basic stone primer....

[El Pescador]

Hey Dave!
I was looking for a basic explanation of what sharpening with stones is and realized you hadn't put anything like that up. I know that your explanation as to what is going on between the blade and the stones made me a better sharpener.

Pesky

[MadMel]

I second the notion haha. I'm a novice by any standard so I'll be glad for any input!

[Eamon Burke]

I agree! I am sure he has some excellent copypasta he can feed us on the subject. After all, I learned to sharpen almost exclusively by reading Dave's posts on the subject.

[Potato42]

This is a good idea. I kinda wish I had saved snippets of useful Dave posts so I could contribute here. Dave has written so much on the subject already he really doesn't need to do much other than put it together.

Also, I don't know if you own it but Chad Ward's book "An Edge in the Kitchen" has some great info in there about sharpening as well. Chad wrote an online guide years ago I think on egullet, and you might search that out.

[Michael Rader]

Sign me up.
-M

[Dave Martell]

Oh man, where would I start writing this book?

[El Pescador]

Keep it simple.
1. What is a sharp edge
2. What each stone does in progression to the edge.
3. What honing and stropping does.
4. False/wire edge

Pesky

[MadMel]

After that maybe we can progress onwards to what tools are available, which are needed for certain knives etc? And lastly any buying advice for beginners like myself haha

[Eamon Burke]

I would advise the structure be something like this:
1. What is the goal--how sharp is sharp
2. Different kinds of sharp
3. Things to sharpen with--different kinds of stones and strops
4. Angles
5. Steel/stone matching
6. tricks(like counting, beginner's blade guids, pennies, sharpie, etc)
7. Maintenance of edge

[Dave Martell]

Keep it simple.
1. What is a sharp edge
2. What each stone does in progression to the edge.
3. What honing and stropping does.
4. False/wire edge

Pesky

That's simple?!?