Sharpening setup

I finally decided the "wet-towel-on-kitchen-counter" method of sharpening wasn't doing it for me. This is my first real attempt to make sharpening less painful. There's a sizeable online community of people who really enjoy sharpening, of which I am definitely not a part of.

It's a pretty simple setup - three bridges and a tray underneath. My grit progression is 220 -> 1000 -> 5000. I don't have access to a power grinder, so the 220 grit is really helpful for clearing chips and really dull edges. After the grits, I apply a coat of camellia oil to prevent rust. I also have some inexpensive AliExpress diamond plates which work fine. I just like the feeling of stone more - better feedback I guess.

I use a Veritas short-blade honing guide for most things. I find this holding style works well for my tools; it can hold my japanese chisels for example. Most jigs on the market are actually pretty limited in the kind of geometries they can hold, that or they get finicky really quickly. Slipping is kind of an issue for this thing. It's controllable, though.