Use the Steel
 

Any folks getting the carving knives ready for Thanksgiving can restore a bit of life to them with a steel if you have such a tool.

The steel actually straightens the minor dings and flat spots on the fine edge of a knife between major sharpenings and may get your blade to cut just a bit better when everyone is watching. The ceramic steels do kind of the same thing but will lightly abrade some steel of the edge of the knife too.

There is an important difference between using the steel and actually sharpening a blade on the stone. The steel is for fine touch up and will work right up until the knife has to go back on the stone for abrasive removal of steel.

Use the steel by holding it still and with the blade going away (yes i know, real chefs pull the knife towards them, what do I know, I just make 'em) take some strokes with the knife on the steel like your trying to carve a slice off the sharpening steel. Do this evenly from each side.

Good luck.

Not to jump in here,but..............


When you are putting on a finishing edge, whether it is with a steel or a ceramic, once the coarse imperfections are gone, lighten up on the pressure that you apply to the ablating surface. Once that you have achieved the edge that you want, use a piece (several layers) of newsprint (a newspaper) over the edge of a table or counter to strop the blade and remove the "wire edge" that the more agressive (aforementioned) methods produce. The lighter the sroke, the sharper the edge !!

Mr. Harsey, did I miss anything ?!?!

Later
Martin

Thanks for jumping in, your correct on all counts and good job pointing out the lighter stroke work.

Your knife would have to start out in pretty fair condition to respond to removing the wired edge by stropping because with a well worn knife, you would be hard pressed to get a wired edge with a sharpening steel.

I'm confident we don't have to ask about the condition of knives in Ambush Masters house, he already "told" me in his post.

Anyone know the reason newsprint works as a strop?

Now I've got to go get some knives ready for today.

Does it have to do with the lead in the printers ink that acted as a rouging compound?

I don't know what's in the printers ink and I hope it's not lead but your thinking on the right scale.

Paper is made from trees and trees contains the mineral silica. This is why paper can be used for serious edge endurance testing (used to check quality of knife steels heat treating, blade geometry and sharpening techniques by industry)
Paper has abrasive qualities and will dull hard steel.

Silica is why even carbide saw blades get dull cutting wood.

^^^Agreed!!!

I use a steel and they work great. The steel restores an edge that has been abused or not sharpened in a long time so it can be polished off with a stone.

I've tried lots of methods for getting a nice edge on a blade and the knife away method is all i use no matter if it's a steel or a DMT diamond stone. No matter if it's the small blade on a Swiss knife or a K-Bar, knife away always works for me, usually within 10 strokes per side or less for a well-maintained blade.

I like to keep all my blades constantly sharp, but I abuse them hard too. With a small hand-held DMT stone, I always get razor-sharp edges.

I have two tests for sharpness regardless of blade thickness or length: a dry shave on my forearm hair and an effortless, surgically-clean slice with a piece of paper.

Knife away, a small DMT stone, and a steel for abused blades is all I use.

I do try to "cut" away the diamond surface with moderate pressure and accurate, consistent angles across the entire blade length.

Detcord,
Well stated.

I tried this yesterday on my in-laws kitchen set and Sum-of-bitch if this technique didn't work like a charm. It took about 10 minutes to figure out the correct angle and pressure but damn those blades could pop hairs off my forearm when I was done.

Thanks for the tip. My kitchen set will be getting this treatment very soon.

TY Sir!!!

AM, I've never used the newsprint technique you were talking about, but sounds like I'm going to have to try it. :)