So I took my Dovo razor back to the chap who sharpened it (Daniel at the Epicurean Edge) and he demonstrated to me that one side of the blade was sharpened differently than the other. All the years of sharpening knives and I never realized that one "side" could be razor sharp and the other less so.
A microscopic view of the blade will show what looks like saw teeth, splayed to either side. Stropping brings the teeth - but only of the side that is against the strap - into a more vertical alignment. So one can make one side of a blade sharper than the other.
Revolutionary to me. So I've come home and tested both sides of the blade and figured out what strop direction sharpens which side of the blade.
And of course, lost a lot of hair on my forearms testing. But I finally get how much to strop and have an accurate measure of sharpness.
Posted by artandscience at February 1, 2008 10:10 PM