Originally Posted by
bluesman7
If you're careless the toe and heel can be rounded off pretty easily. If you're careful not to over do it on the toe and heel, you would be hard pressed to see any change to the plan form from a single honing. It's hard to quantify how many times a straight edge could be honed towards a smile without a smile being noticeable. I don't hone many straight edges, but I can't think of any where I actually noticed a smile being formed.
OK I just went and looked at a couple that I know that I've honed several times. Looking straight on at the plan form the edge appears straight. Sighting down the edge I can see a slight smile. I suppose it should not surprising that honing towards a smile actually produces one, but I would still maintain that if you don't over do it it's a pretty slow process. I still consider the two that I looked at to be straight edges.