To get rid of the nicks and rough areas on the blade, I'll be using the coarse grit side of the stone first. If the edge of your blade needs a light sharpening, you can use just the fine grit side of the stone for the sharpening process.

With the edge of the blade in contact with the large, flat side of the stone, angle the blade about 20-25 degrees from the flat face of the stone.

While applying light pressure, push the blade forward along the face of the stone.

To help sharpen the blade uniformly, you may wish to push the blade both forward and to the side to cover more of the blade with one pass.

Continue to sharpen the length of the blade until the cutting edge has a uniform bevel along its length. If there are chips, continue to sharpen that area until they are gone. The key is to keep the knife angled consistently away from the stone while uniformly sharpening the length of its blade.