first off, i'm gonna wave prejudice at you.. mine.
Use waterstones, get a decent 2 x 8 x 1 stone.
You can use em dry. It's tedious, cleaning em between sessions, but possible .
Do Not Use Oilstones To Learn How To Sharpen Knives!
They make it LOTS harder to learn. The fine feedback of 'how much drag' that you must learn by muscle memory in order to become consistent is missing.
With oilstones, you're guessing, or going by eye, a LOT more than with dry or waterstones. Just more feedback with more drag (less lube) and less of a film between the stone & steel.
So, you'll learn faster with more feedback, yes?
Use your ears. A proper sharpening stroke, towards the end of the job makes the steel sing. a fine high pitched harmonic ..
Another bit of feedback that's lessened with oil.
Convex is the only way to go, kudos on starting there.
Now if you want to learn proper, get an old good axe.
It has a nice fat convex (live) edge. Start with one that's known good steel, (Plumb, Vulcan, Kelly, Vaughn, Collins)
and hasn't been abused (badly nicked, put on a grinder, corners abraded).. if you care about keeping the axe (or big hatchet) pick one with a slim profile. This is a sharpening lesson, but as an aside: Thin blade axes are greenwood, thick blades are dry wood. Thin blades are chopping, thick ones are splitting. Most axes are general purpose, try to do both. Get a greenwood, or cutting axe, not a splitter. Splitters don't WANT or need to be razor sharp. Cutters 'can' benefit from that, if you use them as intended.
The best 'learner' rock (before you decide if you want to invest considerable in a set of graduated natural stones) is a Norton 1000 grit India (orange/tan, synthetic) either 6 or 8 x 2 x 1. I find the 6 inch stones a little more convenient for short blades, the 8 inch are (almost) necessary for blades over about 10 inches .. There's a round norton combo stone (MCS, 21$, IB-64 is the product code) that has 220/1000 grit .. nice axe rock, but not a requirement.
With axe in lap, edge away, stone in primary hand, small circles well back (3/8 inch?) from the edge. .. see where the grind shows..
start at one end of the sharp, small circles as you move to the other end.. back & forth, get a smooth flow.. and as that becomes fairly easy start moving the grind line down towards the edge. You Roll the grind. I can't say it any better. it's all arcs.. don't even TRY for a straight line, ever.
Try to NOT hit the same place twice the same way.
(oh, and start with a clean stone. wash it, detergent & scrub it, and if it's not DEAD flat, dress it till it is)..
The stone shouldn't have oil, water, or metal traces when you begin. when it gets clogged to the point you notice it, (1/2 an hour maybe) swap sides on the rock & axe, do it all again.
This is done without distraction cause at the end you're handling razor sharp & then some, and a ringing phone may be a lost thumb.
So don't try to do sharpening seriously with a crowd around you.. (pets, children, annoying significant others)..
Aight, so, you cleaned your rock AGAIN, and now youre wanting to actually make an edge.. an old axe has usually a few nicks. if that is the case, put down the india stone & go get a new 8 or 10 inch bastard file and get em out. minimally, trying for an arc that's even and smooth, (meaning, file where it's NOT nicked, too).. (no, i don't use files on MY axes, but i don't nick em either) ..
back to how to sharpen. Once you're down close to the edge, work the corners. They're hardest, & easiest to forget, so do em first.
Never Try for a bevel. What you actually DO is more like overlap serrations. each little rotation of the stone touches the edge at one point, and those points move down the arc of the edge. so you dont work the edge alone. you work the whole 'bevel' with each stroke. When you're close, you'll have a series of faint lines from end to end of the arc, marching up the 'bevel' (curve) . these overlap and fade into each other, and the un-evenness of each stroke is what gives a final curved result. you can't do it with a lot of pressure. it's more like you let the weight of the stone cut.
Once you're at the edge, flip the axe, repeat. each flip gets closer .. (fewer strokes between)..
When you're 'working the wire' .. you've done about all an india stone will do.. and it'll (roughly) shave.
If you want to do a better job, use a white arkansas after..
better'n that, black arkansas next..
better'n that, green polishing compound and a stick strop.
The technique doesn't change, just the precision & pressure & tool.
This won't teach you to sharpen a knife. Oops. What it will do is give you a CLEAR and EXACT understanding of the steps involved in making a convex edge. when you can do an axe (or big hatchet) perfectly, confidently.. you will find that you won't need any further explanation of how it works and feels. For the record..
Working 'on a bench' to make a convex edge is tricky as heck. Freehand it's hard Not to be convex. Stone in one hand, knife in the other, work BEHIND the edge to begin.
if there's a short hard bevel, take it to heck off. the country expression is 'work the shoulder down' ..
you are going to lay the knife 'nearly' down to work that shoulder. once you have it thinned, then raise the knife a degree or two each stroke, 4-5 strokes each way..
this is exactly opposite to making a bevel. do NOT do two strokes in a row at the same blade angle.
Every few strokes change sides on the knife, when the stone is dirty wash it or flip it over. A good knife to practice on is a fairly thick, soft carbon steel blade..
Something that can GET sharp, but as well, something that will allow you to see what you're doing to the edge & near it. Anybodys rockwell 60 is too hard for a learner to get good feedback on result versus effort. Get something more like rockwell 54-56. Old Carbon steel 10 inch butcher knife, (the heavy restaurant kind) is good.
Microbevel is nearly a given. you might ignore it, but heck, it's just taking the burrs & wire off, and takes 3 strokes or 4.. so go for it. On a fine fine stone (or dont use a stone)..
This is sort of all I can say till you hit a spot you have a question. It's not really a thing you can teach, you can only 'show'.. and the learning comes with practice.
It's fun. Wish i could show you my Case XX butcher knife..
Not a bevel anyplace. Shaving sharp BEFORE i put the final touches on it..
hair splitter now. Great fun.
