The best way to sharpen your knife (and any kitchen knives) is with water-stones. Carborundum stones & oil stones are fine for certain tools & gardening equipment etc, but water-stones are what you need to give you a fine edge. They come in a wide variety of "grit" values which refers to the number of particles per sq. cm. - i.e. a 240 grit stone is very coarse whereas a 5000 grit stone is very fine. You can get a "combination" stone from most good department stores, in the kitchen section, that have a 250 on one side and 1000 on the other, that will give perfectly good results (with practice!). I learned from a Japanese master sharpener some years ago and use a range of stones from 200grit right up to 30,000 for mirror-polishing some of my Japanese blades but there's no need to get that involved for most purposes.
It needs good technique to get the best results though and will take a bit of practice. If I can find the time in the next few days I'll try and do a little video & post it on the forum to show how it's done, as a few people have been asking me recently to sharpen their knives for them; once you get a grasp on the basics it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.
I'd say the best piece of advice though is to sharpen little & often - the more blunt you let your knife become the more work you have to do to restore it's edge.
Gary
any ideas ladies n gents
- I've been thinking about starting up again if there was the demand. Used to do it as a sideline a few years ago when I lived down London for chefs & restaurants - you wouldn't believe how bad those guys with all the Michelin stars are at using & looking after their knives 
