Nicks make your blade look unattractive, but more importantly, they get in the way of cutting. You need to work the nicks out of your blade before you move on to fine sharpening. Concentrate to grind down the damaged area until the nicks are gone. After that, switch to sharpening the blade’s entire length and evening out the blade, either with one sweeping motion, or by using a circular, counter-clockwise motion.
