Knife Sharpening

[petrochemicals]

I have been doing a bit of knife research as of late, and one thing that has come up is what a knife steel does and how to use it.

I do have a small diameter (3mm) knife steel with lengthway ridges, I always assumed it was some sort of file, fabricated from some very hard metal, like tungsten, as it will mark pretty much anything. I used it as I thought fit as some sort of file, cutting into the sharpening steel only with no reverse stroke, in a similar way as I have used rat tail files, only wearing away at a much lower rate than normal rat tail files, leaving a fine dark residue that I assumed was the surplus. I find my tecknique gives a sharp edge that does last along time providing I don't abuse it, even if it is slightly rough.

Only thing is that I see full size knife steels reccomend forward and backstrokes, and claim to only "realign the edge" or reform it. Are the large kitcken steels different ?Does anyone else use them? How do they use them? And what sort of results do they achieve ?

 

[santaman2000]

Yes they only realign the edge; you need to sharpen the knife with a stone first. BUT! Forward strokes only. Just like you're doing it.

 

[Aussiepom]

There's more than one type of steel out there. Some steels are completely smooth, (and non-abrasive), and all they do is realign the edge. Other steels appear as you describe above, although in a whole range of sizes, and actually remove metal. In fact you can actually see tiny particles of metal on the steel after use. I haven't used the latter type since I was a kid and the only thing I used them on then was cheap kitchen knives.

 

[ged]

Being a tight-fisted git I use a steel more than anything else because I don't like to lose a lot of metal from the blade that I'm working on.

In the process of realigning an edge, if that's even needed, a steel will work-harden the edge a little bit which will help with wear resistance.

For the up-market stainless blades like S30V I like a ceramic steel which is very slightly abrasive. That's what I use on my Leatherman Charge TTi, which of my blades is the one which sees most action at the moment. The results are very pleasing.