Thread: Limited Financial Resources...

If you look at the edge with say a 10x loop just before you strop it, you will notice scratches that start from the edge and go back to the end of the bevel. If you then take a look at that same area with a say 60x scope or a 100x scope from Radio Shack, or the Shack as its new name is about to become, those scratches look even deeper. So imagine being able to look at a cross section of the blade in more of a 3 dimensional view. You will soon notice peaks and valleys where those scratches are formed, and they come all the way down to the edge, so now you have high spots and low spots with a microscopically jagged edge.
Now we take that blade and strop it on the leather. What does it do? It actually takes those vertical peaks and starts to flatten them out, somewhat, to bring the jagged edge down to a more smoother junction. This is what sometimes causes micro chipping. Finally the cross section of the blade at the edge would show a more smoother junction of the peaks and valleys thus producing a smoother feel of the blade when you use it.

My 2 cents,

Ray

Probably more information than you wanted to know, but if you've got half an hour to kill and are really interested.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...razor%27s+edge
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...straights.html