I've got two BM 710's, 1-M2 and 1-154CM, a BM 556 minigrip D2, Kabar, Buck 110 etc. Have used the shaft of a 1/4" "chrome vanadium" screwdriver as a butcher's steel. Seems to work very well. Am I missing something? Is there a reason I should buy a real "steel". 5-6 swipes and they pop hair again. Is a larger diameter better? You guys obviously know what your doing. What do you think?
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First post-hopefully not dumb
- Thread starter mnortham
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Hi mnortham, welcome!
Definitely not a dumb post, first or otherwise. Sounds like a great idea to me, any smooth metal rod that is harder than the blade should work fine for steeling.
The proof is that you have gotten good results doing it.
Hope you enjoy your time on bladeforums, keep posting your experiences and asking questions.
Definitely not a dumb post, first or otherwise. Sounds like a great idea to me, any smooth metal rod that is harder than the blade should work fine for steeling.
The proof is that you have gotten good results doing it.
Hope you enjoy your time on bladeforums, keep posting your experiences and asking questions.
I had a buddy of mine I used to hunt with years ago who also used a high quality screwdriver shaft for a makeshift blade steel. I was surprised then how well it worked.
He was using a top notch Snap on large Phillips Screwdriver to do the job. Because some of the flat tip screwdrivers have hex shafts it seems like. I would imagine any high quality tool manufacturer's screwdriver would do. But like one of the brothers stated on one of the earlier threads the smooth steels do a much better job than the grooved ones do. You will read that in John Juranitch's book "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening". Now I have had good luck with grooved steels for older high carbon blades so I guess everything has it's place.
NO that was no where near a dumb question. I was actually wondering when someone would bring that up. Welcome to the Forum. JD Spydo
He was using a top notch Snap on large Phillips Screwdriver to do the job. Because some of the flat tip screwdrivers have hex shafts it seems like. I would imagine any high quality tool manufacturer's screwdriver would do. But like one of the brothers stated on one of the earlier threads the smooth steels do a much better job than the grooved ones do. You will read that in John Juranitch's book "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening". Now I have had good luck with grooved steels for older high carbon blades so I guess everything has it's place.
NO that was no where near a dumb question. I was actually wondering when someone would bring that up. Welcome to the Forum. JD Spydo
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Messages
- 3,536
I use any piece of smooth steel I have. The sides of a prybar work very well, also.
Shmackey said:
Shmackey a good place to find top quality smooth knife steels is the F. Dick company out of Germany. Hantover restaurant supply house here in Kansas City Missouri is where I got mine. They are of superb quality too. I am not in no way putting down the screwdriver shaft to do the job either. YOu can also type in F. Dick sharpening steels in your search engine and I get about 20 knife vendors and vendors for the meat cutting industry who sell F. Dick products. Also I have a Victorinox smooth steel that I aquired in a trade a while back. GOOD LUCK
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