Hey Lou:
You’re right you don’t start from scratch. One of the key points of the Wicked Edge is to record the settings you used to sharpen a knife, so that you can reclamp the knife with the same settings and angle, and quickly touch it up with the finest strop or stone you ended with. If the edge needs a little work, you can back up a stone or two, re-establish the edge, then finish it.
In talking with Clay, this was the main driving force behind the invention… to quickly touch up an edge without starting from scratch.
Hope that helps! 🙂