the factory edge wasn't perfect? I don't know.

 

[cchu518]

S35v was designed to sharpen easier than its predecessor sttel.

That said depends on your budget. But what works really well for me is a diamond lansky turnbox set, carborundum sided medium/course aka Norton stone and a Spyderco sharp maker. The Norton is just for reprofiling but for just touch ups ceramics on either turnbox or lansky will get you to shaving sharp in 5 minutes.

I have s35v from several makers it's my favorite steel and easy to sharpen.

PS sometimes the grinding process will affect a blades edge stability this fixes itself after two or three sharpenings.

 

[bnknf]

S35v was designed to sharpen easier than its predecessor sttel.

That said depends on your budget. But what works really well for me is a diamond lansky turnbox set, carborundum sided medium/course aka Norton stone and a Spyderco sharp maker. The Norton is just for reprofiling but for just touch ups ceramics on either turnbox or lansky will get you to shaving sharp in 5 minutes.

I have s35v from several makers it's my favorite steel and easy to sharpen.

PS sometimes the grinding process will affect a blades edge stability this fixes itself after two or three sharpenings.

Lansky Diamond Ceramic Turn Box TB-2D2C (is that the one?) seems like the cheapest option. Is that the best one I should go for for around that price? Spyderco is so much costlier. I bet I'd be paying third of that for the name. Regardless, Spyderco costs too much for me. And just in case I need more than just a touchup, I should probably not go for a Norton stone. Besides, it seems like it needs some kind of oil or something (saw a set on Ebay).

 

[cchu518]

The Spyderco has triangle hones. Really useful for creating screaming sharp edges. It's worth every penny. I've gone through maybe a dozen different types all the way up to $90 sharpeners. The diamond hones are 100% worth it. But by and large for ease I keep the three that I mentioned. With stropping just on a leather belt all of my knives shave hair. So this is what I stick with regardless of price.

I have a sebenza. It's a very, very good knife about $400 and change new and the creator of the knife recommends the sharp maker. You will get 100 different answers though as this is a knife forum and there are some folks with some really really serious sharpening gear. That said all my knives shave hair after the sharpener and a strop. The lansky one that you mentioned gets you a solid stupid sharp edge as well. Not as well as the sharp maker but your just splitting hairs at this point. ☺

I just use water with the Norton I free hand sharpen as its quicker with my kitchen knives.

 

[bnknf]

The Spyderco has triangle hones. Really useful for creating screaming sharp edges. It's worth every penny. I've gone through maybe a dozen different types all the way up to $90 sharpeners. The diamond hones are 100% worth it. But by and large for ease I keep the three that I mentioned. With stropping just on a leather belt all of my knives shave hair. So this is what I stick with regardless of price.

I have a sebenza. It's a very, very good knife about $400 and change new and the creator of the knife recommends the sharp maker. You will get 100 different answers though as this is a knife forum and there are some folks with some really really serious sharpening gear. That said all my knives shave hair after the sharpener and a strop. The lansky one that you mentioned gets you a solid stupid sharp edge as well. Not as well as the sharp maker but your just splitting hairs at this point. ☺

I just use water with the Norton I free hand sharpen as its quicker with my kitchen knives.

Well, if Lansky is enough for a very sharp edge that isn't much worse than that you could get with a Spyderco, and if it works really well, I'd go for the cheaper option knowing that I don't have all that much money.

 

[Jamesh Bond]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...arpener-recommendations-for-newbies-READ-THIS

 

[Teppojutsu]

Buy once cry once. I'm sure lots of us have a box (or boxes)
of stuff that was bought and deemed junk or spare parts lol
I have no exp with the lansky but
I know for sure a sharp maker lets people who can't sharpen a knife .
Make a knife shave. I still use mine even though I mostly free hand with paper .
but if it makes you feel better about the price of the sharp maker look at the wicked edge or edge pro then the sharp maker is a Bargain

 

[bnknf]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...arpener-recommendations-for-newbies-READ-THIS

I've read that. DMT FWEF Diafold Double Sided Extra Fine/Fine sounds like a nice choice. I like that it's compact and diamond. Sounds like it could resharpen my knife pretty fast, and I'm sure I've a piece of some kind of leather somewhere, so I could use that for stropping afterwards.

