On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:35:44 +0000, Dave Hinz wrote:

That's the part that I don't understand. Why does it wear away. The
hair should wear before the steel.

I think it's chipping away, not wearing away.

Also bending, flowing, and generally deforming. Think of the point
pressure you achieve when pushing a very sharp blade against a round
object.

While googling around for sharpening info, I saw one grade of
material that used talc as the abrasive. Mighty slow cutting, one would
think.