Stay Sharp: How to Use a Steel

Tips Kitchen

 by J. Michael Wheeler
How to Keep Your Knives Sharp
Did you ever notice that the chefs in their tall white toques at the banquets, brunches, and museum openings you’re always going to, seem to sharpen their knives a lot? They’ve got a knife in one hand and a sharpening steel (pictured here) in the other. But while they may be making their knives sharper using the sharpening steel, they’re not really sharpening their knives!

“Picky, picky, picky,” you say. Well, yes, but let me make a point. (Sorry.) To actually sharpen a knife you need to use a knife sharpening tool, an electric sharpener, or traditionally, a sharpening stone. Whichever tool you use, it reshapes the knife’s cutting edge by grinding away tiny amounts of the blade. If you’ve carefully sharpened the blade at a 20 degree angle, you’ve got a sharp knife.

But while your knife may be sharp, the edge of your knife will be left rough and uneven. A sharpening steel aligns the blade and tiny burrs. And just a few minutes of slicing can knock your knife’s delicate edge out of alignment, and even microscopically bend or fold the edge. Time, again, for the sharpening steel.

Knife designer Adam Simha has these tips on maintaining your knife’s sharpness by using a sharpening steel. And please, be careful.

1. Hold your knife at an angle so the steel is parallel to the bevel of the knife’s cutting edge, about 20° for large knives and 17° for smaller ones.

2. Pull the blade across the abrasive surface as if you were slicing. Start near the handle and finish at the tip. Keep the pressure, speed, and angle constant.

3. Do the same on the alternate face of the knife. Again align your knife carefully to the surface of the steel.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 as necessary, using slightly less pressure with each repetition.

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Comments

[Adam Simha]

1.

Great comments all - I just wanted to chime in and relate - despite my print material not going in to this much detail- that there is an important difference
between honing traditional carbon steel knives and stainless steel knives.
The carbon steel edge, when microscopically warped will take well to being
'pushed back in to line' by a traditional honing steel. The stainless edge however
will much more likely chip (microscopically) when those little burrs etc. are 'bent back'. What I suggest for stainless knives is a VERY judicious use of an extra fine
abrasive steel, working LIGHTLY at an angle slightly higher than that at which the edge is actually ground. This method, I have found, effectively shaves off the burrs and ultimately does less damage to the knife's edge.

[J. MIchael Wheeler]

2.

Adam Simha is our "Knife Guru." He makes handcrafted kitchen knives in Cambridge Massachusetts that are a joy to see, handle, and cook with. I'll forward your message to Adam. You can also contact him directly on Dancing Spoon Community: http://dancingspoon.ning.com/profile/AdamSimha.

Dancing Spoon's online kitchen arts store, Foodie's Emporium, is an exclusive online retailer for Adam's knives. You can see them at http://shop.dancingspoon.com/category/28935022181/1/MKS-Design-Knives.htm.

Michael

[Holly Wade]

3.

Do sharpening steels wear out over time? Is there a real difference in quality of steels? I use mine almost every time I employ my most beloved knife and want to do all I can to maintain it!

[david shepherd]

4.

Re: obtaining a 5° difference in the edge. In a word, I cheat: 90% of the time, for nearly all of of my general purpose knives, I use the Lansky Sharpening system (too complicated to describe here; visit the web site for more info: http://www.lanskysharpeners.com/LKC03.php ). This system quite readily allows for that minute yet consistent change from 20 to 25 degrees. I also do use stones on my smaller fillet knives (6-9"). For some reason, I've developed a better 'feel' for the angle of these blades than on some stiffer knives, like a chef's blade (for these, I use a jig). Finally, the first thing I do with any new knife is take it to a professional knife sharpener (a dying breed; if you find a good one, for the sake of your knives I hope that he's a young one, too) to have the edge checked for consistency, and touched up if needed. This establishes the correct working edge angle from the get-go, which I then find easier to maintain on my own. The reason I do this is, I don't quite trust an out-of-the-box edge, even on the finer brands. The knife could have been mishandled somewhere before I ever took possession. This step more or less is the equivalent of seasoning a really good skillet before you start cooking with it...

[J. Michael Wheeler]

5.

Here's man who really knows his mettle. Thanks David for expanding our knowledge. Tell me how you accurately differentiate between 20 degrees and 25? That's, well, cutting it close.