nice thing about the guided system is how easy it is to slice off the burr. i’ve never been able to do it with spyderco sharpmaker. you simply face the blade burr side up and slice it off with a few long lengthwise strokes and move on to the next stone. this is a revelation to me .

Yep, it's almost effortless.

For me the key at the very end is a couple of super light strokes on each side.

On a related note, watching Paul Sellers sharpen the blade from a hand plane is impressive. He gets a good burr, then he'll put a little compound on his strop and knock the burr right off. He's actually able to pick the burr up and put it on camera like a super fine wire at the end. And he does it free-hand.

Many, most of the woodworking guys can shave paper like you would with a razor blade when they sharpen their planes. It's crazy.

my old boss carrried a tiny whetstone in his pocket everyday. he could put an edge on a knife like a pro. its scary how people can get so good at it.

i am marginal at best. but that KME system is supposed to be the best. i have a friend that uses it to sharpen knives as a side hustle.

I still have my wet stone from boy scouts...was looking at it the other day. It has a date stamp on the side of it that says 1983. I remember ruining a few of my knives with it as a kid., pre-internet. My grandpa used to pick up any old rock off the ground to use.

^^^^And gramps would just spit on the rock!