I have mastered the art of shaveable knives, with a simple trick. Even though Y'all are losers, I'll part with this trick, because I kind of like you guys.
Gatco systems are better then lanskies:
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=GA10004 but they still require practice, knowledge and common sense. For example, you work with your rougher stones more, and thus grind them down. But the problem comes when you switch to finer grit stones. You don't use these as much, so they are no worn down. If you use them the exact same way you will not be able to touch the edge because the angles of attack are minutely different.
The trick is to hold the stone so that the guide rod is at the bottom of the guide when you use coarser grits, and you have the guide rod at the top the guide with finer grits. Basically, if the edge is facing you, push down on the front for coarse, lift up for fine.
The next trick is rather simple, but incredibly powerful. Get yourself a buffing wheel to put on a spinning grind stone. Put buffing compound on it. Then buff down the edge. If you want, you can move into finer buffing compounds.
Voila! You now have a knife edge that can push cut. That means it can cut just by pushing it, not by slicing. This is very difficult to obtain.
If you don't have a grinding wheel set up, you can use a dremel. It's a little bit more difficult, but still doable.
It's a misnomer, but your standard kitchen steel:
IS NOT FOR SHARPENING. During the standard use of a knife, especially one with an extremely sharp edge, the edge point can drift or start to curl to one side or the other. The steel simply pushes the edge point back on center. To use it, lightly go over the edge pulling away from the edge. LIGHTLY.
Never go towards the edge. If you even have a remotely sharp edge, the edge will bite into the steel, and either break or dull.
