Spyderco Sharpmaker versus kitchen steel

M

mdarby

Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
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I just purchased the Sharpmaker and look forward to putting it to use.

I was wondering, however, whether there was a use for a steel, the kind that comes with kitchen knife sets, if one uses the Sharpmaker? Or do they serve the same function?

Thanks,
Michael
 
The Sharpmaker is easy to set up and use, but the steel is even more convenient in some situations. For instance, I sharpen the kitchen knives about once a month on the Sharpmaker, but I use a steel to dress the edges every week or so.

A steel can also be a quick way to adjust a freshly sharpened edge so that the edge is correctly alligned. Like when you test the edge on your thumbnail and it grabs from the left side of the edge but not the right. A few light strokes on the left side will allign the burr so that edge will bite equally from both sides.
 
That's a great question.

As I understand it there are two kinds of kitchen steels. One is good to use, the other is horrible. The good one is very smooth and what it does is realign the micro-edge teeth into a straight line to make cutting better.

The other steel has serrations running down its length and it will actually tear out steel from the edge of the knife and destroy the good cutting edge. It will leave big jagged teeth that quickly break off or bend making the knife dull.

The "kitchen steel" doesn't grind anything off the edge, it just straightens it and realligns it for better cutting. It is not anything near a substitute for a Sharpmaker which does remove steel at the edge in a very well defined manner.

What makes a knife dull? It is those little microscopic teeth along the edge getting bent or broken off while separating the material being cut. It happens to all knives. The better knives with the better steel just take longer to dull.

Here is a good link to some info about kitchen knives and knife sharpening in general.

http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?showtopic=26036
 
DGG said:
The good one is very smooth and what it does is realign the micro-edge teeth into a straight line to make cutting better.
Click to expand...

It also cold works the steel thinner and will remove steel by wear.

The other steel has serrations running down its length and it will actually tear out steel from the edge of the knife and destroy the good cutting edge. It will leave big jagged teeth that quickly break off or bend making the knife dull.
Click to expand...

It is just a type of file which are commonly used on various knives, usually larger blades like machetes. If the knife is soft enough to file readily then it will produce a very aggressive slicing edge if you press hard. If you press soft it just acts like a smooth steel. If you press hard on a modern cutlery steel blade the cutting action can actually reverse as many of the high alloy steels are harder and more wear resistant than files.

It is those little microscopic teeth along the edge getting bent or broken off while separating the material being cut.
Click to expand...

Knife can dull by deformation, wear, fracture or corrosion, generally, this doesn't happen to the teeth themselves, it goes back much further. By the time most people sharpen knives, the edge has been effected to about 10 to 100 times the tooth depth.

The only benefit to using a smooth steel over the matching Sharpmaker rod which suits the blade finish is speed of sharpening. The resulting edge with the Sharpmaker will be sharper and have much better edge retention.

-Cliff
 
I thought I would add one thing that is commonly known, but I didn't see mentioned specifically so far in this thread. Overtime, as the knife begins to dull from its sharpened state, you can use a steel to restore some degree of the original edge sharpness. When this no longer works, it's time to open the Sharpmaker again.
 
Laceration,

I believe Cliff means that if you press a hard, modern alloy blade in to a steel with decent force, and the steel is softer than the blade (which it can be with some of the high alloy blades out there today that come hard from makers or factories), the knife will cut the steel, instead of the steel cutting (or shaping) the knife edge.

I have a smooth f.Dick steel in my block that I will use out of laziness. Otherwise I like to use the white Sharomaker stones. QUick to use, and resets a razor edge on the very very edge of the blade. This edge is always better than a steeled edge. Japanese chefs sharpen their knives WAY MORE than most western chefs. I try to take that approach. I keep my knives sharp by sharpening them often, and when they are all sharpened away I go get a new knife. It is a real pelasure using a super sharp knife all the time, so go ahead and use the sharpmaker over a steel.

By the way, using a sharpmaker as a steel still won't sharpen your knife to nothing in no time flat, so don't worry! Use it with no hesitation!
 
Thanks Crayola. That makes perfect sense. For some reason, common sense eluded me and I was trying to imagine how a knifes cutting action could reverse. I guess I was overthinking and trying to imagine the reverse of a sharp edge(not blunt but somehow working in reverse), kind of like thinking how a chair would look if our knees bent the other way. I must remember, Keep It Simple Stupid.
 
My pleasure Laceration!

No worries about terms, we throw 'em around all the time on forums. I get confused myself at times and I simply post and ask what a person meant! That's the fun of the forums.

Best of luck keeping 'em sharp everyone!
 
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