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Sharpening Steels

A steel or an effective sharpening system is equally important as good knives. Sadly all to often customers are reluctant to buy a good steel, this is really faulse economy. A good steel is a little like putting good tyres on your car, re-treads may work but will they really do the job? Remember, you can do more damage with a half sharp knife than a sharp knife. Therefore, we highly recommend a good quality steel to accompany your new knife. It is easier to maintain a sharp knife than try to bring back a dull knife. With all of the fancy knife sharpening gadgets that have come and gone, a high quality steel is still the best.

Sharpening or honing steels basically come in two formats, round and oval (or elliptical to be correct).  We are often asked, "which is better for my knives, round or oval shaped steels?"

To achieve the effective honing surface on a round steel, that is equal to that of an oval steel, by example, the diameter of the round steel would have to be equal to one of the large circles above. Obviously a steel of that size would be totally impractical and unmanageable. The illustration demonstrates the huge working difference in the two styles. Furthermore, a knife on a larger format of steel wears more evenly and requires much less effort by the user.

Technology touches everything, re-inventing old tried and true systems. Sharpening steels are no exception, in fact, sharpening steels, an old idea, have adapted to technology in a big way, now enabling them to be the tool they had always promised they were.

Today we have a number of steels for different applications. There are steels with a fine cut, a coarse cut, a multi-cut and even a polishing steel. The materials used are just as varied, for example, diamond incrusted steels, titanium steel, hard chrome steels, ceramic steels, stainless steel steels and more.