Never really heard or saw my dad cut paper with the knives but he "toned" them exactly like you. He tried to teach me but I usually succeeded in only dulling the blades further. I just could NOT get that angle right... and still can't. 
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Your Pop was clearly ahead of his time. Slashing a sheet of paper or newsprint (I use the NYTimes, which deserves it) is a very common sharpness test; I first saw it demonstrated at the old Broadway Pandhandlers on W10thSt. If you look you'll fine demos online. FYI, there are many angle devices avbl, most for use on whetstones but some that slide onto a steel. I was taught: Set blade to steel at a right angle--90 degrees. Halve that to 45 degrees; halve again to 22.5. Thereabouts you'll be OK, and w/practice you'll get good at it. LISTEN as you go--the right angle makes a smooth 'singing' sound. Be sure to use a LOING steel actually made of steel--nothing ceramic or diamond-coated.
