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Two-sided stone and a white-handled Dexter Russell steel. The stone is the last resort, when touch-up work with the steel fails to renew the edge. It's not so much the tool you use to sharpen, but the process. Many cheapo stainless fillet knives have an edge that's tapered on both sides. Once that edge "rolls over" it can be pretty tough to get it back without grinding an 1/8-inch off the blade. Start with a cheap high carbon (non-stainless) blade like a Dexter Russell 1377, and when it goes dull, practice your technique on that. What you really want is an edge that tapers in one direction and is flat on the other (like the blade on a plane), rather than a "v" edge. You can accomplish this by making, say, five or seven swipes on the stone in one direction, then one swipe the other way. Put some pressure on the blade while you swipe the stone. That will give you a rough edge. Then take the burrs off your rough edge using the steel. Few swipes toward you should tune the edge. Every time you use the stone, do it the same way, or you'll be working against yourself, undoing the edge you already made. Then maintain the edge with the steel until you need the stone again. Every time you use the stone, you get to a wider part of the blade, making it increasingly difficult to keep an edge. Use the stone once for every 15 times you use the steel.
Again, practice on a cheapo before you try it on a knife you value.
Just my two cents, worth about one.
Zach Harvey
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