Honing Steel

[texasPI]

Well, I need some help finding a honing steel for my kitchen knives. I've just always used the spine of another knife and have always planned to get a steel but like many things in life, I just never got around to it. :001_rolle

So, what do you recommend? Brands, smooth/polished, abrasive etc?

[Houndawg]

Hand American is supposed to be putting out some of their steels soon. They make a glass smooth steel. I have one of their half and half steels which has both smooth areas and micro-serrated areas on it. I use mostly the smooth sides unless I have a blade that needs a little more dressing, which isn't often. I've been told not to use the aggressive steels since they remove too much material. Steels are to straighten wavy and rolled edges, not to sharpen.

[ouch]

If you have a typical knife made from medium hard steel (low-mid 50's Rockwell scale) a few very light strokes on a smooth steel can realign your edge and extend the time between sharpening. If your knife has hard steel, I'd avoid it completely.

[tsmba]

I like my F Dick flat steel. They're top of the line and expensive, but very effective. I like it much better than my HandAmerican ceramic rod. I guess your choice will depend on what you're wanting it to do. A coarser steel will actually remove metal, while the fine ones simply re-align the edge.
Check out knifemerchant.com. They have excellent prices, and its run by two chefs who can give you expert advice on choosing the one that's right for you.

[Carnivore]

I have a ceramic hone like this one:

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/large/1100.jpg

It's smooth but very hard so that it hardly removes any metal, but is great at aligning the edge.

[professorchaos]

I don't care for abrasive steels. The edge doesn't last long and it's easy to screw up. Like tsmba, I use a Dick flat steel.

[tsmba]

F Dick is widely-regarded as the best manufacturer of butcher's steels. The flat multi-cut is their best. It will set you back well over $100, but I've never found anything better.

[mretzloff]

Get a normal steel. Forget the abrasive (ceramic, diamond, etc.) steels. They remove metal and that is not what you want. You want to realign your blade.

I have one from Wüsthof. I got it because it has a nice handle (similar to the Rooney beehive shaving brush handle).

EDIT: Here is my steel (not my picture):

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21sYok65R%2BL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

[Scotto]

I haven't touched a steel since I met Jay (Ouch). Now I have other issues, like where to store all the knives and waterstones.

[Suzuki]

The only "steel" I use is a ceramic rod - unlike a traditional steel, the ceramic steels remove a very small amount of metal and refresh the edge (much like a finishing hone on a straight).

[Houndawg]

The only "steel" I use is a ceramic rod - unlike a traditional steel, the ceramic steels remove a very small amount of metal and refresh the edge (much like a finishing hone on a straight).

You don't want to remove any metal. You just want to straighten the edge. That's why if you are going to use anything, a smooth steel is best.

[homebrewer]

I haven't touched a steel since I met Jay (Ouch). Now I have other issues, like where to store all the knives and waterstones.

Odd, I feel almost the exact same way.... and not only about kitchen knives. Funny how B&B has a habit of taking things you previously just "enjoyed", and turns them into full fledged obsessions.:lol:

[Carnivore]

You don't want to remove any metal. You just want to straighten the edge. That's why if you are going to use anything, a smooth steel is best.

I think that we're being a little to literal here--if you rub a knife against anything, you'll remove some metal. The ceramic hones that Suzuki and I mentioned aren't especially abrasive and are not designed to remove metal as their mechanism of operation. It's just that you can see quite clearly on the white ceramic where the steel has rubbed off of the knife.

They're just a really hard surface against which to run the blade, aligning the edge.

[mretzloff]

I think that we're being a little to literal here--if you rub a knife against anything, you'll remove some metal. The ceramic hones that Suzuki and I mentioned aren't especially abrasive and are not designed to remove metal as their mechanism of operation. It's just that you can see quite clearly on the white ceramic where the steel has rubbed off of the knife.

They're just a really hard surface against which to run the blade, aligning the edge.

Ceramic, as you said, is very hard. Because of that, it removes metal. Like diamond steels, it is designed for that and to align the edge. "Normal" steels are designed only to align the edge. The thing is, you want to align the edge with a steel and sharpen with a stone. You have more control with a stone that you do with a steel. Also, you do not want to remove that much metal daily. You just want to realign the blade as you use the knife every day.

[tsmba]

One drawback about the ceramic rods is their brittleness. They shatter if dropped on a hard surface. I watched a friend remove one from its box and drop it....so I'd never recommend one in a commercial setting.

[Lo'Tek]

Just to make it clear to those new to these steel rods, as several persons here have noted, steels are for the purpose of straightening, not sharpening or honing, and an abrasive steel will not maintain the proper bevel, unless you don't care about your knives.

[professorchaos]

Frankly, I don't know how necessary an abrasive steel is for the home cook. When I cooked professionally, I had one and only used it once a week or so. And that knife did more in an hour than mine does in a week now. Naturally, the edge was rarely as sharp as it could be, but it was sharp enough to get the job done quickly and safely.

[_JP_]

I never used the ceramic rods in professional kitchens, only the standard sharpening steels were available. They worked for me because I know how to use them properly. Our knives were sharpened weekly (weakly is more like it) by a sharpening service. If I needed to touch up and edge I would use the bottom of a china coffee cup or ceramic bowl, which worked quite well.

[Lo'Tek]

If I needed to touch up and edge I would use the bottom of a china coffee cup or ceramic bowl, which worked quite well.

Hay, thanx for the neat trick, that could be handy in a pinch. :thumbup1:

[ouch]

If I needed to touch up and edge I would use the bottom of a china coffee cup or ceramic bowl, which worked quite well.

Jacques Pepin suggests using the bottom of a plate. I don't think he is all that knowledgeable about knives (it seems that most CIA level instructors aren't), but he has some mad knife skills. His use of a paring knife is amazing, and he is just about the only tv chef to cook real time; ie: he peels and prepares his items while talking and cooking. None of the "reach for a cup of impeccably cut brunoise prepared offstage by an expert" technique that the celebrity chefs so frequently employ.

[Scotto]

Jacques Pepin suggests using the bottom of a plate. I don't think he is all that knowledgeable about knives (it seems that most CIA level instructors aren't), but he has some mad knife skills. His use of a paring knife is amazing, and he is just about the only tv chef to cook real time; ie: he peels and prepares his items while talking and cooking. None of the "reach for a cup of impeccably cut brunoise prepared offstage by an expert" technique that the celebrity chefs so frequently employ.

Jacques is the man. I don't think anyone has influenced me more as an amateur cook. I literally grew up watching him and reading his books.

[tsmba]

Watching him chop garlic is really something. Endless practice really shows. One practice that really impresses folks is chopping without looking down.

[joto]

I use a Forschner smooth steel on my kitchen knifes. I know some prefer textured surfaces, but my experience was that the smooth works great to re-align the edge- the textured ones really ripped up my edges. It they need to be touched up, I prefer to do that on a Spyderco sharpmaker.

[NoFair]

I don't use a steel on our harder knives.

They get stropped on a leather strop with CrO on one side just like a straight.

We have a smooth ceramic steel and it hardly removes any metal. Works for very light sharpening as well as aligning the edge on softer knives. The wear caused by this is negligible IMHO.