Thanks guys I'm taking notes. Always trust the angle cube and lighten up on the strops. Now the fun begins, figuring out when I actually have an edge. The first 2 knives I worked on will need lots of work just have to figure out when I've got the edge back and when to start moving on to the next iteration of stones.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and advice. I'm definitely going to keep at it with my strops even though I'm missing so big chunks. I am going to order the micro ceramic stones as well. It sounds like I'm putting to much pressure on the strops maybe the stones as well. I'm also going to start working my long knives in 2-3 sections instead of one sweeping motion to see if that helps. I do have a follow up thought, is it possible to have had way to much compound on the leather? I'm removing a lot of green gunk when I use the strops. I also noticed that using an angle cube that 15 degrees in my weps is actually like 13 or 12 degrees. Is that normal? I know the cube is measuring correctly because I checked it's calibration. Sorry for all the newbie questions but this forum was a huge part of why I purchased. Great community growing here

Well after receiving my Pro Kit and working on my first few knives I have managed to completely destroy the strops. I worked really hard to get the technique right but no matter what on my longer Gyuto knives when I get to the tip it slices the strops. They are trash at this point. My question, is there an alternate route with stones to get a smooth finish without strops? I'm not trying to polish the edge as much as get a clean finish. Also I notice a lot of slack in the arms and it often catches at the end, is that normal? Just trying to figure this system out. I've managed to ruin two edges so far so I'm a bit disappointed with the system.

TheodoreVu I bought it from thesharpenershop and used a coupon I found from a knife sharpening forum coupon code. I'd give out the code but I can't seem to find it in the posts anymore. If I find it I'll happily pass it on to you, but it allowed me to get the Pro Kit for $60 off with free shipping.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I pulled the trigger on the pro kit and got a sweet deal on it . I look forward to testing yalls advice on the sharpening stone progressions and also decided to add the ceramic stones as well since y'all recommended it so highly. Thanks

I think I'm pretty convinced to go ahead and purchase the Pro Kit. I'm sure I'll have lots of learning to do in terms of how to actually use all the stones and what the correct progression and passes are. It looks like there is a very active community here that is very helpful, which was one of the reasons I'm choosing the Wicked Edge. Is there training material out there for learning about getting the best edge and best practices on sharpening with the Wicked Edge. I definitely don't want to spend $400.00+ and use it like a metal grinder and destroy my knives and have to replace them due to my ignorance. Thanks for all y'alls advice.

Pardon my ignorance davidmcm77 and cbwx34, but I'm not sure what I'm getting for all the extra money with the Pro Kit. Looking around the forums it seems that the sharpness of the edge is set with the basic stones and then polished with the high stones. I'm completely ignorant on this subject, so I'm just trying to figure out what all the extra money is getting me, looks aren't a priority over sharpness. It's a lot of money to cough up between the 2 kits.

After much trolling,googling and youtubing I've settled on the Wicked Edge system over the edge pro. The sole reason is to maintain/restore my Japanese kitchen knives instead of having the local hack sharpeners continue to destroy the edge and removing the tips. I'd love to be able to preserve the razor edge on these Gyuto style knives, and am wondering if that can be accomplished with the basic sharpener kit or do I have to step up to the Wicked Edge Pro kit to obtain/maintain a razor sharp edge? I don't really care if the finish is mirror polished, as long as it moves through solid food as if it were butter with little resistance. These knives are used for production cooking so I keep a steady rotation of blades and am constantly sending them out to be sharpened(my ability to water stone sharpen has never been successful). Thanks for the help.