flphotog
Assistant Cook
Not what I was talking about, I was talking about knives in general not just kitchen knives. Some people prefer a toothy edge, that is less polished, I wasn't talking about imperfections in the edge just a more toothy edge and they certainly are not microscopic. In general I like a polished edge and use a strop on most of my knives. I do have a couple of heavy duty knives like the Becker/Ka Bar BK2 on which I leave the edge a little on the toothy side as it's more fitting for it's purpose.It should be stated that that "toothy" edge mentioned above is microscopic. What a standard steel or ceramic hone does is to straighten or realign those microscopic teeth to keep the knife sharp. Once that tiny burr along the edge wears off, a hone will no longer work to keep the knife sharp. It must then be resharpened by removing material to recreate the sharp edge.
The only time I've ever seen a strop used was in a barber shop to strop a razor before shaving a customer. I've never seen a reason for a kitchen knife to have an edge sharp enough to shave with. I keep my knives very sharp, but that is taking it to a level that most cooks don't need.