Steeling question

[rayback]

I was doing some reading about steeling in the forum.
I understood that when we steel, we don't sharpen the knife, we just realign the edge.
When we steel, do we have to look for a burr also? until it disappears in both sides?

Thanks
Ray

 

[Cliff Stamp]

When you use a smooth steel you create a deformation burr and you can't eliminate it.

-Cliff

 

[Jeff Clark]

If you use a smooth steel properly (stroking lightly at essentially the bevel angle) you are primarily flattening any little dings and alligning any burr with the edge. You don't create any new burr and you don't remove any old burr. If you had a burr you just groomed it. A nicely groomed burr does a very nice job of slicing soft material like meat. If you stress it too hard by cutting hardwood or bone a steeled burr is likely to chip. That is not only because it is thin material. You have also work hardened it by cold forming it with your steel. A steeled burr is a more brittle burr.

Even if your steeled burr starts to break down it can leave a microscopically ragged sharp edge that slices well. It is a little bit like cutting with broken glass.

 

[rayback]

Thanks for the reply.
So when I steel I have to do the following things by order:
1. steeling one side bevel. (side A)
2. checking for a burr at the opposite side. (side B)
3. if a burr is formed in side B, then we move to steeling side A.
4. checking if burr is gone in both sides, means our knife is steeled properly.

Am I Correct?
Thanks again.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

When you use a smooth steel you just smash the edge to one side by plastically deforming it. You can flop this from side to side but can't actually remove it because there is little abrasion. It is the same thing as if you used the corner of a Spyderco rod which is heavily loaded which most people would not would not be effective to try to restore a blunted edge.

-Cliff

 

[rayback]

Things get more clear to me now.
So we dont have to look for a burr when we still, because we dont create any, we just realign the edge.

Is the method of sharpening/finding a burr I wrote in my previous reply is right?

 

[Jeff Clark]

Generally steeling is a quick process and people don't look for a burr to be formed. You just work lightly at a very low angle and do a few quick strokes. You just feel the edge or do a test slice on something and consider yourself done if the edge seems sharp. You don't look for burrs at all. Your steeling is just left-right-left-right-left-right and you're done. If the edge doesn't seem sharp at this point you go and do some sharpening on an abrasive hone.

One thing to ge sure of is that I am talking about a smooth steel. One that has no ridges or grooves on the surface at all. The cheap ribbed steels that come with some knife sets really chew up your edge as they work. They do scrape and break off material as they work and leave you with a kind of ragged microserrated edge. This cuts meat well, but is weak and degraded.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

So we dont have to look for a burr when we still, because we dont create any, we just realign the edge.

Unless you can steel an edge so it shaves smoothly on both sides, which is fairly difficult, you are creating a deformation burr. Even with the MouseTrap steel which has two rods which hit both sides of the blades at the same time I found it still very difficult to not create a heavy deformation burr because there is no abrasion, the steel is just getting pushed around.

Is the method of sharpening/finding a burr I wrote in my previous reply is right?

Yes, basically you just use a very small number of light passes per side. The minimal amount of force and passes. As either are increased the edge will quickly pass its ability to deform and just fracture.

-Cliff