Originally Posted by
Johnny J
I've been practicing this quite a lot. I put the stone on the counter (with a towel under it so it doesn't slide around), wet it with water, and lay the knife across the stone at about a 45 degree angle so I can pretend the stone is wider than it really is. I am left-handed, and I do both sides with my left hand. Suppose I were holding the knife straight out in front of me, edge down: I will call these the left and right sides of the knife.
When I'm doing the left side of the knife, I lay my index finger along the spine. When I do the right side of the knife, I lay my index finger on the upward-facing left side of the knife. This is for stability.
I place the knife on the stone and initially find the angle by looking and feeling with the fingers of my right hand. Then I make circles on the stone, slowly drawing the knife from heel to tip. (I don't bend my wrist, I use my whole arm). When the angle is just right, I can feel a suction effect like there's honey smeared on the stone, from the two wet, flat surfaces rubbing together. This is exactly the same feeling I get from arazor on a wet Swaty.
I finish the Murray Carter way. I backhone a couple of strokes to put in a tiny primary bevel & remove the burr. Then I lightly draw the edge through soft wood to remove any burr remnants. Then I backhone a couple more strokes. That's it.
From Dwarven Chef's picture, it looks like the secondary bevel is very uneven and is not meant to be used as an angle guide a la Mora knife. So Murray really is freehanding it with both hands, back & forth. Well, his way may be better than mine, but I can't do it the way he does it. My grip might be weird but I'm used to it, for good or ill.
Hope that was comprehensible.