Buy once cry once. I'm sure lots of us have a box (or boxes)
of stuff that was bought and deemed junk or spare parts lol
I have no exp with the lansky but
I know for sure a sharp maker lets people who can't sharpen a knife .
Make a knife shave. I still use mine even though I mostly free hand with paper .
but if it makes you feel better about the price of the sharp maker look at the wicked edge or edge pro then the sharp maker is a Bargain

It's not really about feeling bad about the price, I like expensive things if they are good, and expensive is oftentimes good, not always though. Not one of those people who fret about the price itself. I do, however, not have all that much money to spend, so I'd prefer to spend less if possible.

 

[cchu518]

I use the lansky not bc its
Just but bc it gets me a 20 degree edge fast and easy. I can free hand and get me a much sharper edge but it takes 10+ minutes. The lansky gets you a very durable touched up edge in about three minutes.

 

[bnknf]

I use the lansky not bc its
Just but bc it gets me a 20 degree edge fast and easy. I can free hand and get me a much sharper edge but it takes 10+ minutes. The lansky gets you a very durable touched up edge in about three minutes.

Hmm. I consider "sharp" if I don't see shining on the edge. Can it get any sharper? I like cutting things nicely, without needing to apply much pressure. It's just pleasant. I'm not looking to do it for the sake of doing it, I'm looking to do it for practical purposes. And I'd prefer an edge that holds longer over a hair-splitting edge, actually. If that's possible to do sharpening in a different way of course.

 

[TravisH]

I've read that. DMT FWEF Diafold Double Sided Extra Fine/Fine sounds like a nice choice.

I would recommend FWFC COARSE/FINE instead. Coarse is the most useful for re-profiling or restoring/repairing very dull or damaged edges and Fine will create a very sharp edge. Later, you could get the FWEEE Extra Fine/Extra Extra Fine to create extremely sharp edges if you feel the need.

Sounds like it could resharpen my knife pretty fast, and I'm sure I've a piece of some kind of leather somewhere, so I could use that for stropping afterwards.

Most of the time, you don't really need to 'sharpen' but 'hone'. And a strop can do that quickly and easily. At the end of the day, just a few strokes on the strop will restore the sharp edge.

You can go to a local hobby store, like Hobby Lobby, and get a bag of scrap leather for ~$3. Then go to your local big box hardware store and get a 1"x2"x12" or 1"x4"x12" length of maple for ~$2. Cut the maple in half and glue the leather to one side and you've got two strops.

 

[cchu518]

If you go two stage course diamond /fine diamond or ceramic you should be able to get to stupid sharp whether it's a system or a diafold.

My unscientific method of rating something stupid sharp is that the k if is so sharp it would make another bf member happy.

Whereas what I would consider just user sharp my non knife family members tell me they were scared to handle it as the knife was so sharp.

Also some of my blades I make so hair whittling sharp if I see my wife flippantly handling it I get scared and ask her what the hell is she doing does she realize how sharp that thing is, lmao.

Regular sharp to me is push cutting say a raw carrot with little to no effort at all.

 

[bnknf]

I would recommend FWFC COARSE/FINE instead. Coarse is the most useful for re-profiling or restoring/repairing very dull or damaged edges and Fine will create a very sharp edge. Later, you could get the FWEEE Extra Fine/Extra Extra Fine to create extremely sharp edges if you feel the need.



Most of the time, you don't really need to 'sharpen' but 'hone'. And a strop can do that quickly and easily. At the end of the day, just a few strokes on the strop will restore the sharp edge.

You can go to a local hobby store, like Hobby Lobby, and get a bag of scrap leather for ~$3. Then go to your local big box hardware store and get a 1"x2"x12" or 1"x4"x12" length of maple for ~$2. Cut the maple in half and glue the leather to one side and you've got two strops.

If you go two stage course diamond /fine diamond or ceramic you should be able to get to stupid sharp whether it's a system or a diafold.

My unscientific method of rating something stupid sharp is that the k if is so sharp it would make another bf member happy.

Whereas what I would consider just user sharp my non knife family members tell me they were scared to handle it as the knife was so sharp.

Also some of my blades I make so hair whittling sharp if I see my wife flippantly handling it I get scared and ask her what the hell is she doing does she realize how sharp that thing is, lmao.

Regular sharp to me is push cutting say a raw carrot with little to no effort at all.

Stupid sharp sounds nice. No need for whittling sharp, and user sharp is okay. I really like Duafold for some reason, so that's probably what I'm gonna go with.

