Trainer as Steel?

[chameleon2]

This might belong in another forum, but it's a sharpening/steeling question so here goes:

Can a trainer be used as a blade steel? It is, after all, a smooth piece of hardened steel. It's just not round (cylindrical?) like conventional "butcher" steels.

Actually I'm trying to rationalize spending as much on a Delica Trainer as the live blade. "Look dear, it's not just a dulled blade for practice, it's also a knife maintenance tool."

Many thanks.
C.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Is the trainer blade actually fully hardened? I would expect it to be softer than an edged blade. It would make a very bad steel if you used the edge or spine of the trainer for steeling. That would tend to overstress your cutting knife edge. It would probably work if you used the flat side of the blade. I've never tried that, but it might even be better than using a round steel. I think that rubbing stainless steel on stainless steel would tend to cause the contact area to adhere a little and crum up the edge through a process called galling. (Note to self, try steeling on the side of a kitchen knife. Use carbon steel for lower galling.)