Knife sharpening is a real art. I was never any good at it until I was about 60.
You must feel what you're doing, because you can't see it happen. It's very subtle.
At the final stages it's a delicate and exacting process.
Having specialized tools can help, but I just have a collection of old stones, a two sided diamond hone, and some leather and rubber.
_________________________
I bought an overpriced set of Cutco knives about 20 years ago. Eventually all the steak knives vanished. It's a Mystery to me. One by one they vanished, going from 8 to 1 in the course of a decade maybe.
The rest are still holding up fine, in spite of the fact my wife puts them in the dishwasher.
They sharpen OK, and hold an edge, but there are knives that will take a better edge.
The worst for me was the Buck knife. It took me a long time to learn to sharpen it. The steel is just different. It feels different as it grinds.
I used it often to pierce metal oil cans in the 60's and 70's. Oil has come in plastic for 40 years now, and eventually I did sharpen it.
