I frequently hear that A2 is difficult to sharpen with a wire edge which hangs on.

My sharpening method is very simple. Get a small wire edge at 30 or 33 degrees .

An Eclipse honing guide is used, with an 800 grit man made Waterstone.

The angle is then raised by about 2-3 degrees

Now 4 gentle strokes will complete the bevel and polish the cutting edge.

This is done on a 15000 Shapton stone. Could just as well be 10,000 or 8,000.

The chisel back is then given 20 or so very short strokes (15 mm) across the stone. (Keeping it flat) The blade edge travels off and onto the stone.

If the wire edge is hanging on after a wipe on a sponge cloth and a dry on a towel, something has gone wrong.

This hardly ever happens.

35 degrees for chopping and 32 for paring, work very well for me in the harder woods that I use.

When I do my planing exercise with students, all six faces of a 20" by 5" board, they frequently need to resharpen before I do. Old Clifton blades seemed to be one of the worst.

I think the preparation of the back and the flatness of the polish stone , dictate whether the wire edge will be correctly honed away (or not).
Best wishes,
David Charlesworth