 

[Jamesh Bond]

I've read that. DMT FWEF Diafold Double Sided Extra Fine/Fine sounds like a nice choice. I like that it's compact and diamond. Sounds like it could resharpen my knife pretty fast, and I'm sure I've a piece of some kind of leather somewhere, so I could use that for stropping afterwards.



It's not really about feeling bad about the price, I like expensive things if they are good, and expensive is oftentimes good, not always though. Not one of those people who fret about the price itself. I do, however, not have all that much money to spend, so I'd prefer to spend less if possible.

Nice. I hope you found everything helpful. Good luck on your quest.

 

[bnknf]

I would recommend FWFC COARSE/FINE instead. Coarse is the most useful for re-profiling or restoring/repairing very dull or damaged edges and Fine will create a very sharp edge. Later, you could get the FWEEE Extra Fine/Extra Extra Fine to create extremely sharp edges if you feel the need.



Most of the time, you don't really need to 'sharpen' but 'hone'. And a strop can do that quickly and easily. At the end of the day, just a few strokes on the strop will restore the sharp edge.

You can go to a local hobby store, like Hobby Lobby, and get a bag of scrap leather for ~$3. Then go to your local big box hardware store and get a 1"x2"x12" or 1"x4"x12" length of maple for ~$2. Cut the maple in half and glue the leather to one side and you've got two strops.

If you go two stage course diamond /fine diamond or ceramic you should be able to get to stupid sharp whether it's a system or a diafold.

My unscientific method of rating something stupid sharp is that the k if is so sharp it would make another bf member happy.

Whereas what I would consider just user sharp my non knife family members tell me they were scared to handle it as the knife was so sharp.

Also some of my blades I make so hair whittling sharp if I see my wife flippantly handling it I get scared and ask her what the hell is she doing does she realize how sharp that thing is, lmao.

Regular sharp to me is push cutting say a raw carrot with little to no effort at all.

Nice. I hope you found everything helpful. Good luck on your quest.

Definitely. Next week I'm buying the FWFC Course/Fine.

 

[BonhamBlades]

Diamond!

 

[Bob6794]

There are a billion different way to sharpen a knife, so the question comes down to what do you want to use? You can go free hand and use stones, a more guided setup like DMT Aligner (can just use the clamp with stones too), Lanskys, KME, Wicked Edge, Edgepro, etc. And there are even powered setups like paper wheels and the worksharp. They will all work and put a good edge on a knife, the main thing it comes down to is skill. S35V while it is more wear resistant than most steels people encounter it isn't anything particular difficult to sharpen, it just takes a bit more time generally with wear resistant steel which can lead to fatigue and diminish in your skill while sharpening which makes it more difficult.

Try to get away from the "the blade is shiny, it's dull" mentality it doesn't work very well when you start going to higher grit stones which provide a more polished edge and thinking something like that can lead to underestimating a knife.

My advice look into everything everyone has mentioned so far and understand that for those guided setups you will have to reprofile the blade to match the angle you are using that device to maximize the effectiveness of it. For those setups like the sharpmaker and other stands like that it may be smart to get some coarse wet/dry sandpaper and rubberband it on there so you have something coarser to reprofile the blade to the right angle as some of them will take awhile using just the included stones. Beyond that I would avoid getting Arkansas stones as they are not very aggressive and it will probably take quite a bit longer to reprofile that S35V blade on it or any real metal removal.

For strops you don't have to use leather, you can use MDF, wood (balsa, etc), or even paper wrapped tightly around a stone or piece of wood. Your imagination is the limit. I personally swap back and forth between paper wrapped around a stone and an old stone I wrapped drawer liner around and taped tightly and than wrap paper around it to give a more textured backing and get good results off both. But I have also been known to wrap paper around my DMT stones when I use my DMT Aligner and strop it on that when I reprofile my knives on it.

Depending on what you use for sharpening technique will change a bit but the overall concept of what you are doing remains the same. As well as the end goal, a fully apexed burr free edge. Try to decide what you want to use and we help you along from there in how to achieve your goal. Though with everything listed you can achieve a high level of sharpness it's 99% skill 1% equipment. I have put an edge on my knives that will start to tree top hair from a damaged $6 norton economy stone (india, but I also own the silicon carbide variant) and a piece of paper and the only reason why it's not a full tree topping edge is due to my lack of skill.

