Quote Originally Posted by Quick View Post
Depends on how you're envisioning the "fin". I think you're implying that the "fin" section of the edge has less of an angle than the main portion of the bevel (the "Y" shape"). Consider that the "fin" in the pictures may have MORE of an angle than the main portion of the bevel.
No, I'm not defending the Y-hypothesis. I think the very edge (why not call that part "fin"?) is always convexed. But it's so thin that it bends and looses alignment from use.

Quote Originally Posted by Quick View Post
1) Surely there is some abrasive quality to a strop. There is *some* abrasive quality to any material. Couldn't you explain the pictures just as well by speculating that the fine silvery edge you see is simply a "double bevel" created by stropping? The leather strop being supple would be deflected a bit by the edge and have more of an angle than the more rigid surface of the hone. The angle of the "fin" would be greater in that case.
Sure, I'm not denying any of that.

Quote Originally Posted by Quick View Post
2) The bevel will have decreasing "structural capacity" (<-- descriptive term) as the cross section narrows moving towards the edge. Cutting hairs and just running the blade across your skin will do some damage. Stropping it (see 1. above) could repair this to some extent.
My point exactly.

Quote Originally Posted by Quick View Post
I believe everyone is using the term "fin" to describe some portion of the edge that has significantly less angle than the bevel. The "Y" shape. Some flexible/floppy flat piece of steel extending significantly further from the edge than the point where the two sides of the bevel would meet. I'm not buying it.
I'm not saying that either. But I do believe that the fin part of the edge (the part that's affected by stropping) has not the original steel structure, due to the physical processes present while honing and stropping. But even when you disagree with that, I still think "fin" is a valid linguistic term for "the thinest part of the edge". And that the special measures that part of the edge calls for, is the main reason why we use a clean leather strop.