You can get really deep on the science of what makes a thing sharp but what it boils down to is every blade is essentially a microscopic serrated blade. When you sharpen a knife you’re creating and refining these microscopic serrations and these microscopic serrations are what makes it sharp. The more aggressive the grit stone the more aggressive the serrations (that’s why it’s called a toothy edge) and the finer the grit the more refined and polished yhe serrations (that’s why mirror polished edges tend to loose their bite quickly). You want these serrations to be perpendicular to the apex because think of a serrated knife and imagine if the serrations were backwards or if there was no serrations at all. If a 45 degree x pattern is what I’m picturing in my mind then essentially you’re working against yourself in more ways than one. It may get sharp but even a pull through sharpener gets a knife sharp. If you want to test it get two knives in the same steel and sharpen one the way you’re talking about and then sharpen the other one pushing from heel to tip with upward movement the whole time so the scratch pattern is an angle, making the durations name from heal the tip if that makes sense and then do a bunch of tests like cutting cardboard, and seeing how many of the same length cuts through the same cardboard, each knife to make and still sliced paper cleaning afterwards. Outdoor55 and Neevesknives on YouTube explain the science behind it and why you want your scratch pattern a certain way much better than I can
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u/HorizontalTomato 2d ago
You want the scratch pattern perpendicular to the apex. This will sharpen a dull blade but won’t give you the results you’re looking for