Agreed, a stone is good if the knife is in poor shape, need to get an angle of about 30deg as a starting point. Then I have two steels. One agressive standard type and one diamond to finish off. A sharp knife has chamfered edge of about 30deg and then you give a finer edge to that with the steel. You need to draw the blade on the stone or steel, blade to back. As if you were cutting across the stone or steel. If you draw it backwards which is the instinct to not cut one's pinky then you actually draw the metal backwards off the cutting edge and this creates a fine rough edge (no good). If the knife is reasonable then a hit with a steel every second fish keeps it sweet. I sharpen crossing over the steel blade first, takes a bit of practice to get right and not cut yourself. A good steel will have a guard at the base of the handle to stop the blade cutting you if you do f*%k up. And yes pay the extra for a good quality one and it will last 10y. Think of it like sharpening a chisel. A big chamfer first on a grinder then finished with a finer edge on a stone. A knife is no different and can be almost as sharp as a razor if done right. Seen it on Croc Dundee
. Cheers.