No. of Recommendations: 3
Congrats on the knife. I really enjoy using a good knife if the kitchen. The art of knife sharpening is an infinite rabbit hole. There are many compromises and trade-offs to be made. Various techniques are hotly debated and the core philosophies held by the Believers are often contradictory. After a lot of study and becoming very confused I've settled on a few principles/techniques.
One trick to find the edge angle is to color the edge with a Sharpie. That way you can see where you are removing metal as you sharpen. This will tell if you if your angle is correct.
You can quickly find the approximate edge angle by holding the knife vertical, that is at a 90 degree angle to the whetstone. Tilt it half way is 45 degrees. Half of that is 22.5 which is about the typical edge angle for western kitchen knives. A skosh more than that and you are at 15 degrees. Stacking two quarters under the edge of the spine will get you pretty close to 15 degrees as well.
Western knives typically have a primary bevel with the tip at about 18-22 degrees. Same on both sides. The more acute the angle, the sharper the knife, but it gets duller faster.
Japanese knives can be lot different. Some knives like a yanagiba (sushi) knife have a single bevel (only one side of the knife, like a chisel) and very acute angles, on the order of 10 degrees. This means the knives are left or right handed depending on which side the bevel is one. Some knives like a traditional santoku have asymmetric bevels, which again means they are right or left handed. And some have the traditional symmetric bevel like western knives.
If that weren't complicated enough, most knives come from the factory with a secondary bevel (sometimes called a micro bevel) right on the very edge that is 1–2° steeper than the primary bevel. This makes the edge sharper and improves durability. You can create the secondary bevel very easily on a whetstone. Simply sharpen as normal, and then raise the knife 1-2 degrees and make a few passes. You don't even need to raise a burr, or maybe just barely a burr.
An alternative--some say superior--to the secondary bevel is a convex (rounded) bevel that blends the two in a smooth arc. With some skill, you can create a convex bevel with a whetstone. Murray Carter has some Youtube videos showing how to do this.
I prefer the convex bevel, however I do it on a belt sander. Belt sander sharpening is a heretical offense to some in the sharpening community because it can add heat to the blade, but I make quick passes and wipe the knife on a damp cloth after each pass. I've never detected it heating up. Some claim it still heats up enough on the very edge to remove the temper, but what evs.
I got a one inch belt sander from Harbor Freight for $50. You can get all the belts up to extremely fine grit (including leather belts) from Lee Valley. I started off with some old knives to practice with, but I got the hang of it after about the second knife. You can get any knife incredibly sharp this way. I use a ceramic hone before I use the knife every time. I only need to sharpen about once a year, maybe once every two years.
That's my vastly over simplified take on it. Enjoy the sharpening rabbit hole. One you start, it goes to infinity.
