Haertig, good to see another knife guy on here. I can give this advice. That Sharpmaker is an AWESOME tool. It will do a lot more than knives as well. I am sure you read through the book that came with it. as far as other tools and sharpeners, having just one will never do. I have several knives that don't respond very well to say a diamond stone, then another knife that don't do well with ceramic. The Spyderco "Double-Stuff" flat stone is a great little sharpener. You have to really practice keeping the edge at the correct angle, but your also not limited bu whatever angle that came with a Gatco, or Lansky. I personally can't stand either of those sharpeners, even though they are a good quality item. I have been using the free hand method for quite a while. Your right, you were flattening out that burr instead of rolling it away a little at a time. The key is using the finest stones possible. That's why I like the Spyderco stones. They do an outstanding job of polishing an edge as well.