Which Sabatier? - Page 2

As Blaise Pascal (and Mark Twain) said.... I'd have written a shorter note if I had more time.

I'm not sure what sharpening resources you've been pointed to, but I think all of these.  A short checklist:

Chad Ward's chapter from "An Edge In the Kitchen" (also online on the egullet site)

The first several videos on the CKTG site

The videos on the Japanese Knife Imports site (particularly, IMO, the "Angles of Approach" video is helpful for new folks who are otherwise looking at the CKTG videos)

Off the top of my head, that's probably plenty to begin. I'd emphasize (again) using the sharpie to paint your edge so you can see whether you're hitting it, or too obtuse; and  using the "handle" hand to maintain the angle, and (maybe this is more individual, but usually) the hand on the blade with less-than-instinctive pressure. Monitor whether you are pressing hard enough to cause extra wobble.  Some people do press very hard on purpose, and it works for them.  But I'm pretty sure you'll want to learn to go lighter before you'll get much out of learning to bear down more.

Good luck with finals. And don't think you're anything like the most "anal" of forum participants.  No worries there.

Glad you checked back in -- I love that 10" Nogent chef's!

If you don't use a coarse stone, you won't do anything unfixable.

Mine had a workable, though not "good" edge, OOTB.  I sharpened three knives the first day I sharpened.  That one... well, I scratched the face of the blade up a bit, but still got a sharper than new edge very quickly.  Tip a bit ugly (and I don't get to practice enough to know how to get that "right" still), and because of the finger-guard, the heel has a heavier scratch pattern -- less polish -- than the rest.

Still, not getting it done really well doesn't ruin the knife. So have at it, I would encourage.  And you'll get better. Just don't use a coarse stone till you feel good about your sharpening.

For what it's worth.  I don't know about your plan -- I didn't have a bunch of beaters to work through; but my understanding is that they feel different enough that maybe they're not the best preparation for sharpening a better steel, anyway.

BDL... very generous of you! I'm in.  Though I think my problems with sharpening mostly come from ... not needing to do it often enough to get really good practice time in.  Not sure I need to "know" something more so much as to practice.  And I don't have a whole lot of knives (or dull the edges very quickly).