Honing steel question

[Legion]

Quick question for the guys who like to steel their kitchen knives.

On my Euro style knives I have been happily using a German steel, not branded that I can see, but made in Solingen. It works.

Today I found a similar one in a thrift store, branded victoria stahl, which is quite similar except the ridges along the steel are noticeably finer. The rod is fairly smooth feeling, compared to the ridges on the German one.

In your experience, is that going to make much of a difference in use? Is there going to be a benefit of one over the other?


The obvious answer is try them both and see, and I will, but I'm curious to hear the opinion of people who have used them a lot, especially professionally.

 

[jesseix]

I'd be interested to hear from any experienced users too. I've always read that the hardness of the steel used is always very important on a honing steel (in comparison to the steel of the knife), not sure about the fineness of the pattern on the hone though.

 

[silverlifter]

I have a Victoria Stahl that has the coarser grooves, and it works really well; it extends the length of time between hitting the stones significantly, especially for bigger, heavier knives. I've owned this for 20-odd years and never tried a finer grade.

 

[Tirvine]

The finer steel will do a superb job of honing. The steel with more pronounced ridges will grind more steel off of the knife edge. Heavy users like butchers use polished steel, sometimes roughed up a bit with sandpaper. A very fine but not polished steel, like the F. Dick sapphire, would be my preference. It looks a lot like the one you just found. If you steel with every use, honing, not sharpening, should be what you want.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Is using a steel really akin to honing? I've always thought that it served to realign the edge of a kitchen knife, sort of like using a strop with straight razors.

I have a medium-grade steel marked "Fischer--made in France" and a fine-grade steel marked "Messermeister--Solingen Germany" that I've used to keep my kitchen knife edges in play, with rare visits to a stone, for many years. Of the two, I prefer the fine-grade steel for routine use, particularly with carbon steel knives. For inox/stainless steel, or with a knife that has been left untended for a while, the medium-grade steel comes in handy.

I also have a diamond-impregnated steel that was gifted to me which I almost never use. That one I would consider as more analogous to honing as there is a removal of steel involved in the pass. Better to use the stones in this case as far as I'm concerned.

Also, when I started out, I read Leonard Lee's* general treatise on sharpening. There, he advocates steeling by placing the tip of the steel on a kitchen counter top to stabilize it and maintaining the steel in an inverted, vertical position during the knife's pass, as opposed to the kind of airborne swordplay that is often shown in videos. Suffice it to say that I have always followed Lee's advice, which also helps to control the blade angle. At first, one can feel the "bite" of the misaligned edge during the pass, which soon gives way to a smooth feel, meaning that the edge has been realigned.

*Leonard Lee was the founder of Lee Valley and Veritas Tools.

 

[silverlifter]

Is using a steel really akin to honing?

The coarse grade one I use really does remove steel; it leaves quite a bit of swarfy filings on the steel and bevel; hence why I only use it on bigger knives, it feels to aggressive for delicate work.

 

[Alum of Potash]

The coarse grade one I use really does remove steel; it leaves quite a bit of swarfy filings on the steel and bevel; hence why I only use it on bigger knives, it feels to aggressive for delicate work.

Haven't used a coarse grade, apart from the diamond-impregnated steel that I mentioned which does indeed remove steel. Most of the knives I am using the kitchen are small (~4-inch) to medium-large (~10-inch). That said, I do have a much larger stainless-steel knife with a rounded tip that is reserved for cutting squashes and melons in half. That one is a bear to maintain with my medium- and fine-grade steels. Perhaps a coarse-grade steel would serve me well there!

 

[The Knize]

I've always thought that it served to realign the edge of a kitchen knife, sort of like using a strop with straight razors.

I think this is correct. except that a ceramic or diamond impregnated steel will take metal off a knife edge and i think has to be considered toward an actual sharpening stone. T\

There is amazingly little on line about when to use a coarse conventional steel and when to use a fine. Although I did see one post where the poster said he used a fine steel on a daily ongoing basis to keep the edge of his knifes up to par, but used a coarse steel when they seemed to be getting dull, say once a week, to hold off re-sharpening them on a stone. Makes sense to me, I suppose.

 

[Legion]

Also, when I started out, I read Leonard Lee's* general treatise on sharpening. There, he advocates steeling by placing the tip of the steel on a kitchen counter top to stabilize it and maintaining the steel in an inverted, vertical position during the knife's pass, as opposed to the kind of airborne swordplay that is often shown in videos. Suffice it to say that I have always followed Lee's advice, which also helps to control the blade angle. At first, one can feel the "bite" of the misaligned edge during the pass, which soon gives way to a smooth feel, meaning that the edge has been realigned.

*Leonard Lee was the founder of Lee Valley and Veritas Tools.

That is how I have been using mine for the last couple of years. It does seem to help maintain the correct angle and increase the time between trips to the stones.

 

[Legion]

There is amazingly little on line about when to use a coarse conventional steel and when to use a fine.

I know! I did a quick Google before posting this thread and thought the same thing.

 

[psfred]

Depends on the steel of the knife and hardness of the "steel" -- an aggressive steel will indeed remove material from carbon steel knives, particularly French ones, and can be used to hone them.

Smoother steels work to re-align the edge, which on the softer steel favored in making European style knives fails by bending. Stainless knives of that type, typically CrOMoVA steel (chromiun manganese vanadium alloy) have very coarse and very hard carbides and you won't be able to hone them with a serrated steel, but a smoother one will restore the edge for quite a while.

Julia Child demonstrates honing French knives in one of her early shows. Those shows are worth watching, she was quite a character and there is a lot of entertainment along with quite good advice.