What Steel for a Sharpening Steel?

S

Scott Free

Joined
Sep 15, 1999
Messages
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Now that I've made a few knives, I'd like to make a small sharpening steel to go with them. What should I use? Stainless? D2, 1095 or will any ol' steel do? Does it need to be hardened?
I've never seen anyone ever address this.

Thanks,

Scott
 
You would want it to be very hard to resist deforming, stainless would be nice because any rusting would marr the surface and reduce alignment ability. Can't ATS-34 get to around 64 RC?

-Cliff
 
Don't think that'll work. A sharpening steel is a simple steel, which has a hard coating on it. I'm thinking hard-chromed or something. At least, that goes for what they call here a "wet-staal" in dutch.

But, If you are going to make one from simple steel, I suggest a simple high carbon steel, such as 52100 or 1095. M-2 would do fine too. They can be hardened much harder.

 
This is making me rethink things. If I can use D2 or 1095 or whatever for a steel, why can't I just use the back of another knife?...assuming these are working knives and I'm not afraid of scratches. Maybe instead of making a small steel, I just need to make a small neck knife instead. The weights would be close and with the neck knife, I'd have an extra blade. hmmm....

Scott
 
Sharpening steels have ridges on them that act in a way similar to a file, or they're coated in abrasive, as previously mentioned. The back of another knife wouldn't work for that reason. I'd go for W2 myself.

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Oz

"This is your life, and it's ending; One minute at a time."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/
 
There is no reason you can't use the spine of a knife as a smooth steel. You can use just about any even hard surface as a smooth steel. You just have to make sure that the it is free of nicks/ dents and anything else that would distort the edge of the blade you are trying to align.

-Cliff
 
So a steel is for the purpose of burnishing an edge, rather than sharpening it? All the ones I've ever had were sharpeners then. Good to know.

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Oz

"This is your life, and it's ending; One minute at a time."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/
 
Yeah. That's true. A recent article in Blade magazine about steels completely overlooked the fact that steels were originally smooth and were used for aligning only. Then ridges were added to provide some sharpening effect. Now, diamond coated rods are called "steels" but there is little relationship to the old burnishers. Anyway, most modern knives are made from steel that is too hard to bend much and cannot be realigned much either. Old carbon steel knives were softer and the edge could bend. My opinion is don't waste your time with a steel.
 
I'll have to take the opposite viewpoint, Nikk. I worked in a meat plant last summer and used a steel all day on victorinox stainless steel knives. The steel I used was smooth (almost anyways.) I bought the Razor's Edge Pro kit last summer as well, and it came with a true smooth steel. I steel my AFCK (ATS-34) almost daily and it keeps it sharper longer- quite noticeably actually. The smoother the steel, the better since all you are doing is realigning the edge. Ridges are coarse so it can be damaging to a sharp edge. Also, I'm not sure why everyone says that the steel MUST be harder than the blade. The edge of a knife is very very thin, so the steel doesn't need to be harder as far as I know. Sure it can't be as soft as butter, but it doesn't need to be harder than the blade. I can take a block of wood and poind the heck out of a piece of sheet metal, even though the block of wood is softer. It is in virtue of the fact that the block of wood is a large solid mass up against a thin object that it can deform the steel. Similarly, The sharpening steel is a thick rod of steel put against the edge of a knife which, although being hard, is thin and so can be straightened by a steel that isn't as hard.

Whew! Thats my take on steels, although I'm always experimenting...


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"Come What May..."
 
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