Thank you so much for the thorough reply. There is a lot to take in, and I have a lot to learn both in technique and knowledge. I am looking forward to it. I have heard some suggest a 600 on EDC pocket knives as a finishing grit which is why I was asking about the lower grit reading, perhaps that was intended as a microbevel finish grit. My goal at this point is just to learn. I have read through a lot of these forum pages and have saved a lot of time and effort from your advice as well as others and I really appreciate it. My results are improving, the stones seem more broken in and are easier to use. That has made it a lot easier too. The first knife I sharpened started out with the 50/80 stone. I haven’t used that stone since and am hard pressed to see that I will ever use it again. It is soo aggressive. I have a little belt sander that I can use if I need to take that much metal off. It left deep groves in the thrift store knife I started on and I spent the rest of the time trying to smooth them out. Do folks use that stone very much? Thanks again for your advice and observations.
