I guess I'm
really old school when it comes to knife sharpening.
First off, like A10 mentioned, I try never to let my knives get dull in the first place. I'm always touching them up after use.
For the most part, I use an old 8-inch Norton hard Arkansas stone. That will usually bring the blade to where it will remove patches of hair from my forearm.
Then, I move to an ancient 10-inch Escher stone, the kind that was designed for sharpening straight razors. That brings the blade to where it will shave the fuzz off a peach.
Finally, I move to a ceramic stone. After a few minutes on that, I can use the blade for castrating gnats.
Seriously, though, as woodsltc said, learning to use a whetstone is a valuable skill. I think it was either
Outdoor Life or
Field and Stream that ran an article several months ago on the value of being "old school." They mentioned that knowing how to sharpening a knife with a whetstone was definitely "old school." Yep, it's a valuable skill one should learn.
