I read the section on stropping and hand honing. I guess after that I have several questions that were not either answered or addressed.

1. He stated that regular leather strops had no effect on smoothing the edge, but that a regular leather strop with Chrom Ox had a great effect of smoothing the edge. I assume that he used cow hide because he stated that he used commercially available leather from a shoe store. What about Horse hide, Latigo, Russian leather? Aren't they all leather? Is he stating that any leather, when treated with chrom ox, is better than leather alone?

2. He never stated that he took the edges to a good cutting edge, shave sharp or otherwise, did I miss this section?

3. It seems that the waterstones with Nagura gave a better result than the man made stones. If this is true then why would I buy a Norton 4/8 besides the money?

4. Why was he going for a smooth bevel? I thought it was the edge that cut? Does the smoothness of the bevel translate to a better edge? Couldn't you have a smooth bevel and a rolled or otherwise blunted edge?

5. He stated that the Japanese stones worked best on 60 Rockwell stainless. Does anyone know what the Rockwell of carbon blades are?

6. He used a compound bevel for his edge 9 degrees more on the 600 and 7 degrees more on the 1000. Is a compound bevel useful on a str8? How would one place a compound bevel on a str8? Electric tape comes to mind to adjust the angle.

Thanks guys.