And just one last thing to dispel a higher grit stone doesn't make it sharper it just changes the type of edge. A coarser stone will leave a more "toothy" edge and work better in slicing applications, think of a saw. A smoother stone will leave a more "polished" edge and work better in push cutting applications, and you are capable of bringing it up high enough to get that mirrored finish if you like that look. A DMT XXC will provide as sharp as an edge as an DMT EEF, it just a different type of edge you are working with and they work better in different applications. If your measurement is pushing cutting paper or hair the EEF will give you the impression it's better. If I had to guess why people who claim to get sharper edges going to higher grit stones and they aren't using these tests as measurements and were doing some type of slicing application as a measurement I would put money on them not having a fully apexed burr free edge and that they got closer to that with the higher grit stone which removes less metal.

Oh and you don't need a special oil to use with stones arkansas/india/silicon carbide stones, water will work just fine. And so will mineral oil which is what that norton oil is if I remember correctly. I personally use water and a bit of dish soap mixed in, as to why I use that combo it works for me and as an added benefit if I create a mess I help clean my work area which is always a plus. Other people will swear by other things and they are not wrong nor am I, as long as if it work it works.

 

[bnknf]

There are a billion different way to sharpen a knife, so the question comes down to what do you want to use? You can go free hand and use stones, a more guided setup like DMT Aligner (can just use the clamp with stones too), Lanskys, KME, Wicked Edge, Edgepro, etc. And there are even powered setups like paper wheels and the worksharp. They will all work and put a good edge on a knife, the main thing it comes down to is skill. S35V while it is more wear resistant than most steels people encounter it isn't anything particular difficult to sharpen, it just takes a bit more time generally with wear resistant steel which can lead to fatigue and diminish in your skill while sharpening which makes it more difficult.

Try to get away from the "the blade is shiny, it's dull" mentality it doesn't work very well when you start going to higher grit stones which provide a more polished edge and thinking something like that can lead to underestimating a knife.

My advice look into everything everyone has mentioned so far and understand that for those guided setups you will have to reprofile the blade to match the angle you are using that device to maximize the effectiveness of it. For those setups like the sharpmaker and other stands like that it may be smart to get some coarse wet/dry sandpaper and rubberband it on there so you have something coarser to reprofile the blade to the right angle as some of them will take awhile using just the included stones. Beyond that I would avoid getting Arkansas stones as they are not very aggressive and it will probably take quite a bit longer to reprofile that S35V blade on it or any real metal removal.

For strops you don't have to use leather, you can use MDF, wood (balsa, etc), or even paper wrapped tightly around a stone or piece of wood. Your imagination is the limit. I personally swap back and forth between paper wrapped around a stone and an old stone I wrapped drawer liner around and taped tightly and than wrap paper around it to give a more textured backing and get good results off both. But I have also been known to wrap paper around my DMT stones when I use my DMT Aligner and strop it on that when I reprofile my knives on it.

Depending on what you use for sharpening technique will change a bit but the overall concept of what you are doing remains the same. As well as the end goal, a fully apexed burr free edge. Try to decide what you want to use and we help you along from there in how to achieve your goal. Though with everything listed you can achieve a high level of sharpness it's 99% skill 1% equipment. I have put an edge on my knives that will start to tree top hair from a damaged $6 norton economy stone (india, but I also own the silicon carbide variant) and a piece of paper and the only reason why it's not a full tree topping edge is due to my lack of skill.

And just one last thing to dispel a higher grit stone doesn't make it sharper it just changes the type of edge. A coarser stone will leave a more "toothy" edge and work better in slicing applications, think of a saw. A smoother stone will leave a more "polished" edge and work better in push cutting applications, and you are capable of bringing it up high enough to get that mirrored finish if you like that look. A DMT XXC will provide as sharp as an edge as an DMT EEF, it just a different type of edge you are working with and they work better in different applications. If your measurement is pushing cutting paper or hair the EEF will give you the impression it's better. If I had to guess why people who claim to get sharper edges going to higher grit stones and they aren't using these tests as measurements and were doing some type of slicing application as a measurement I would put money on them not having a fully apexed burr free edge and that they got closer to that with the higher grit stone which removes less metal.

Oh and you don't need a special oil to use with stones arkansas/india/silicon carbide stones, water will work just fine. And so will mineral oil which is what that norton oil is if I remember correctly. I personally use water and a bit of dish soap mixed in, as to why I use that combo it works for me and as an added benefit if I create a mess I help clean my work area which is always a plus. Other people will swear by other things and they are not wrong nor am I, as long as if it work it works.

Wow, that's a very informative and interesting post... I'm impressed.

