Steeling and Beyond

[Alum of Potash]

This is a follow-up to a thread I started on the straight-razor forum a few days ago, my concern here being kitchen knives. I have an all-around French peasant's knife that I picked from Lee Valley a couple of years ago and a cheap set of Ontario knives. All are carbon steel, so I guess they are "soft steel" next to the very expensive Japanese knives, etc. To sharpen them, I have a coarse/fine India stone, followed by med/soft, hard, and black surgical Arkansas stones that are also intended for my razors. To maintain the kitchen knives, I could use a coarse or fine steel, or a strop. My understanding is that a coarse steel would probably carry the day for knives that are sharpened on the India stones, whereas the fine steel would maintain the edge after the soft or the hard arks. Beyond this, I am assuming a pasted or unpasted strop. Does such a range seem right?

 

[kirk 988]

i think the pasted strop would be a tad overkill but the strop would be fine after the fine steel ide say.
Wouldnt the paste round the edge with no guide?

 

[Alum of Potash]

i think the pasted strop would be a tad overkill but the strop would be fine after the fine steel ide say.
Wouldnt the paste round the edge with no guide?

Thanks. Personally, I am wondering if even stropping is needed. Steeling seems just fine for maintaining the edge in the kitchen--but then, perhaps the strop is better, to prevent oversteeling? The problem is the range of stones. I have heard that a medium India + soft Ark combo should work pretty well all-around with a fine steel. Trouble is I already have the coarse/fine India combo, so I don't want to spring for the medium here.

 

[mongoose]

I have been thinking about this for some time and have decided.

1. I do not do food prep with a knife for more than 2 minutes a day so I do not need to use the method of a person who works at it during their shift.

2. I am not a butcher.

3. I am not the guy with the heavy knife trying to slice a paper thin piece of prime rib off the chub.

 

[honed]

To be a bit blunt (muahahaha---)
It's a waste of time to strop these knives on abrasive strops.

That level of refinement on cheap/soft knives is gone the moment the edge touches the board.

On high-quality steel knives, abrasive or even clean strops can keep an edge going for a very long tim before the need to hit the stones occur.

So in your case, finish the knife on the stone. Steel in between use.