"Steeling" a knife blade

This topic has 6 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 03/24/2022 at 9:52 pm by Dwight Glass.

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08/23/2018 at 10:01 am #47445
wickededge
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Here is another very good blog post by Todd about using a steel on your knives: https://scienceofsharp.wordpress.com/2018/08/22/what-does-steeling-do-part-1/

-Clay

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David, Josh, DaveG, Dwight Glass, Organic, Marc H
08/23/2018 at 10:12 am #47446
Marc H
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There’s a lot of good information available , although, some is quite technical, by subscribing to this “Science of Sharp” Forum/Blog.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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David, Dwight Glass
08/23/2018 at 9:43 pm #47450
Dwight Glass
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I used 1/8″ Diameter round Tungsten Carbide a little less than 5 and 1/2″ long. A Hot Glue Gun to hold the rods in blank Wicked Edge paddles.

the same angle as the stones, right after the strops.
08/24/2018 at 6:51 am #47451
Organic
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Do you find that this improves your edge compared to how it performed after the strops?

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Marc H
08/24/2018 at 5:58 pm #47452
Dwight Glass
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yes

I was taught in my youth that a “sharpening steel” sharpens a knife in a different way than “sharpening stones”.

if you look down at a knife that had just been sharpened with stones with a microscope the edge would look straight.

then looking at the same knife after using the “steel” under the microscope instead of the edge looking straight it will have a wiggle to it.

at that time I did not have access to a microscope, but the theory seemed to work.

I see sharpening with a “steel” as working with a different principle than sharpening with “sharpening stones”.
03/22/2022 at 2:29 pm #57723
Timm
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I’ve been using this one for decades: https://www.knifemerchant.com/product.asp?productID=8871&network=g&device=c&keyword=&campaign=353703054&adgroup=pla-42887322744&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9FkfnTSE8JZqnwRB2I7T6A0QJoS6kEPSm0BvgO6HLxZ9pFWgvUTyQvkaAnNUEALw_wcB

It’s not what I’d call a “sharpening steel”, but a burnishing (honing?) steel as it’s perfectly smooth and highly polished. All it does to the edge of a blade is burnish it–as Dwight describes above. It does seem to be great for a follow-up after sharpening a knife, but it doesn’t remove any steel at all. I often touch-up my kitchen blades with it when working. It does make a difference. I’ve watched professional chefs use a smooth glass bottle for the same thing.

It can also pull a nasty burr off to the side of an edge if not used at the correct angle.

When I think of “sharpening steels”, I think of the ones with ridges cut parallel to the shaft. These work like a linear files, and can quickly remove a lot of steel. I’ve seen far too many nice kitchen knives ruined by the use of these by completely hollowing out the belly of the blade. I have no use for them. Butchers seem to use them a lot for touching up various boning and breaking knives–where a positive belly doesn’t matter, as they’re not cutting against anything.
03/24/2022 at 9:52 pm #57728
Dwight Glass
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Timm the “Hot Glue” did not hold up to the “Neatsfoot Oil” that I use on the “Kangaroo Strops”, I replaced the Hot Glue with “Flex Glue”.

When I test the edge on the “Bess PT50A” the “Tungsten Carbide” dose improve sharpness.

I no longer “steel” with the same angle as the sharpening stones, I go just “hair” more acute or steeper angle, but that is just me.

Dwight
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