I spent some time chatting with a fellow coach at the gym. He’s a martial artist with 20+ years of experience in using and making bladed weapons, he is a knife and tool maker now both professionally and otherwise, he is also an auto mechanic 9-5, and he has sharpened a pile of broadheads dating back to the original Zwickeys with the file. He had some interesting thoughts on all things sharpening, and he said that when all’s said and done, the most knowledgeable craftsmen at these knife and tool conventions will tell you sharpening is personal (much like archery) and when you find the method/direction/materials that works best for you, that you are most confident and REPEATABLE in executing to earn the best edge you can get for its intended purposes, THAT is the “best” way to sharpen. So for
@Allegheny Tom and to a large degree, myself, directing the scratches to align with the most intentional direction(s) of cutting have produced the best results thus far. Definitely on 3-blade broadheads and smaller knives while using a standard size stone, I can maintain the best angle and earn the quickest edge by sharpening directionally to the cutting “style”. And I can repeat the process across multiple blades. I admit I have yet to find my groove (pun not intended this time) on larger knives and machete-length blades but I’m getting there with a combo of AT’s more directional flow and the conventional “shave a sliver off the stone” method, which seems to be producing a more diagonal scratch pattern. And makes stropping a little more difficult IMO but that may also be the size of my blade compared to the size of my leather, and not ALL my big blades need stropping anyway (which is a whole rat’s nest of a conversation on its own).
Anyway, I think you can’t really beat a dead horse TOO to death on some of these topics, especially on a nerd-hub such as SH.com. What else are we supposed to do with our fingers to warm them up in the tree?!