Gary Roberts
Cost saving from the maker end, not from the customer end. The higher the price of crucible steel, the harder to stay in business. Reduce the width of the iron and you get chatter. Add the cap and you fix chatter.

When 19th and 18th C texts are read, there is no mention of the precision angles we obsess over today. Most often, the workman is recommended a basic angle to shoot for when sharpening By Hand on a large grindstone, followed by a whetstone. There was simply none of the angle craziness we subject blades to back then that we subject ourselves to today.