The simple truth about knife sharpening is; you have to get a little time under your belt to be any good at it.

When you buy a knife,,, any knife, from a two dollar kitchen knife to a three hundred dollar hand made knife, it already has an edge on it. The confusion comes when you try and duplicate what " angle" was put on it in it' s original sharpening.

There are as many opinions to what angle should be on a knife as there are hunters. But the truth is, use whatever angle works best for you.

I mention all that because of what I' m gonna say next.

When I buy a knife, the first time I sharpen it, it' s gonna get a lot duller before it starts getting sharper.

I use one of those big old NORTON tri-stone monsters that has an oil sump as big as a small car. But I know that I consistantly sharpen at a twenty five to thirty degree angle. So....No matter what angle is on the knife when I buy it, I grind off enough metal so that I can use the same " stoke" on every knife I own.

I have a couple of very high grade steel knives that I even took a belt sander to before I could get the angle right for " my" angle of sharpening.

With all that said, here is what I recomend; Start simple. There are hundreds of knife sharpening " systems" out there, but just like anything else...you gotta know the basics before you can use all the new stuff.

Go buy a " multi-stone" usually they are made by NORTON, but any manufacturer will work. It has one side that is medium to coarse...and another side that is fine. When you buy the stone, pick up a small can of sewing machine oil. Your total investment will be about fifteen dollars.

It' s pretty difficult to explain all the details in sharpening a knife, but the chances are good that the stone will come with some pretty good starting directions.

As I said, I prefer a pretty low angle like twenty five to thirty degrees for my sharpening, but as you learn how to " stroke" your stone, your own personal angle will just happen. Many folks like a steep angle all the way up to forty five degree' s.

Take your new stone, saturate it in oil, and practice with a bunch of old thin bladed kitchen knives. You will find that you will get quicker results with a thinner and cheaper knife...It' s also much easyer to make changes in your technique with a cheap thin knife.

Once you have sharpened some cheap knives, move on to one of your good ones...But remember, Your angle, and the angle it already has are most likely not gonna be the same. So you might make it duller before you start making it sharp again.

Just remember to be consistant.

Consistancy is the key to using a stone.

A knife is a tool. You must learn the best ways to make that tool work for you. It' s all to easy to get caught in the trap where you must be at home in front of a hundred dollar machine in order to make that tool functional again.

If you learn to use a stone, You will always have a sharp knife no matter what your surroundings are.