Speaking of my applications, I mostly cut food, with an occasional box or other type of package (think fish in a thin plastic 'box'). When I got the knife, I really enjoyed how you can cut without the need of putting whatever it is down. You can just hold it in your hand and it would cut nice and smoothly. I suppose that's push-cutting, as I wouldn't move the knife very much. That said, I should use a higher grit stone. I don't see many applications for me when I'd use the knife as a saw. I suppose that would be useful when cutting cardboard or food that you put on a firm and solid surface, which I rarely do as I have little space and no kitchen, so it's just more comfortable for me to hold it in my hand. A bit scary when it was so sharp though, but I try to keep my fingers out of the way so that there would be no bone-deep cuts, heh.

Also, I would prefer to not reprofile it. First, it's a lot of work, second I've no experience with any of it so I don't want to ruin a blade that was quite expensive. That said, I'll definitely go with freehand.

 

[Bob6794]

It's not really a sawing motion but merely pulling a knife through something, it's just that I find the sawing motion an easier way for people to understand it usually. This is compared to having only one part of the knife contact something pushing down on it to cut which is a push cut which is where the polished edges shine. For now though I wouldn't worry about a higher grit stone as thats just going to complicate things by adding in more chances for a mistake to happen and were talking small differences in performance that most people won't notice.

A basic 2 sided stone with a coarse and fine side would do well, a good one for your application will probably be a Norton India stone which is suppose to be pretty good, I own the cheap economy version and this is suppose to be an improvement of it.

I would still pick up a DMT Aligner clamp to help you with getting the motion down for sharpening knives as it helps you develop the proper technique, and you can use this with a stone and all you need is the clamp which cost a little over $10 last I checked and is money well spent (though that does mean reprofiling most likely to some extent most likely if the angle isn't the same as this).

I would also recommend practicing on some kitchen knives you don't care about or picking up a budget knife to practice on, I would recommend a kitchen paring knife like an Opinel, Old Hickory, Victorinox if you wanted a dedicated knife as the steel in those knives have a decent heat treat and will reward proper technique with a sharp blade.

Than for the strop I already covered some of the things you can buy to use as the backing to it, but as to the compound I would say pick up one compound for now to keep it simple as well. Most people probably would say something like a green compound, I personally swear by black compound which is even coarser as a matter of personal preference. When I generally take my knives to a strop it's because they already started to dull and I want to remove a little bit of metal to prolong how long it is till I need to sharpen again on a stone. It's all a matter of personal preference but I would just get 1 compound that's at least as coarse as green compound and experiment on how you like to strop.

Also don't underestimate what you can do with a strop and good technique. I have to use a box cutter at work and I work 2 jobs doing stocking so I use the box cutter a lot and I am still using the original blade for for Gerber EAB for about 6months and had to take it to the stone 1 time and have just been stropping it. And that is with some pretty heavy use. A lot of my knives rarely touch a stone after the initial reprofile as I can generally bring back almost the full level of sharpness out of most of them from just a strop. It's quicker, easier, and I remove less metal.

Biggest thing to do at this stage is pick something and practice with it and try not to overcomplicate the process as your learning and experiment and find out what works for you preferably before you invest too much in a setup you find that doesn't work for you. Just keep in mind everything requires some level of technique and if you find something that you like using stick to it even if your not currently getting the results you want instead of switching several times. It's far better to stick to learning one thing and mastering it than trying to master 10 different things. And you can read up on sharpening all you want and gain all the knowledge in the world about sharpening but it can't replace practice so be sure to do that, preferably not on your nice knife do that after you feel comfortable. So stropping isn't too dangerous most likely so practice a little on other knives and than use the sharpie trick and go ahead and strop the nice one for now to hold you off.

I also found some cheap drawer liner worked pretty good at propping a stone up and keeping it in place if you don't want to spend much money on a stone holder and ran into this problem. I would also look into the sharpie trick where you mark up the bevel and your goal is to remove it. This acts as an indicator that you are hitting the bevel, that's it in it's most simplistic nature for the use of a sharpie. When you are reprofiling it helps in telling you that you have removed enough metal that you should be apexing the blade or close to it after you remove it all, especially in a guided setup this helps a lot as you generally have more precision.

Heres a few links to people who know how to sharpen and do a good job at teaching it, some of them are members here too.

