Looking to start out with waterstones? It's not as tricky as it looks, and with some practice, you'll be getting your tools razor sharp and loving the process at the same time.
Tip 1: Keep your Stones Flat
Producing nice, flat bevels is much easier with nice, flat stones. As waterstones' virtues come from the fact that they wear and dish, it is important to manage the flatness of your stones throughout the process.
Tip 2: Keep An Eye Out
The way that light reflects off your bevel and edges provides a lot of clues as to what is happening while you are sharpening. You are looking to produce a flat, mirror-like surface - not a wonky mirror like you'd find in Luna park.
Tip 3: Work through the Grits
Working each grit hard to remove the scratches of the coarser stone is the best way to ensure that your progress is as efficient as possible. If you haven't removed the scratches from a course stone with your medium stone, there is no way that they will be able to removed by a fine grit stone.
