>>438922Use stones of whatever variety trips your trigger. I'd use a soft Arkansas stone followed up by a black hard Arkansas stone for every bevel angle (some blades get multiple bevels, see below) and not bother with a strop on a knife I intended to use as a whittler.
Sheepsfoot blade gets a very thin angle with no secondary bevel. Back (spine) of the blade a dime's thickness from the stone when you stroke.
Spey blade gets the same edge as the sheepsfoot, then another bevel with the spine of the blade about a dime and a half from the stone.
Pen blade gets sharpened with the spine of the blade about the width of a nickel above the stone then gets another bevel about a nickel and a half high.
Clip point blade gets a bevel with the spine about a nickel high and another with the spine about two nickels off the stone.
Use them in the following order for coarse to fine work:
>clip>pen>spey>sheepsfootIf you aren't used to using stones, see
>>438217 for some detail. You'll have to lift the handle just a little with the sheepsfoot and quite a bit with the spey blade to sharpen effectively to the tip.
Don't let the tip of the knife slide off the stone when sharpening.
