Sharpening pocket knifes freehanded

[PRM]

Hi, I'm a newbie and I need some help. My question is, when sharpening a small knife freehand, at what position do you have your knife? The way I think I understand it is, you hold your knife level but at what place of the wheel? I'm thinking at about 11:00. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Phil

[Jeff Farris]

Phil, 10:30 to 11:00 -- somewhere in there.  You may find that positioning like this is helpful to find the angle, but it may be more comfortable to work on top of the stone.  Once you have the angle established, it feels pretty natural to just keep the same angle but move up on the stone.

[PRM]

Hi Jeff, thank you for your reply. I'll try that.