Those ceramic sticks are great. You can keep a blade sharp enough for use with one. I carry the little 4" ceramics with me in the field.
I bought a set of 4'' sticks a few years back. they are set in a wood holder at the proper angle and they come out and store in the sides for travel and I never let my knife get too dull that I can't sharpen it up withou just the sticks.
On the other hand I got an electric sharpener (I know its bad) but it is the coolest thing ever it ia a chefs choice professional sharpening station 130 it dose "heavy sharpening" on the first swipe "steeling" on the second swipe and "stropping on the third, it gets them very sharp with a couple of swipes on the ceramic sticks after that I can shave a gorilla! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />