Sharpening steel???

[ironman64014]

Greetings! First post, and hopefully not too out of place, but I have a question regarding the sharpening of quality kitchen cutlery. Recently threw out all the cheap knives I have accumulated over the years, and moved up to a set of the Calphalon Katanas. I am sure there are better, or cheaper, or ??? knives out there, but I really liked the feel and finish of them, and got a good deal. My dilemma is this - I read numerous places that you should hone your knives before very use, and yet they shipped the knives with a diamond coated sharpening steel?? Maybe I am missing something, but isn't that going to wear the blade away pretty darn fast? I am used to seeing quality "steel" steels, with the micro grooves, or mabe even a nice ceramic steel, but not sure I want to be wearing away my nice knives with a diamond implement that fast. Any thoughts? Worth getting a good steel or ceramic sharpener for day to day and save the diamond for touch-ups as needed? Please redirect if in the wrong place, thanks for your help!

 

[rifon2]

A steel is used to re-align the edge, rather than sharpening it.
Of course, the diamond coated steel shipped with your knives would in fact remove material from the blade. If you're not familiar with sharpening technique, I'd look at some instructional material before using it. There's plenty of good stuff on the internet,
including the articles by Bottorff http://users.ameritech.net/knives/knives1a.htm; and Talmadge http://www.knifeart.com/sharfaqbyjoe.html.
(John Juranitch wrote a justifiably famous article about knife sharpening but due to copyright issues it's not easy to locate.)

It's not necessary to hone blades before their first use unless they are too dull for your purposes.

With a good set of knives, IMO it'll be worth investing in a good sharpener like the Spyderco Sharpmaker and learning how to use it.
Or learning how to sharpen "freehand" on a stone.
(By practicing first on some knives that you'd be willing to throw out )

 

[alex]

Go ahead and hone them every day if you like and enjoy learning to maintain your knives like razors. You will be long dead before you wear those knives out like you are thinking. And I am meaning like even if you live to 100 like I hope you do.

I sharpen the hell out of some of my cheap kitchen knives that I have had for many years and you can barely tell that they have been sharpened too much. I use both an Eze-lap butcher's diamond steel and a 12" ceramic filament out of a parking lot light (available free from many electricians who replace them). I figure I may need to replace my kitchen knives when they wear out in another 50 to 60 years or so.

 

[mete]

Don't bear down hard and take only a few strokes and it will be fine. A ceramic or diamond rod is more appropriate for the harder steels.

 

[stitchawl]

Greetings! [SNIP]
My dilemma is this - I read numerous places that you should hone your knives before very use, and yet they shipped the knives with a diamond coated sharpening steel?? Maybe I am missing something, but isn't that going to wear the blade away pretty darn fast?

If you take 3-4 swipes with the diamond rod every day, your knives WILL wear out.... in about 30-40 years. But....

There is no reason to use a diamond rod every day. It removes metal and you only need to do that when the knives actually get dull. You only need to straighten the edge daily.

What you DO want to do every day is use a non-aggressive rod, either of smooth steel (no groves at all,) or hardened glass such as a borocillicate rod from the chemical supply shop (I had one made up for me, 16 inches long and about 1/2 inch thick for about $5.) Or you can use the bottom of a Pyrex (same glass!) measuring cup or loaf pan. Not nearly as fancy as having a dedicated rod but every bit as effective. Neither the smooth steel nor the glass will remove metal, but both WILL re-align the edges, as well as burnish the edge. :thumbup:

With a properly sharpened knife, if you do this before each days use, you should only need to use your diamond rod once every 2-3 months. And then only use 3-4 swipes across the steel. As for actual sharpening on stones or diamond plates, save that for a once a year activity.

Stitchawl