them lansky stones are the best when it comes to sharpening....i too could never get the system to work....but all 5 stones and my knowledge of freehand sharpening i get knives i cant shave with easily with no pressure or side to side blade movement....kinda hard to explain my method though...my shop teacher taught the class.....im the only one that took the info and used it out of 200 or so id bet...or atleast used it successfully and told the teacher about it...normal people get their angle and go up flip the blade and come back flip back up and so on....instead of fli[ing you go up back flip up back flip and so on.....seems like youd dull the edge but beleive me if you do it right you will get a razor....my dad used to get pretty sharp knives the first way i described...now guess who sharpens HIS knives? me!...kinda nice being 16 and having your dad think your better at something like that.....thanx to my shop teacher.......its really not hard if you put some time in it....kinda hard just to pick up a knife and do though....easy once you see it from someone....