Steal this knife!

[mycroftt]

A question about stealing knives, er, I mean steeling knives...

How do you steel your kitchen knives? Do you point the steel itself up or down? Do you push the edge of the knife toward the steel (like sharpening) or pull the edge back from it (like stropping)?

I hold the steel pointed up and push the edge in towards the steel, but I have seen it done differently.

 

[ronsec]

I hold the steel point up. I pull the knife from from the heel of the blade to the front starting from the tip of the steel down to the handle of the steel.

 

[hlee]

ronsec, that may be the most unnatural motion that I have ever thougt of. But, if it works for you, who can argue. I do the exact opposite in every respect, but I have a grooved steel that actually takes steel off of the blade.

 

[Arioch]

ronsec, I use a steel exactly the same way. It was the way I saw my grandfather touching up an edge when he was working as a butcher.

 

[qwikkota]

You can search for knife sharpening videos on youtube.com, there are a few good ones but some will give you the wrong method. If you look at the surface of the steel the "lines" or grooves on it go from handle to tip, lengthwise. The purpose of the steel is not to sharpen per se but to re-align the edge of the blade, hone it essentially. Kitchen knives see a lot of force parallel to the edge tip, downward chopping etc. (Use only wood or poly cutting boards etc) The steel helps re-shape the edge into a V. I believe what Ronsec is saying is the proper way but I do not know his terminology that well. I don't think it matters whether the steel is tip up or tip down due to the grooves on it. As long as you run the knife across the grooves it will hone it properly. Using the steel like a stone, slicing into it on an angle will prob due less work than going perpendicular to the lines. And from heel to tip drawing is safer. Hope that makes sense!

 

[tim8557]

I hold a steel with the wooden handle UP and the tip placed on the counter. I then lightly run the knife edge-leading; from top to bottom on the steel.

BTW, I only steel with a perfectly smooth steel. If I need a little touchup, I use the ceramic steel that came with my Edge Pro Pro system.