I'm a stones guy, was raised to-be obsessed about an edge and took a beatin' or two as a kid over failures to return razor sharp knives to my Dad.
I do like diamond lapping stones for removing a wire burr but strops and crock sticks work too ... depends upon the steel.
As some have already said, it's about learning to keep a proper angle, depending upon the bevel and grade, on both sides ... and about removing that wire burr.
That wire burr .... if I really want a special edge like for my skinner or my straight razor or even for my EDC automatic, I'll finish with 2000 grit wet and then strop.
I'm all for mechanical sharpeners when I'm in a hurry and doing kitchen knives, but hand sharpening with stones is really the only way to go unless you're using wet dipped stone wheels Japanese style with the bigger choppers, cleavers, axes and hatchets, etc.
One other thing worth adding. Sharpening is an art form and good sharpeners don't make time to sharpen, they sharpen all the time during spare time. Sitting around on the porch, sitting watching TV, standing around under the trees watching your dogs .... I always have a small set of stones in the truck or in my pocket or on the bench or on the table in the family room next to my favorite chair.
When family comes to visit they'll bring their knives for me to sharpen. When I got to hunt camp or fish camp the guys are always handing me their knives to sharpen around the fire.
Other guys on this forum know what I am talking about ... it's an art form. My Grandpappy was always sharpening his knives. My Dad, he passed away on the 26th of last month, but a week earlier while we were watching the Bama/UT game I handed him my new EDC knife to check out and he takes it and shaves hair off his arm ... smiles and hands it back to me. He was almost 90.
What you think about, you do ... what you do, you become.
In a nation where anything goes ... eventually, everything will. We're almost there.
