I’m looking for a better knife sharpener for my hard steel chef knife. I think whetstones are the way to go, but most of the sets I see are 4 double sided stones. Do I need that many stones?
Is there a totally different type of sharpener that you have had success with?
Edit: I should add that I like my knife very sharp, and I have a few tiny chips in the cutting edge from a cheap drag-through sharpener.
The diamond ones do catch my eye. How are they cleaner, exactly?
Cleaner in the sense you don’t have the whetstones forming a slurry on top while sharpening as cheap stones tend to do. A slightly damp paper towel will clean off any metal shavings if the diamond stone is used dry. I don’t think this is a problem with high quality whetstones.