I prefer a toothy edge and am pretty good at getting a nice sharp one. My concern is that I'm taking off too much metal every time I touch up my knife. That's when most knife guys say, "that's why we strop more than we sharpen." So am I simply screwed? Is there a way (maybe a really gritty strop compound) to keep my preferred toothy edge without removing too much steel? I don't think so, but you guys know more than me.. Your help would be appreciated - thanks in advance!
It usually doesn't take much more than 1-5 very light passes on a coarse stone to restore toothy bite to an edge, so long as the edge isn't so far-gone as to force regrinding of new bevels. I wouldn't worry about taking too much metal off, unless the 'touching up' involves a lot of excessive grinding on the stone. A diamond hone of the appropriately chosen grit is a great way to do it, because it'll restore the 'bite' almost immediately and with a featherlight touch as well. That's how I maintain the tooth in a couple of Victorinox paring knives I use frequently, and steel loss at the edge has been essentially insignificant. What little stropping I do afterwards is almost always limited to bare leather or the thigh of my jeans; it's just enough to clean up the fine burrs, and that's all that's needed.
Most any compound used on a softish strop (like leather) will tend to work the teeth away eventually, with a tendency towards polishing. If using a compound to maintain toothy bite, a hard substrate will make the compound perform more similarly to a stone. Using the compound on a single thickness of paper over a stone or over glass will work better for maintaining tooth in the edge, as opposed to using the compound on a softer substrate like wood or leather or fabric.
To me, it's far more effective and simpler to just focus on improving technique with the stone by itself, utilizing ever-decreasing pressure to refine the edge and clean up the burrs, while still ensuring the toothy bite is left intact. Developing a very light touch for finishing is what will allow subsequent touch-ups to be done in a minimum of passes. Limit stropping to the absolute minimum afterwards, both as it pertains to the aggressiveness of compounds used and also minimizing the number of passes used on a strop.
Depending on the blade steel being used, 'steeling' a toothy edge on a smooth (polished) chef's steel can sometimes work well to maintain the teeth in an edge without removing much metal, and instead it just 'aligns' the teeth as mentioned earlier. Same could also be done on a glass rod, or on the smooth (glazed) edge of a ceramic mug/bowl/plate, none of which will remove much steel, but will help realign the edge. ALL of this needs to be done at very, very light pressure to avoid rolling or burring the edge.
David
