Advice for first steel?

D

dan97526

Basic Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
67
Hi folks,

Forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

I'm in the market for a high-quality steel, and I'm a bit bewildered by all the options out there. I've heard good things about F. Dick Multicut and Dickeron (sp?) steels, as well as ceramic steels. The main knife the steel will be used on is a carbon-steel (not stainless) 10" chef's knife.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Length, finish, cut, shape (eg, would I want an oval steel, and why?).

Thanks in advance,

Dan
 
you may want to go with a ceramic sharpener.
steel is a difficult route to take. take a look at a set of Crock Sticks. they come with two sets of ceramic rods. a fine cut for final edges and a rough for primary edges. they are relatively cheep as well
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

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A ceramic steel is no longer a steel since it removes material. Any steel is fine as long as its
a. harder than the knife steel
b. NOT grooved
 
A.G. Russel has a diamond steel,E-Z Lap ,10 inch, works good for me,but like he says,"don't use it on your fine customs,it will scratch the blade".On my 10 inch chef knife,one stroke on each side is usually all it takes.
 
GarageBoy...why not a grooved steel? I can understand the harder steel part. I have a steel and use it but it is grooved although the grooves are very fine. Thanks for the info. Preston
 
I can help you to locate an F. Dick steel if you are indeed looking for one. PM me or e-mail me. JD
 
GarageBoy said:
A ceramic steel is no longer a steel since it removes material. Any steel is fine as long as its
a. harder than the knife steel
b. NOT grooved
Click to expand...

Why is a grooved steel not the one to use...? What is it about them?

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks Preston
 
I'm a real noob on steels, but from what i understood from previous readings here at BF, is that a grooved steel removes small chunks as it re-aligns the blades edge.

This may or may not be the reason, just thought i would toss it into here for consumption till someone more knowledgeable comes along an puts forth a good reason.

I probably am way of course,just sharing a thought.

WR
 
Thanks WR, I'm just curious about the differences...the grooves on the one I have are really fine, can hardly feel them at all. I can, however, see that it might remove just a very tiny amount of steel when it stands the edge up. Preston
 
A grooved steel acts much like a round file, and thus will remove metal. That's what you don't want to do- you just want the edge to stand up.
 
Sorta like...Viraga for the blade:rolleyes:. Thanks Sword and Shield. Preston
 
Grooved steels can act like files if you press hard, there are a lot of types of grooved steels, some are really coarse some are really fine and you can just barely see the lines. They can be used for alignment like smooth steels. In general you should ask yourself if you really want to leave the edge with the weaken metal which was bent and deformed to the point where it would not cut well.

-Cliff
 
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