Exactly - cuts better, needs more frequent steeling and honing. If my knives were harder steel, they would hold 15 deg with less attention.

What's your opinion on the $60 Shun Electric Knife Sharpener AP119 (sharpens to a 16° angle)?

Sorry, I don't know anything about it.

Edit: Darisc, if I recall right you have a beautiful set of Shun knives. In my opinion you should learn to sharpen them with stones.

I am no expert on stones, have a synthetic waterstone about 1,500 grit (paid about $35), Arkansas Wa****a stone (something like 800 grit), and an Oregon Stone (180 grit and 220 grit sides). The Oregon Stone only gets used for repairing or reshaping a chipped/really dull blade, I've learned it is too coarse for routine honing of a well-cared-for blade. Also have a grooved steel, but would prefer a smooth one (Forschner makes one, $19 on Amazon).

As an artist, you have the hand-eye coordination and the hand steadiness to learn sharpening on a stone. After a little practice, you will get a polished and very sharp edge. Plus it is sort of meditative.

Why not go to a good knife store and ask to see two synthetic waterstones, one around 1,000 grit and one around 2,000, for about $30-40 each? Waterstones can be crazy expensive and I know the Japanese knife geeks will say you must have the $500 waterstones, but they'll also sneer at your Shuns (and will double-sneer at anything I have) so don't get carried away.

i would steer clear of any sort of electric grinding wheel that doesn't have some sort of water or oil dripping system.
too fast, too hot.... not good.

I don't understand why many new german knives come with such a poor edge. It really makes them look bad in the store when compared side by side with the japanese knives, which are typically fairly sharp out of the box.
The last new henckel I used took a lot of work to get it to what I would call sharp.

OK, total knife newbie here. The sharpening you all are doing is presumably on nice knives of the spendy forged steel variety. Not the stamped steel stuff. But can you sharpen the stamped steel knives? Does that do anything, or just ruin what knife blade you have?

Sure you can sharpen stamped knives. Most of my knives are stamped steel, Victorinox Forschner, very good knives for the money. They can be made very sharp and can take a 15 degree edge, though they do need frequent attention at that angle.

If you're talking about a serrated edge, that is a different story. They can be sharpened but not with the usual technique on a stone. You can do something on a stone - hopefully not a nice stone - but I think its more of a grinding wheel job, personally. I don't use serrated knives except for bread, so my knowledge there is limited.

Here is my favorite sharpening system to date.
Buy this $40HF sander
1'' x 30'' Belt Sander

Buy 1 each of 30 Inch Aluminum Oxide grinding belts (180, 320, 500, 1200 grit) - $4.20 each
Lee Valley Tools - Important Announcement

watch this video:
YouTube - Belt sander knife sharpening

don't think the 180 grit is needed unless the knife is a total mess.
NOTE: practice on 2 cheap knives first..once you get your technique down, you are good...

I haven't bought the leather belts yet, admit i don't think i need them as the 1200 grit (9 micron) puts a very very good edge on for general use...

i've tried a lot of systems (chef's choice, lansky, etc), but i swear this is the best edge i've ever gotten, period.

I had the pleasure of attending a session with the founder of Lee Valley Tools, a real gentleman. He literally wrote the book on sharpening: The Complete Guide to Sharpening by Leonard Lee. If you are interested in this topic he did the work for you. Materials, bevels, steel hardness and one inch sanding wheels. Its all there.

I agree with the above comment - one inch sand paper is awesome for knife sharpening. I still use a stone and buffing wheel for chisels though.

Update here....as a final step after the 1200 grit belt, strop the knife hard on a leather belt. Put the belt on a table or hard surface and put decent pressure @ the general sharpening angle (angle not critical) with 6-8 strokes on each side...takes the final burr off...just used a wide leather belt that i wear, no polishing compound was needed. Turns out very sharp for general use hunting/pocket knifes.