Sharpening isn't difficult but it's crucial in woodwork; without sharp tools you (or I ) won't achieve much. Essentially what we're discussing is the intersection of two planes of steel and the finer the intersection, the sharper the blade.
However, there are hundreds of ways of achieving that intersection which is where the difficulty arises for a newcomer as you'll need to find a method that you're happy with; hence the reason why this thread is liable to go on for 10+ screenfulls :lol: as members offer advice.
Over the decades, I've tried most of the methods 'out there'; oilstones, waterstones, ceramic stones, diamond stones and sharpening films etc; each has their merits and disadvantages.
My initial advice would be to find a method which is cheap and which will produce a reasonable edge. Obtaining a repeatable angle is often the most difficult thing for a newcomer to achieve so I would recommend the use of a honing guide of some sort; the Eclipse and it's clones are a good place to start.
Use the guide on a film of some sort that can be stuck to a dead flat surface such as glass. For many years now I've used the self adhesive 3M films from Workshop Heaven which work for me.
Grinding is a different process using something like a Tormek (and again, there are dozens of systems around) which removes lots of steel very quickly once the honed bevel becomes too wide, as it will after repeated sharpening. Again, you don't need to use a very expensive machine; a very coarse abrasive film stuck to your glass will do the same job albeit more slowly.
It's bit of minefield and requires some experimentation to find a method that you can happily use - Rob
