What is sharpening steel

Step 2 Rest the heel of the blade against the steel approximately 2cm from the tip of the steel. Step 3 Draw the knife down the steel and towards the tip of the blade with light to medium pressure. Step 4 Repeat once on the other side of the knife blade with the opposite side of the steel and alternate sides for 5 to 10 strokes or until the blade is sharp.

Step 5 Wash and dry your blade so it is free from tiny steel shavings. Move in a slow even stroke so you have complete control of the knife at all times.

When honing on a steel no longer gives results its time to sharpen your knives on a stone. Further Reading Recently Viewed Products. When a blade is freshly sharpened, it's like a perfect mohawk, the hair converging to a fine point, with the help of far too much gel. But with use, that pointy edge starts to flop over on itself, making it much less effective, the way that mohawk gets when the gel has worn away over the course of a day.

With knives, this happens on a microscopic level—it's not something you can see by looking at it with the naked eye. But it is something you can feel. Your knife, which may have previously felt sharp as a razor, starts to bite and catch on the food you're cutting.

You can sense some resistance that wasn't there before. By running the blade along a honing steel, you can pull that microscopic edge of metal back into an upright position, and regain a good deal of its cutting power in the process.

It's sort of like applying fresh gel to a flopped-over mohawk. See here for step-by-step directions on how to hone a dull blade. Eventually, though, that super-fine edge of metal will break off and wear away, like a pencil point dulling down.

As this happens, the honing steel will become less and less helpful. Your only good option then is to re-sharpen the knife, which rubs away metal on a whetstone to create a brand-new edge, just as a pencil sharpener puts a new point on a pencil. See here for instructions on how to sharpen a knife on a whetstone. You can hone a knife as often as you want.

I do it any time I start to sense that the cutting power of a knife is fading, which can be as frequently as multiple times a day, given how much I cook. Once you begin to notice that the honing isn't doing much, though, it's time to break out the whetstone or send the knife to a sharpener, if you don't want to do it yourself to give the knife a new edge. For a professional cook, sharpening on a whetstone can be a daily or weekly ritual.

For home cooks, even once every six months would do wonders for most of the kitchen knives out there. No matter which type of steel you choose, keep it clean and free of any metal residue by wiping it with a damp towel from time to time. Unlike most of the other equipment we review here at Serious Eats, a honing steel is a difficult tool to assess objectively.

Because a blade changes every time it's used, and because honing and sharpening also change the blade, it's incredibly hard to compare one steel with another and come away with a clear sense of which one worked best. Still, I've been playing with a few examples of each of the three main types—stainless steel, ceramic, and diamond—by using them on a variety of my knives at home, which vary in dullness and metal type mostly stainless steel, along with a couple of carbon steel blades , then cutting vegetables to see how the honing had affected the knives' cutting ability.

Here's the short version: I found very little obvious difference between one steel and another in terms of how well they honed the knives. The diamond and ceramic steels had a slightly more noticeable effect, because those types actually remove some metal from the blade, but, as I'll explain below, that can be a mixed blessing.

In judging ease of use, what I found to be more important than anything else was the build of the steel itself. I found some handles more comfortable than others, and some steels more balanced and lighter than others. No matter which steel you buy, one of the most important criteria in my mind is its length. The longer a steel, the more runway you have to pull the knife along.

This isn't a big deal with smaller knives, like paring knives, but it matters when you're steeling longer ones, like chef's knives and slicers. It's worth noting here that serrated knives can be honed only with great difficulty due to their teeth. As a rule of thumb, I'd recommend a minimum length of 12 inches—that's the measure of the steel rod itself, not including the handle. With a inch steel, you'll be able to use the vertical honing method described in the above-linked article with little risk of the knife hitting the work surface below.

If you have huge knives, of more than 10 inches in blade length, then you may want to seek out an even longer steel. Step 3: Steel the Edge. Holding your knife at a 20 degree angle to the steel, take alternating passes with your knife across the steel applying light to medium pressure. Don't try to dig into the steel, a gentle slicing motion that moves your blade across the knife from heel to tip is all you need.

Take about a half dozen alternating passes across the full length of your blade. Always give each side the same number of strokes to maintain an even cutting edge. Related Items. Questions on sharpening steels? Call a Product Specialist Monday through Friday, 8 a. Email a Product Specialist productspecialist sharpeningsupplies.