Joe Talmadge

Just between you and me, I may have one or two that look that way too Fantastic job on this Sharpening course BTW! I'll be looking forward to the video :) Great little site here, I'm reading through the cutting lesson now. Happy to see that I'm doing most things relatively correctly! Joe

Nick, Usually, tips seem to round when you get a little sloppy with the last part of the sharpening stroke. This can happen really quickly when you're using sharpening doodads of various sorts, and eventually happens freehand as well. My advice: pay a little more attention to the end of each stroke. When you're done, stop the knife on the stone, and consciously lift the tip straight up and off the stone instead of letting it drag in any way. A little bit of this and it will work into muscle memory. BTW, regarding using stones dry. I've since found that it's not quite so simple. I find diamond hones and synthetic stones work best dry. With natural stones, some work really well dry, and for some reason, others work terrible dry -- they just fill up with metal in no time at all and stop cutting dry. My advice if you get a natural stone: Try it dry to start. If it works well for you, great. But if it fills up and stops cutting more quickly than you'd like, clean it out and start using oil. Joe