Which sharpening steel should i buy

For dinner, each table was served a massive roast leg of lamb. Because I cook for a living, I was the designated carver at mine. I stood up, drunk on Welsh ale, and, with a bit of dramatic flair, rapidly steeled my slicing knife's blade against the metal handle of the carving fork.

But, drunk on Welsh ale, I accidentally sliced my finger open. To save face, I pressed my wounded finger into my palm to stanch the flow of blood.

Then I fully carved the joint of meat, served it to the diners, pivoted on my heels, and made a beeline for the bathroom. There are a few lessons to be learned here. First, you can hone a knife on quite a few things, including the metal handle of a carving fork, though I don't recommend it—tools that aren't designed for the task won't necessarily be as good at it, and, perhaps more importantly, they lack safety features like protective crossguards to separate your dainty fingers from the blade.

I learned this the hard way. Second, don't play with knives when drunk. Actually, don't play with knives, period. Third, while the knife did indeed cut me, it was not because I had just sharpened it. No, I had honed the knife, and there is a difference. To understand how a steel works, it helps to think of a blade's beveled edge as a really pointy mohawk.

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. It is one of the best investments I have ever made. Pete, from what it sounds like, your diamond steel might be sharpening your knives rather than honing. Call me a traditionalist, but I've always felt that a steel should hone, not sharpen. Since you speak of it so highly, though, I'll give it some thought. A typical steel hones whereas a diamond steel - diamond being the hardest material - will "sharpen while it hones".

Beware that diamond will remove metal. Thanks again everyone I am aware that a Diamond steel does remove steel from my knife, but it doesn't seem to cause any more wear than using a regular steel and regularly putting your knife to a stone. Several people have mentioned being careful with diamond steels because they remove metal. I don't own one nor have ever used one, but it did get me to thinking and now I am curious. Has anyone ever removed so much metal that they used up a knife?

Just curious, I have had same French knife for 30 years of professional kitchen use. Well, I've used a diamond "steel" for seven or eight years, and none of my knives has disappeared.

But, it's household use, not professional. I've got several waterstones, but don't use them very often for the knives. I do woodworking and have lots of other edges to sharpen with the waterstones. If they DO remove some steel, I'd guess that a diamond steel would wear away less knife than alternating a regular steel with a stone.

My favorite woodworking supply store, www. Lee Valley also has all kinds of waterstones and such. They also have an interesting array of kitchen tools, such as Microplanes and the like. Stay sharp!

You must log in or register to reply here. Like diamond steels, ceramic honing steels shave off a small amount of metal from any knife they improve. But they can still keep your knife sharper than before between actual sharpening sessions.

This is the most basic type of honing steel. Rods are usually long and thin and have the signature ridges mentioned above. Sometimes you can find stainless steel honing rods without these ridges if you desire. Magnetized rods are nice because they collect any microscopic pieces of steel that might come off your knife during honing. This stops those pieces from getting into your meal. However, take care when using a stainless steel honing rod if your knives are made of harder metal.

Harder metals are easier to break, so you might accidentally damage those knives with a stainless steel rod. The magnetizing aspect of stainless steel rods also means that you will need to clean them more frequently than other types.

Small shards of removed steel and pile up on your rod and damage the tool or reduce its effectiveness. Instead, diamond steel honing rods are coated in diamond dust.

As opposed to regular steel rods, diamond honing steels will shave off a small layer of your knife each time you use the tool, effectively sharpening it. This is just because diamond is harder than steel, so even the toughest knives have to give way to diamond dust.

These types of honing steels should not be used every day but are instead best used for keeping your knife sharp between sharpening dates. For instance, if you sharpen your knives in January and July, using a diamond steel honing rod would be acceptable every couple of months between those sharpening sessions.

A good rule of thumb is to always go two inches longer than the knife you are going to be honing. Repeat this pattern and alternate which side of the knife you hone with each movement.

You should end up with between 8 to 9 strokes on each side of the edge. You can, alternatively, hold the honing steel out horizontally away from your torso and perform the same motions with your knife in this way.

This is important for any type of honing tool. What is stropping? How do you sharpen an axe? Sharpening stone materials: which are the best? Sharpening a bread knife. Fenix vs Nitecore. Benchmade Buying Guide. Buying Guide Spyderco Knives by Size. The HORL knife sharpener: how it's made. Sharpening steel buying guide: which sharpening steel do I need?

Sharpening on a sharpening stone: your personal zen-moment!