Back in the stone age (get it?) I was taught never to sharpen a blade without oil. Are you using any?
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I also have a supply of scalpel blades (used to work in an OR), and they are razor sharp when new, but quickly lose their edge on plastic, and wood. I’ve sharpened them on a whetstone but they’re never they same as new.
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See if you can find a black Arkansas whetstone. That was the best thing to use back when disposable blades weren’t so inexpensive. Brownells.com at least used to sell them.
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I thought the same thing about oil sharpening going in. It turns out there is an ongoing debate in the culinary world on the merits of oil stones versus water stones. In my case, water sharpening makes the most sense because the necessary materials are sitting in my sanding box, it is less messy, and screwing up a hobby knife blade does not matter.
Water sharpening also worked for some of my kitchen knives. If I were going to sharpen one of my big, expensive, diving knives, oil honing would probably be the way to go.
This is definitely not for everyone. Matt is right. New blades of decent quality are plenty sharp and cheap. I am finding sharpening useful for keeping a modest edge on a blade, effectively indefinitely, and honing more expensive, specialty blades.
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Some sharpening stones want oil,
others use water,
bone dry causes friction,
oil or water holds on to the fine
particles loosened from the
stone and creates a grinding paste.
With oil/water makes for easier work
but sharpening can be done without
though with a lower quality result.
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Time for the heretic in me to reveal a secret:
I own CHEAP cooking knives, bought cheap at a large
grocery store or a DIY store which sells cheap tools
and gadgets. Stainless steel (not carbon steel, just
plain old bog standard stainless), I do require the blade
to have a V-shape, continuous taper from the back to
the edge. This gives me a smaller angle at the cut
compared to single thickness blades which only have
a 60 degree point ground into them.
I sharpen those cheap knives until they can slice 2.5 mm
(1/10th inch) thick slices from tomatoes in one single cut.
I sharpen them on the bottom edges of porcelain, just grab
a teacup, saucer or dinner plate from the sink, turn it over
and start grinding. My kitchen cabinets are full of “stones”,
I could use (cooking) oil but water is always handy by the sink.
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I don’t engage in any activity with a lower quality result in mind.
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