Steeling in the Kitchen

[DoctaD]

Who uses a knife steel? What kind? Smooth vs Serrated vs Diamond vs Ceramic, etc How often?
Pros & Cons.

 

[oldschool45]

Smooth ceramic leading with the spine. About once a month or before doing a run of breaking stuff down or tomatoes. All of them get a good sharpening about once every 3 months.

 

[DoctaD]

Thanks for the reply.
By leading with the spine, do you mean that you stroke the knife away from the blade's edge as opposed to a "cutting" stroke? I see how that would tend to straighten out a curled edge, but on ceramic, wouldn't it cause a wire edge to form? Do you strop after?

 

[oldschool45]

DoctaD, yep stroke away from the edge. The theory being is that it doesn't risk rolling the edge further over and making a bigger mess. I use ceramic but my understanding is that anything but smooth (i.e., serrated) steels are bad. I either strop afterwords or if the edge is in bad shape and I'm in a hurry a few forward strokes on a diamond hone/steel then the strop.
Thanksgiving Turkey warrants full on sharpening of the carving knife.

 

[Knife Outlet]

I steel occasionally, usually with a pot lid. Let me clear up a popular misunderstanding or two. How the steel is made and from what is fairly immaterial. What matters is how it is used. You can steel on a file if you like as long as you don't apply pressure.

Steeling is not sharpening, Trying to sharpen with a steel is an exercise in futility. If you have to apply pressure, then you are past the point of steeling. It is time to get out the abrasives and sharpen the blade.

 

[DoctaD]

You can steel on a file if you like as long as you don't apply pressure.

Really?

I am afraid I'd tear up my edge.

So, do you also steel from spine to edge?

Why do most instructions and teachers show steeling as a "cutting" motion into the steel?

Are they, in fact, sharpening rather than steeling? Esp with diamond or ceramic "steels"?

 

[Bufford]

I keep a long old smooth butcher's steel in the kitchen and use it everyday at least once. Out of habit I always give the knife I am using a few licks before preparing food.

 

[Knife Outlet]

Really?

I am afraid I'd tear up my edge.

So, do you also steel from spine to edge?

Why do most instructions and teachers show steeling as a "cutting" motion into the steel?

Are they, in fact, sharpening rather than steeling? Esp with diamond or ceramic "steels"?

Yes, really. The problem is that people use steels improperly and apply pressure. The weight of the knife is all you need. If you don't apply pressure you can't hurt the edge but you can straighten it.

I don't think the direction of steeling makes much difference. A swipe on each side of the edge is all that is required unless you intend to misuse the steel.

 

[masa]

I steel in the cutting direction and use only smooth steel and ceramic. I have short piece of HSS steel that i use for this too.

 

[me2]

Diamond and ceramic steels are just stones shaped into round rods. They are in fact sharpening and removing metal. The gray gunk on the ceramic rod and the gray powder on the diamond coated steel is material that was removed from the blade. IMO, these are better than realigning type steels that don't remove metal. However, smooth steels will extend the time between actual sharpenings by a surpising amount.

 

[DoctaD]

Does the technique vary, at all, depending on the type of knife blade steel? Eg: Very hard/wear resistant type steel (MAC) vs Carbon Steel (such as old Henkels)?

 

[me2]

Well, very hard steel is a relative term, but yes the technique differs. If you have what I would call a very hard edge, don't sharpen on a steel. It will lead to microfractures and require a full metal removal sharpening sooner. Softer knives are more suited to steeling. I am fond of knives with very hard edges, as much as 65-66 Rockwell C. This is 8 to 10 points higher than common kitchen cutlery. Up to maybe 60 Rockwell C, steeling will work, as long as light pressure is used and you don't try to force an edge back with heavy handed passes on a grooved steel. 3-4 swipes per side is enough usually. More than 10/side and you need to go back to a stone.

The modified fencing used by many chefs for showing off is awful and amounts to banging the edge into a steel rod at random angles between 10 and 30 degrees per side, and often missing the first and last 1/3 of the blade entirely. If this kind of treatment were given to a hard edged kitchen knife as I define above, you would quickly go from a fine edged slicer to a serrated bread knife. Now, having said that, proper steeling will keep a usable edge on a knife for a surprisingly long time. However, most people find that the more they steel, the more they need to steel. There comes a point where steeling has weakened the metal and, though the edge will cut better, it lasts for shorter periods between steeling sessions. When steeling becomes necessary too often (as defined by the knife user) it's time to go back to the stone and get to fresh edge material.

 

[DoctaD]

Me2,
For the 60+ Rockwell hardness blades, do you recommend stropping instead of steeling.Or, just go back to the stone for sharpening when needed.

 

[Knife Outlet]

Stropping and steeling aren't options of the same thing. Stropping is for polishing edges and steeling is for straighening edges. You can do both if you like.

I steel kitchen knives hardened to RC64 regularly with no "micro fractures, whatever those are." It is a matter of technique. Just don't use pressure. Couldn't be simpler.

 

[me2]

Me2,
For the 60+ Rockwell hardness blades, do you recommend stropping instead of steeling.Or, just go back to the stone for sharpening when needed.

For the microfractures (fractures visible under a microscope) I'm going off the steeling experiments from Dr. Verhoeven's sharpening paper. He has pics of steeling breaking pieces out of the edge on blades ~60HRc. I have never steeled one of my very hard blades to verify this. Sounds like a weekend project. I typically touch up kitchen knives on a 0.5 micron lapping film from the local woodworkers shop, or use the flats of my Sharpmaker stones, though lately I've been "steeling" on the flat of a large chef's knife. Give steeling a try. They are called microfractures for a reason. If you get any, you may not even notice them. I use a steel when at my friends and parents houses. I sharpen their knives, then use a steel to touch them up when I visit. A light touch is key, and as few strokes as possible.

 

[DennisStrickland]

using smooth butcher "slicks" on common kitchen cutlery if the techique is correct extends periods of slicing considerably. on my hunters & folders of harder & more complex alloys which usually have a more polished bevel i go to my strop.the more polished edge not only cuts longer but it cuts a lot better. the only exception is my murry carter & phillip dobson kitchen knives which i touch up on the spydie crock sticks. i'm in total agreement with other formites that light strokes are correct--using few passes with a constant angle.
dennis

 

[Gator97]

Me2,
For the 60+ Rockwell hardness blades, do you recommend stropping instead of steeling.Or, just go back to the stone for sharpening when needed.

I did experiment with Watanabe nakiri, which was Aogami I steel, 63-65 HRC. Stropping on the smooth leather didn't help with edge deformations, while steeling on borosilicate rod realigned the edge perfectly. Observed under microscope.

One thing to keep in mind, most of the steeling rods are softer than 62HRC, so for harder knives you need something even harder.

 

[jakeparker221]

I have a smooth tungsten sharpening steel. Home made with online purchased tungsten rod and a Nicholson general purpose file handle from Home Depot. Total of about $25. Seems to work well.

 

[jhakken]

One thing to keep in mind, most of the steeling rods are softer than 62HRC, so for harder knives you need something even harder.

I've been pondering this statement and wonder if it's true. Perhaps you've examined it under the microscope, so I'll defer. I think the relative strength, not hardness, of the shape of a steel rod will undue deformations in much harder metals because it's not abraiding as in sharpening, but straightening a hard but rather weak edge. Others may have insight.

 

[WyoNonSmith]

I steel, edge leading, on a smooth steel or diamond right prior to use and right as I am returning my knives to my case. I sharpen as needed, but that is never more than 3 times a year and that was when I was working in a busy banquet kitchen at the Brown Palace.