This sharpening system is about the best you are going to get... Super Precise once you get a feel for how to use the system, you can literally shave with every knife you put an edge on, from cheap 400c Stainless to CPM S35VN+ steel. I used to sharpen knives with one of those Smith's hand sharpeners, and could get a decent edge, but this is on a whole new level. The stones will get some serious work done, and the strops that come with this system are pretty good. The only thing that REALLY irked me was the fact there was a gap in grit from the 1000 to the coarse/fine ceramics (1200/1600 stones), but you can still get a stupid edge, I'm just a perfectionist and want to get as close to a mirror polish in light as I can. Granted, you'll have to spend an ungodly amount of time to go from the Coarse/Fine Ceramic stones all the way through every level of stropping compounds, but really... 0.5 micron compound produces more than an acceptable polish, so long as you get all the previous grit marks leveled. My advice for the freshly initiated... 1.When you are securing the fine adjustment knob, go 0.5 deg under what you want to get to, then wrench it down. The angle will change almost exactly 0.5 degree as it torques up ever so slightly. 2. Be VERY stingy on your application of stropping compound (Paste) on your strops. Just a few rice sized applications and spread with a clean finger. My first time, I applied WAY too much, and it just gets squeegee'd off on the blade, creating mess and wasted time cleaning between compounds. Less is more here. 3. I would recommend a magic marker or blueprinting paint to establish your bevel travel (With a fine stone). Once you are confident of the bevel symmetry, do your cutting. Once you remove the material, you can't really go back. Knives with excessively large bellies can be a pain, but just take a bit more time. 4. If you are going to use the Low Angle Adapter for those REALLY shallow angles, I would recommend removing the bottom screw if you plan on going right up against the adapter. Obviously you are at the mercy of that screw, and so long as you have your blade tightly secured with the top screw, you SHOULD be okay, just take care not to bump the handle, as you may alter the angle ever so slightly. Along those same lines, with no adapter in use, the regular jaws should be relatively symmetrical, meaning, the jaw that adjusts should have the bottom edge flush with the base block or inside the edge, or your minimum angle will not be the same as the fixed side. 5. When sharpening Full Flat Grinds (FFG), you WILL need to shim the upper area of the jaws to keep the blade from rolling laterally. Having the blade roll will produce uneven bevels, even if you check them both true. The angle cube's operation presumes a stable 90 deg blade edge, and if you are off... You'll have a larger bevel on one side than the other, so take care to shim accordingly. I would highly recommend this system to the up and coming knife sharpener or entrepreneur, as you can do a decent amount of knives in a short amount of time.
