Creating A Burr 

The first and most important step is to create a noticeable burr on each side of the knife blade.  Unless you have created a burr on both sides you will not be able to sharpen the knife.

The diamond stones will be rougher at first until they break in. Be careful, especially with the 100 grit stone as it is possible to create chatter in your knife.

Another caution: some knives are not hardened properly and the edge with chatter badly no matter what you do. This is particularly true with inexpensive knives with a squared spine.
  • start with the lowest grit stone (or higher grit if the knife is already quite sharp)
  • using a scrubbing motion (i.e. up and down) accomplishes this quickly
  • if the knife is rounded (you can feel this and sometimes even see this) you will have to grind away the rounding. 
            The good news is that once this is done, you won’t have to do this again.
  • -  start on the left side (or right side if you are preparing the knife for left handed use)
  • -  keep scrubbing until you feel a noticeable burr along the length of the knife. You will be able to feel the burr with your finger or fingernail
  • -  once the burr is created on one side - move to the other side 
  •  - for the sake of safety, hold the paddles as low as possible. This keeps my fingers away from the edge of the knife 
There is an extensive discussion about knives that chatter on the Wicked Edge Double Reed Forum. 
(Click on the link to the left to go to this forum)