Quote Originally Posted by gssixgun View Post
Tip: Don't get obsessive in the middle you can end up taking a step backwards
This is a very good one. I found that, even though the middle matters, as long as you have a good bevel, mostly any rudimentary form of a progression (be it diluting slurry or whatever else) before finishing will get you a decent shaving edge.

Quote Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER View Post
One of the reasons I abandoned my water stones, and my coticules/bbw is because I couldn't nail the mid range sharpening.
One tip I have that helped me tremendously on coticules (and I can only assume it works in a similar way with other hones that require honing on slurry):

Add a little water often rather than a lot of water only a few times. Adding lots of water a few times might work with some fast hones, but in general gradual dilution is the path of less frustration. I speak from lots of experience.

Oh, and watch how your water/slurry behaves along the edge (i.e. undercutting). And remember that grind plays a factor in that as well: the hollower the grind, the further up the blade the water/slurry reaches (that is, if you don't drown your stone while you hone, then it will most likely cover the entire blade). A few times after kind of figuring how to read undercutting water/slurry, I tried to get the quarter hollow blade to the point where the water/slurry would almost reach the spine - as it does on full hollows - needless to say I failed to do this and got extremely frustrated a few times.

At one point I though 'Screw this, it'll just have to be good enough.' Lo and behold, it was as sharp as my full hollow. Wishful thinking, for once, saved me from more frustration.