I Know Nothing About Knives, Really...

[Bitman]

The theory behind the knife edge is simple, I'm amazed at how complicated all the sharpeners make it seem. The trick is that *all* knives are serrated at the atomic level. The sharpener creates sharp atoms, and the steel straightener gets them all pointed in the same direction. There's no magic behind sharpening; just drag the stone in the direction you want the serrations to point, then do the same with the straightener. To figure out which way the edge leans, drag your thumb across the edge. Downward, not up; you don't want to cut it off.

I've had so much luck with the straightener that I just use the sharpening wheel on the electric can opener now. The stone is moving in the wrong direction (along the edge rather than across it) but the straighener makes up for that.

So to answer the original question, the sharp edge shouldn't lean to either the left or the right, it should point straight down. Use the straightener with heavy pressure to unkink the edge, then gradually reduce the pressure to straighten the edge and form those nanoscale serrations.