Why steel a knife when you can hone and sharpen at the same time?

When I used to work in the kitchen for a complete megalomaniac a-=hole who insisted on us hand chopping and slicing things that would have been better off in the robot coupe or the buffalo, a quick steel got us through the task. When time is tight and someone is screaming at you, the idea of an ideal edge is just too much time wasted. The goal is to get the job done as quickly as possible before some other task appears in front of you and you make someone else wait due to your slowness and the wave of delay then gets bigger and bigger until every one is absolutely convinced that you have made their job harder, screwed the night up and are generally a waste of breath. Sometime time demands a quick steel and whipping out a stone is likely to result in a boot in the ass. Piddle with your knives on your own time, sharpen them with exotic natural waterstones picked by virgin geishas from the pristine slopes of Mt. yukitama, use exotic steampunk looking sharpening devices, shave your arm hair bald but none of that makes any sense when you need an edge quickly. How Cooks sharpen western kitchen knives is not really that relevant to general knife sharpening on the harder steels like many of the knives yall carry. Japanese culinary knives are a whole nother world that I dont want to venture into.
 
Again, the time it takes is subjective to the compared sharpening media. A few controled strokes on a quality finishing stone will take the same amount of time and need too be done less often. So technically you would be more productive using the proper tools as you would not need to stop as often to refresh your edge.

The Japanese chefs use stones because they use much better steels and know a sharp/properly formed edge makes a better cut. If you steeled one of their knives and handed it back they would probably ask why you just dulled their knife.
 
Bhamster said:
When I used to work in the kitchen for a complete megalomaniac a-=hole who insisted on us hand chopping and slicing things that would have been better off in the robot coupe or the buffalo, a quick steel got us through the task. When time is tight and someone is screaming at you, the idea of an ideal edge is just too much time wasted. The goal is to get the job done as quickly as possible before some other task appears in front of you and you make someone else wait due to your slowness and the wave of delay then gets bigger and bigger until every one is absolutely convinced that you have made their job harder, screwed the night up and are generally a waste of breath. Sometime time demands a quick steel and whipping out a stone is likely to result in a boot in the ass. Piddle with your knives on your own time, sharpen them with exotic natural waterstones picked by virgin geishas from the pristine slopes of Mt. yukitama, use exotic steampunk looking sharpening devices, shave your arm hair bald but none of that makes any sense when you need an edge quickly. How Cooks sharpen western kitchen knives is not really that relevant to general knife sharpening on the harder steels like many of the knives yall carry. Japanese culinary knives are a whole nother world that I dont want to venture into.
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This is exactly the way it goes around a meat market as well . Most here lack this experience but always know better . DM
 
knifenut1013 said:
Steeling is faster? I guess that depends on the compared sharpening media. For me 1 or 2 strokes per side on a EEF DMT will restore a edge and do it in the same amount of time or less, plus be sharper with a more durable cutting edge. Technology has advanced along with what we know, the steel is just a bad habit we can't kick. Like me2 said, we could probably write more on all the bad info than the good.
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How would this take the same amount of time or less? When an edge is rolled, the steel would put it back in place through pressure. An Extra Extra Fine DMT will not force the rolled part back in place but would have to fully grind that bent piece of edge off. The rolled part would have to be very tiny to be able to do that in the same time, would you even feel that rolled part?
 
Stones can cut/abrade and push steel around at the same time. Thanks a lot KK1013. Now I have a whole new set of experiments to try. I don't see where using a Red (fine) DMT steel/stone would take any more time than using a regular steel.
 
zyhano said:
How would this take the same amount of time or less? When an edge is rolled, the steel would put it back in place through pressure. An Extra Extra Fine DMT will not force the rolled part back in place but would have to fully grind that bent piece of edge off. The rolled part would have to be very tiny to be able to do that in the same time, would you even feel that rolled part?
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Its called properly maintaining a blade, you should have never let it get that dull in the first place.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Its called properly maintaining a blade, you should have never let it get that dull in the first place.
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yeah, but what if you just cut through a piece of food and end up on a piece of steel kitchen sink and the edge rolls badly.
A steel will 'fix' that much quicker than grinding a rolled edge away.
That's called common sense ;)
 
I'm not sure where it came from, but there seems to be a misconception that a stone, which is harder than a steel, cannot be used to push a rolled edge back into place. It just abrades at the same time, there by removing the weakened metal and preventing the same edge from rolling when used on anything more resistant than food.
 
Juranich is dead-on!
After putting a correct edge on my knife, if I use a standard steel, there goes the edge. Not so with the smooth steel.
 
me2 said:
I'm not sure where it came from, but there seems to be a misconception that a stone, which is harder than a steel, cannot be used to push a rolled edge back into place. It just abrades at the same time, there by removing the weakened metal and preventing the same edge from rolling when used on anything more resistant than food.
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Yes, thanks for clarifying that :thumbup:
On the other hand, a steel works by applying a large localized force through reduction of surface contact area. In other words, a steel is more specialized and capable of pushing a rolled edge back.

And an xxfine abrasive will take a fairly long time to grind the edge off if it's not capable of pushing it back in place.
 
Steeling isn't sharpening. Most people in commercial kitchens misuse steels by applying pressure and trying to grind with them. Steeling just realigns the edge. It takes no pressure and no time. Just a simple swipe on each side. If it takes more than that, then the knife is dull and needs to be sharpened. Steeling done right is a good practice because it can increase the time between sharpenings.
 
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