Chisel sharpening - difficulties

[Jessica de Boer]

Jessica, my real question for you.... I assume that you do not hollow grind yet have no problems registering the blade on the stone correctly.

Hollow grinding is a big nono with Japanese chisels. I have absolutely no problem registering the blade on the stone correctly. But I've been sharpening like this since I was 14 years old. That's 22 years now. I have chisels that have never seen a bench grinder and the angle is still at 30 degrees.

This is a close up photo of the reflection of a straight line on the bevel. As you can see the reflection is also perfectly straight which in turn means the bevel is perfectly flat.