I made a large strop for a mate of mine for just that purpose. I taught him knifemaking years ago, and now he makes some beautiful knives. Hopefully now he will have an even smoother edge to them.
Mick
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In this case the machete steel was junk by our standards
and the temper nothing like an open razor.. I think they
used a dry grinding wheel with sparks a-flying but I was not
there.... I got the feeling that it was a local air quenched
edge that lasted a day that they liked.
Not case hardening....
Just the local brush crew's preference for how
they liked their brush knives sharpened.
But, I have always wondered if a single bevel knife
could be improved by case hardening the flat
side. It might improve a mild steel knife but
a quality high carbon... not so much.