When it comes to convex edges.....

[cbwx34]

I agree about the stropping being very forgiving. Lately I've been stropping at an angle more narrow than the final edge angle, allowing the leather to form around the bevel but keeping the pressure light so as not to round the edge. CBWX34 has been doing the exact opposite and stropping at a slightly wider angle and reporting great results. Do you have any opinions on either method?

What I'm doing really doesn't have much to do with convex edges, as it does finishing an edge. I've been making a few final passes at an angle high enough to hit the very edge... as Grizzled Gizzard said, with as close to zero pressure as I can get. Just a few passes (on a strop with compound btw), hitting the very edge. No set angle... if you pull the knife down the strop and raise the angle... you can hear the change when you hit the very edge. It's also been working well for quck touchups. Under magnification, you can't see any difference, so it's not enough to alter the geometry, regardless of type. (For the nitpicky... not enough to matter... there's obviously some change). Regular stropping I do at the angle I sharpened at.

cbw

 

[clayallison]

What I'm doing really doesn't have much to do with convex edges, as it does finishing an edge. I've been making a few final passes at an angle high enough to hit the very edge... as Grizzled Gizzard said, with as close to zero pressure as I can get. Just a few passes (on a strop with compound btw), hitting the very edge. No set angle... if you pull the knife down the strop and raise the angle... you can hear the change when you hit the very edge. It's also been working well for quck touchups. Under magnification, you can't see any difference, so it's not enough to alter the geometry, regardless of type. (For the nitpicky... not enough to matter... there's obviously some change). Regular stropping I do at the angle I sharpened at.

cbw

Thanks for the correction there

It sounds like you're doing just what I had imagined from your previous description. When Noctis commented about stropping being more forgiving on a convex edge, that got me to thinking about my own experience with stropping and different compounds and how I can change the shape of the bevel in different ways depending on how I approach the stropping. Then I thought about your technique and wondered how it would play into the geometry question, especially related to discussion about whether stropping rounds the final edge. So far, I've found that it takes an actual intention with pressure and repeated strokes to do much real change to the shape of the blade by stropping so I agree that a feather touch on the edge, even with compound, isn't going to change the geometry.