Mac Originals opinions.

Decent, entry level, Japanese knives.  Get and stay sharper than the Euro and American knives that were prevalent when the MACs first came out, lighter, and more agile than any of the German profiles.  Comfortable handles, indifferent F&F, fairly flexible blade, and not easy to sharpen.  

To name only two of several, Tojiro DP and Fujiwara FKM are probably better overall, entry-level, Japanese knives for similar money.  But, as always, it depends which properties you value most, and whether a particular knife is a particularly bad or good fit for you. 

The entry-level, Japanese knife market is very competitive market, and the overvalued yen hasn't made it easier to handicap. 

BDL

You got a great price on good knives.  An absurdly great price.  If they're "coming along" with the sharpening, I'd say you scored big time.

Some people look at the price...me, I have a clock in my head.  How long will it take me to fix that knife.  Your time has a value, for sure.  I can say "it's my hobby time" but I work FT and go to school FT, so my hobby time suffers if I let work creep into it.  If it's really a labor of love and you're up to the task, you got a great deal.

Me, I have a problem with making promises based on good intentions but finding myself pressed to deliver on them.  I always keep my word; that makes my over-promising even worse!

The difficulty in sharpening the entry level MACs comes from a tendency to chatter on the stones, not because the blade alloy is difficult (it isn't).  Once you understand the problem, you should get the hang of keeping the edge flat on the stone by the second knife at most. 

Use a little extra, very consistent pressure, with both hands on the blade.  Start slower than normal until you're satisfied the blade isn't chattering and you have the right angle; then speed up until you're sharpening almost as quickly as you can and still hold angle and pressure.  Most people sharpen too slowly.  You're rubbing a knife on a rock, not performing ocular surgery; and a good, quick rhythm will actually make your angles and pressures more consistent.

Unless its badly chipped, a MAC Original or Chef series knife shouldn't take longer than twenty minutes at most.  If it does, there's a technical problem.  Most likely you're trying to sharpen at too acute an angle; and/or you're "counting strokes" and using way too many (common); and/or you're using too many stones.

Everything else being equal, if you don't have to profile or repair, you should be able to create a wonderful, practical edge on two water stones.  Of course, you're going to want to start a "new to you" used knife on a coarse stone; but unless the knife needs a lot of work to flatten the bevels, any given blade shouldn't take more than twenty minutes at most.  Don't try putting much polish on them, entry-level MACs don't have the scratch hardness to hold it.

BDL