[BearW]

I'm in the category of 'terrible knife sharpeners' as well. My problem is the technical know-how and just memorizing the angle at which the blade needs to be honed to for manual work.

Sometime i'll make a few passes each way, say ten a side-check the blade and it's worse than before.

I bought a cheapo- 17.99 "Redi Edge" sharpener which, if you've never seen it, has the same type of set up as a very small handheld kitchen block sharpener. It's only a few inches long and the diamond sharpener is built into a 2 sided whetstone, which i'm guessing is for re-conditioning the blade( of an ax, say) or some sort of manual work well above my level of expertise.

I usually lube the blade with a few drops of olive oil before and after. I prefer olive oil for CLP or other lubricants because though they may work better, they're not fit for consumption. If i want to slice bread, make a PB&J sandwich with my blade and it's something to think about. I've heard some use butter for just this reason but butter has high salt content and could rust the blade.

This seems like an older thread but maybe someone will stumble upon it and learn a thing or two as i just did.

Bear