Hello everyone!
First off, a little about me. I am fairly new to my knife obsession/collecting, so when I started buying nicer knives, the thought of using a water stone was terrifying. I had a few beaters that I laid down on the stone in my first few attempts, so it didn't take me long to start to look into alternative methods of sharpening where there wasn't such a learning curve and significant risk of damaging a knife in the process.
In comes the Wicked Edge setup. I purchased the Gen 3, and have used it since. I now have a very large collection of customs, some being rather pricey, and I have sharpened pretty much all of them at least once on this system. Brought to a half micron with my finest stones. The result, when done properly, is hard to dispute. I know that most makers aren't necessarily known for their OTB sharpness, but I always end up getting any knife I get sharper than when I got it.
I can't shake this feeling that I'm taking the easy way out though. I have told myself that I can control my angle better, and therefore remove less metal every sharpening, therefore prolonging the life of all my knives. I do know that there is different geometry to knife edges though, and I am fairly limited with what I can do in that regard.
So, in conclusion... Should I be putting earnest effort into learning to sharpen freehand? Are there significant benefits that outweigh the toil of learning a new skill when I have a proven method that seems to work?
Thank you for any help you can give this novice knife owner.
First off, a little about me. I am fairly new to my knife obsession/collecting, so when I started buying nicer knives, the thought of using a water stone was terrifying. I had a few beaters that I laid down on the stone in my first few attempts, so it didn't take me long to start to look into alternative methods of sharpening where there wasn't such a learning curve and significant risk of damaging a knife in the process.
In comes the Wicked Edge setup. I purchased the Gen 3, and have used it since. I now have a very large collection of customs, some being rather pricey, and I have sharpened pretty much all of them at least once on this system. Brought to a half micron with my finest stones. The result, when done properly, is hard to dispute. I know that most makers aren't necessarily known for their OTB sharpness, but I always end up getting any knife I get sharper than when I got it.
I can't shake this feeling that I'm taking the easy way out though. I have told myself that I can control my angle better, and therefore remove less metal every sharpening, therefore prolonging the life of all my knives. I do know that there is different geometry to knife edges though, and I am fairly limited with what I can do in that regard.
So, in conclusion... Should I be putting earnest effort into learning to sharpen freehand? Are there significant benefits that outweigh the toil of learning a new skill when I have a proven method that seems to work?
Thank you for any help you can give this novice knife owner.