Originally Posted by
PaulFLUS
The biggest leap for me was getting the bevel set. It is probably the easiest to mess up and most overlooked. A piece of advice that helped me in the beginning was hone just on one side until there is a burr you can feel with your fingernail the whole way down the bevel. Then flip it over till you get the same. Then alternate to even it out. Usually I'll do at least 20 both sides. Doing it this way helped me to learn how to get the bevel even down the whole length and how to concentrate on the areas that are slower to set. I also learned that the slower to set part is not always or even usually the same on both sides. You'll find, or at least I did, that I spent less time on the mid range stones after getting the hang of bevel set.