I've been having pretty decent success using my new DMT dia-sharp stones, but only when using straight-down-the-stone, heal-leading strokes. Everytime I try to do heal-leading X strokes, the back of the blade ends up getting sharp (the heel half), and the front half doesn't. I've tried diagnosing the stroke, but I really can't see that I'm doing anything wrong. I'm wondering if I have a few rough spots on the edges of my DMT's that are dulling the edge of the blade when it comes off the edge of the stone.

So I'm wondering.. when you guys are doing X strokes, how much of the blade is sitll left on the hone when you are done with the stroke? I've been doing X strokes to where just the last half inch of blade is still on the hone at the end of the stroke. Is this too much?

I'm also wondering what the purpose of the X stroke is on stones that will fit the entire blade with a heel leading stroke anyway. I can understand using it on stones that are so narrow the whole blade won't fit, but is it necessary on a wide stone?