Quote Originally Posted by Utopian View Post
Oh boy.

The Science of Sharp guy, some of whose stuff needs to be taken with huge grains of salt, has some photos of a killed edge. The edges were killed on glass and the photos showed that the edges were folded over into a drastic "J" shape. When "jointing" is done along the corner of a hone, the effect may or may not be the same. I honestly don't know. It certainly is not at a "molecular level," but if jointing actually is beneficial, then I doubt if the edge is folded over in the way that it is on glass.
Have seen that but not tried his techniques.
I would regard the glass as "killing" the edge, and bread knifing for chip repair and taking out a frown etc.

Most of us have seen the edge under a microscope. The higher the magnification, the scarier it looks.
With the edge being 0.35-0.45 microns shown here, maybe molecular is not the right term, micron?

Was more an attempt to explain the concept to anyone reading the thread who hasn't heard of it. Someone explained it much better than I ever will, but can't find that post. I just see those high points as weak steel that will easily bend or snap off, giving a straighter and smoother edge, resulting in a smoother shave.
I noticed a similar effect when I first started honing from the strop, with the 3rd or 4th shave being smoother than straight off the hone. You're doing the same sort of thing, knocking off and re-aligning the fin that has collapsed from the shave. The stronger edge remains.