Sharpening steels

[Eggle]

OK.
I need a sharpening steel.
On the market seems to be the traditional ones, the diamond ones and the ceramic ones.
Which is best, and what length is preferred?

[taldo50]

take it from a chef, i use a steel several times a day. diamond to regain a lost edge, traditional for keeping it. 12 inch or 14 inch is best. ceramic steels ive used have been rubbish on my knives personally would avoid them. get some practice in on a whet stone. good skill to have!

[Marcellus]

if you're not trained or skilled in using a steel they can really screw up your knives.

Try looking at a "Chantry knife sharpener" they have the steels preset to the correct angles..

[Coq au Vin]

taldo50 said:

take it from a chef, i use a steel several times a day. diamond to regain a lost edge, traditional for keeping it. 12 inch or 14 inch is best. ceramic steels ive used have been rubbish on my knives personally would avoid them. get some practice in on a whet stone. good skill to have!

^ This. The only thing I would add is to avoid the very coarse steel ones you can buy.

[taldo50]

Marcellus said:

if you're not trained or skilled in using a steel they can really screw up your knives.

Try looking at a "Chantry knife sharpener" they have the steels preset to the correct angles..

nobody trained me to sharpen em, learnt by practice! have a go, not only will you be able to sharpen your knives but youll be able to impress friends at dinner parties! assuming you dont accidentally amputate an arm or something!

[randlemarcus]

and dont forget to use something to wipe the swarf from the blade afterwards. Please...

[Marcellus]

taldo50 said:

Marcellus said:

if you're not trained or skilled in using a steel they can really screw up your knives.

Try looking at a "Chantry knife sharpener" they have the steels preset to the correct angles..

nobody trained me to sharpen em, learnt by practice! have a go, not only will you be able to sharpen your knives but youll be able to impress friends at dinner parties! assuming you dont accidentally amputate an arm or something!

fair comment, but didn't you start to learn with a real chef nearby who could sort out the blade if you got it wrong?

Or how much damage can you really do?

[markomah]

I agree a traditional steel is probably the best for keeping a nice edge on the knives but that's only if you know how to use it properly.

If you don't know and couldn't be bothered to learn, the Furi Tech Edge Pro System is a very good second best, and has the advantage of being pretty much fool-proof. Pricey, though...

[taldo50]

Marcellus said:

taldo50 said:

Marcellus said:

if you're not trained or skilled in using a steel they can really screw up your knives.

Try looking at a "Chantry knife sharpener" they have the steels preset to the correct angles..

nobody trained me to sharpen em, learnt by practice! have a go, not only will you be able to sharpen your knives but youll be able to impress friends at dinner parties! assuming you dont accidentally amputate an arm or something!

fair comment, but didn't you start to learn with a real chef nearby who could sort out the blade if you got it wrong?

Or how much damage can you really do?

tbh, its really hard to kill a blade completely. the chefs i worked with when training all used leccy sharpeners and as a consequence didnt know how to use a steel. and id seen gary rhodes do it on the telly so i had to learn! it was a question of pride!!! to the op, im fairly certain there are guides on how to use knife steel on the interweb, think the most important thing to remember is that speed will be a by-product of concentration, so dont start off going to fast, youll just hurt yourself!!!

[Eggle]

As far as I can see, 20 degrees to the steal, starting handle to handle and pull away down the blade?

[Roger645]

Eggle said:

As far as I can see, 20 degrees to the steal, starting handle to handle and pull away down the blade?

20 for a European knife, 15 for a Japanese one

[Big Al.]

In light of all the other good stuff mentioned, I've been using a 12" diamond steel now for a good few years.
I recently decided to replace it, I have now got a 10" (couldn't get a 12) OVAL diamond steel far superior to the round IMHO as it presents a larger surface area to the knife.

[edwardsje]

There are a number of videos on t'interweb.

Here's one I like www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Sharpening-Steel

[mechsympathy]

Paddy_n_Murphy said:

Eggle said:

As far as I can see, 20 degrees to the steal, starting handle to handle and pull away down the blade?

more detail Man !

Hard? Firm ?
(again, re: Knife sharpening!)

Consistency is more important, with an equal number of strokes both sides. If you go faster and firmer you'll be done sooner but the knife won't be any sharper.

[bridgdav]

A few suggestions here..!

http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-make-knife...

http://www.videojug.com/film/choosing-a-steel-for-...

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-sharpen-your-k...