Hi, I live in AR too! Central area. You have a good sharpener. One thing you have to do is go in one direction with the sharpening stone, then you have to use the polishing side to finish it off. That's the honing process for any sharp edge. The rotary blade sharpeners that don't work are the ones that use sandpaper for the sharpening. A good sharpener will have the genuine honing stone. I use a round honing stone to soften the cuts on my cutting mat.