MrEdgy
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrEdgy81/videos

Neuman2010
https://www.youtube.com/user/Neuman2010/videos

jdavis882
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB95E1C271CE6654B

 

[bnknf]

It's not really a sawing motion but merely pulling a knife through something, it's just that I find the sawing motion an easier way for people to understand it usually. This is compared to having only one part of the knife contact something pushing down on it to cut which is a push cut which is where the polished edges shine. For now though I wouldn't worry about a higher grit stone as thats just going to complicate things by adding in more chances for a mistake to happen and were talking small differences in performance that most people won't notice.

A basic 2 sided stone with a coarse and fine side would do well, a good one for your application will probably be a Norton India stone which is suppose to be pretty good, I own the cheap economy version and this is suppose to be an improvement of it.

I would still pick up a DMT Aligner clamp to help you with getting the motion down for sharpening knives as it helps you develop the proper technique, and you can use this with a stone and all you need is the clamp which cost a little over $10 last I checked and is money well spent (though that does mean reprofiling most likely to some extent most likely if the angle isn't the same as this).

I would also recommend practicing on some kitchen knives you don't care about or picking up a budget knife to practice on, I would recommend a kitchen paring knife like an Opinel, Old Hickory, Victorinox if you wanted a dedicated knife as the steel in those knives have a decent heat treat and will reward proper technique with a sharp blade.

Than for the strop I already covered some of the things you can buy to use as the backing to it, but as to the compound I would say pick up one compound for now to keep it simple as well. Most people probably would say something like a green compound, I personally swear by black compound which is even coarser as a matter of personal preference. When I generally take my knives to a strop it's because they already started to dull and I want to remove a little bit of metal to prolong how long it is till I need to sharpen again on a stone. It's all a matter of personal preference but I would just get 1 compound that's at least as coarse as green compound and experiment on how you like to strop.

Also don't underestimate what you can do with a strop and good technique. I have to use a box cutter at work and I work 2 jobs doing stocking so I use the box cutter a lot and I am still using the original blade for for Gerber EAB for about 6months and had to take it to the stone 1 time and have just been stropping it. And that is with some pretty heavy use. A lot of my knives rarely touch a stone after the initial reprofile as I can generally bring back almost the full level of sharpness out of most of them from just a strop. It's quicker, easier, and I remove less metal.

Biggest thing to do at this stage is pick something and practice with it and try not to overcomplicate the process as your learning and experiment and find out what works for you preferably before you invest too much in a setup you find that doesn't work for you. Just keep in mind everything requires some level of technique and if you find something that you like using stick to it even if your not currently getting the results you want instead of switching several times. It's far better to stick to learning one thing and mastering it than trying to master 10 different things. And you can read up on sharpening all you want and gain all the knowledge in the world about sharpening but it can't replace practice so be sure to do that, preferably not on your nice knife do that after you feel comfortable. So stropping isn't too dangerous most likely so practice a little on other knives and than use the sharpie trick and go ahead and strop the nice one for now to hold you off.

I also found some cheap drawer liner worked pretty good at propping a stone up and keeping it in place if you don't want to spend much money on a stone holder and ran into this problem. I would also look into the sharpie trick where you mark up the bevel and your goal is to remove it. This acts as an indicator that you are hitting the bevel, that's it in it's most simplistic nature for the use of a sharpie. When you are reprofiling it helps in telling you that you have removed enough metal that you should be apexing the blade or close to it after you remove it all, especially in a guided setup this helps a lot as you generally have more precision.

Heres a few links to people who know how to sharpen and do a good job at teaching it, some of them are members here too.

MrEdgy
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrEdgy81/videos

Neuman2010
https://www.youtube.com/user/Neuman2010/videos

jdavis882
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB95E1C271CE6654B

Well, I like a little bit of motion, maybe half an inch. Or push-cutting, or one sawing motion through the length of the blade - depends on what I'm cutting. But I never like swinging to knife back and forth to cut something. That said, I'm guessing I should go for around the medium grit, which would give a good effect for both?

As for a practice knife, I was thinking the same thing. I've a pocket knife I don't care about, and a few kitchen knives. Though the kitchen knives are pretty bad and bendable... I could get my hands on another pocket knife too, and nor me nor the owner cares about the sharpness. In fact, I doubt he ever sharpened it and the knife is a couple of decades old.

I'm not sure what you mean by a stropping compound, as you covered the possibility of using even paper. Although I believe I've leather somewhere, so I'm likely to end up using that. I also have plenty of wood, so I don't need to buy that either.

Thanks for the links, and again - thanks for a very informative post. I'll check the links when I get a sharpener.