Hello David,
Interesting question. Here's my two cents worth.
Kaskara blade smiths I interviewed in Kassala said they made all their blades by eye. No measurements were made. Naturally, over the years each smith establishes a edge profile that "looks good, seems right" to him. After being forged, blades were descaled and smoothed by others. Then the smith cold works the edge to further hardening it and does final smoothing and edge profile setting. The actual sharpening was apparently done by others using a file and or a stone. Over time the blades were resharpened by users, also by eye I imagine. Just like when you and I hand sharpen a blade. We work it until it appears "sharp enough" and don't go for any of the supposedly optimum angles offered by those who sell knife sharpening kits.
No doubt other blade making traditions approach the edge differently.
Regards,
Ed
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