I recently discovered and new way of free handing on a stone. It started with a nagging issue followed by a question.
Nagging Issue: Darn it I can't really see where the blade is touching the stone during free handing and flipping it over just makes things worse.
What IF I could see where the blade is touching the stone just like I do on the Spyderco Gauntlet?
Thoughts and observations:
With the Spyderco Gauntlet and for that matter the Sharpmaker there is absolutely no way to produce the desired exact angle so at best they are close. In truth unless reprofiling it does not matter and a proper reprofile requires some thinning behind the edge any way, a fixed system can get the correct angle with a digital cube but you still need to freehand to correct the behind the edge or you get tall edges with abrupt transitions to the flats that still needs a belt or freehand to fix that or really dropping the angle to blend the flats but most systems cant do that accurately like the TSPROF Blitz can as it ca go really low.
The angles on the Sharpmaker or the Gauntlet do not matter they are close guides is all, sharp is still sharp that's all that counts. Reprofiling only needs to be done once really, unless you are really using the heck out of a blade and wearing it down which is very unlikely the case for most.
More Questions:
How many times has the Sharpie showed me on knives I could not get sharp on the Sharpmaker and Gauntlet just how off I really was and once corrected they we easily sharpened ?
Hey what IF I take my 600 Grit Atoma diamond plate and hold it at an angle to the table with one hand and then place the blade on the plate with a super light pressure just touching the steel to the plate and as I move it down & look to see that it is in constant contact?
Observation:
Uh oh hey this is working really good. I can see where the blade touches the plate and oh wow it is not how I perceived it before at all this is so much clearer.
More Questions:
What IF while moving the blade I do not use a swiping motion and just angel the blade so it stays in contact with the plate?
Observations:
Oh boy this has gotten really sharp! I can see how the edge is getting aligned up and down instead of from front to back or back to front the sweeping motion creates, this feels way sharper and slices better. Wow this is so much easier and precise I feel like I am really seeing the process for the first time. The illusion of what I perceived was the blades Shape & geometry is gone I really see it now. Wow so much faster, takes much less time , really getting the surface area down.
More Questions:
What IF I switch hands so I am moving the blade away from me at all times keeping the same visual reference for both sides?
Observations: Lol a little clumsy with the left hand but not bad at all still allot of fine control, Oh yeah this is a winner, now I can break out all those Shapeton and other expensive stones and grits and really get somewhere with them.
Consideration: Hmmm I really need to order the Spyderco CBN Bench Stones now.
Excitement:
Oh boy I've got something here with this method I better tell the folks on the sharpening thread.
Further Reflection:
Someone must have already figured this out already, oh well no such thing as an original idea but hey who knows maybe this will useful to someone? Hope so.
's in 10 different steels
. It's exactly what I wanted ! I would've liked to get the F80, but 3 stones was already expensive, especially if I have to pay taxes on top of that once it gets here.
In the collection 
