sharpening steel

[mike]

when i get my wicked edge system im wondering if i should pick up another sharpening steel to maintain my edges at work. currently i own a f. dick 12” round medium cut steel and its a great steel. am i going to need a finer steel like one of the dickorons?

[Josh]

when i get my wicked edge system im wondering if i should pick up another sharpening steel to maintain my edges at work. currently i own a f. dick 12” round medium cut steel and its a great steel. am i going to need a finer steel like one of the dickorons?

I don’t see why you would… you can finish however you want on the WEPS then use the steel to maintain. just use light pressure and as long as it actually removes a little amount of metal from the edge you are good to go.

[Mr.Wizard]

I am not familiar with the steel you have. Is it a grooved butcher’s steel? If you have high hardness blades and you intend to keep them at a fine finish you may want something else. I like the result I get with my Idahone ceramic rod and it’s far cheaper than the “Dickoron” steel I just looked up. For maintaining highly refined edges some people use a strop board but I haven’t tried that.

[mike]

it is a grooved butcher’s steel. the blades i use are not very hard – the edge degrades very quickly.

[Ziggy]

My 2 cents.
Figure out the grit on your steel … lets say its 600.
Someone point out if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t taking say a 2k edge to a 600 steel give it more tooth .. or if you look at it another way, downgrade it.

Takes the edge to the lowest common denominator.

Now that might be great for cutting up a pork butt with tendons, but not for other things.

I’m a huge fan of the 1200 grit Idahone.
As a bonus, you now have 2 grades of steel/ceramic that you can use and choose for the job.

The Idahone is harder than the metal, takes a nice lite touch, and, as a bonus, when you get used to it, you can actually hear when you are on the edge, the apex, or the high line.
I kid you not.

Plus, do you really want to take your paper thin slicer to a 400 – 600 grit steel?

Any thoughts?

And at $32? for a 12″, a bargain.
Just don’t drop it!
😉

[tcmeyer]

Here’s a couple of “crock sticks” I’ve had for a long time. The 1/2″ X 6″ dates way back to the early days of alumina ceramic. As I recall they were made by a company that was part of, or a spin-off of Coors in Golden, CO, where Spyderco began. Probably the same house used by all of the sharpeners. I use it chucked up in a 1/2″ drill to sharpen bread knives – the ones with the wide scallops. I clamp the drill in a big vise, tape the trigger down and work the scallops one by one.

The second was a gift from a late friend who had ordered a bunch of stuff mail-order from one of the knife maker supply houses. He had bought several because they were so cheap. I don’t have a clue as to where or who from. It is 1″ in diameter and came with the wood handle. It has longitudinal striations which make it ideally suited for knife touch-ups in the kitchen.

The 1/2″ rod is probably pretty close to the 1200-grit claimed by Spyderco for their white Sharpmaker sticks. The 1″ diameter rod is probably closer to 800. Both clean up nicely with WE’s Superaser.

Attachments:

• crocksticks.jpg

[Author]

Posts