One caution is that when you sharpen a knife at some high angle – say, 25 dps – changing the angle to some lower angle – say, 20 dps – is going to take you a long time. The high angle will rapidly lower the apex, as it has very little metal to remove to do so. Any lower angle will require that a lot of metal be removed before the apex is re-established. Even with the coarser diamond stones, each stroke removes only fractions of a micron from the bevel.
This rule tells us that we should always try to identify the correct bevel angle before proceeding. Where an examination of the edge tells us that no one has substantially altered the factory edge, it’s best to use this as a guide. Keep in mind that factory edges are frequently askew. If you measure one side at 18 dps while the other is 22 dps, assume that the factory intended for the edge to be 40 degrees included and that we should use 20 dps as our guide.
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