Sharpening steel
A sharpening steel or sharpening used for the removal, Sharp holding or sharpening of knives . The sharpening steel is mostly rod-shaped and consists of hard steel with a round, oval, square or flat cross-section. For better handling it is usually provided with a handle and finger protection.
Sometimes it is also generally referred to as a sharpening stick , but should not be confused with the ceramic sharpening stick .
steel
The hardness of the steel is between 60 and 70 HRC , depending on the manufacturer . Today's steels are usually also hard chrome-plated, which means that a hardness of 69 HRC can be achieved. (For comparison: knives are usually between 55 and 65 HRC, most reach 57 HRC).
species
There are very different types of sharpening steels, most of which are only available from specialist retailers, e.g. B. for butchers are available. There are basically two groups of sharpening steels: straightening sharpening steels, in which the steel is only straightened, and cutting sharpening steels, in which material is removed.
Straightening steel
The straightening steel is polished or has a micro-fine structure. It is used to pull off very sharp knives that lose only a little of their sharpness in use. When you pull it off, the blade is not sharpened, but straightened: The very sharp edge of the knife, which is bent to the side when used in the microscopic range, is straightened up again by the steel. No material is removed, as would be the case with sharpening with a whetstone or a knife grinder (manually or as a small electrical device). Sharpening with the sharpening steel takes place before or after using the knife and maintains its sharpness, which increases the service life until re-sharpening.
Such sharpening steels are mainly used in the professional sector (meat processing, gastronomy, etc.) and for high-quality knives. Use in private households is usually not required and is therefore rare.
Machining sharpening steel
This is the type of sharpening steel found in most households as it is widely available for little money. The finer or polished steels are less well known.
The cutting steels are for sharpening and usually have so-called trains, which are incorporated on a special machine. These trains are available in different designs (coarse, fine, microfine - the latter is one of the non-cutting ones). There are also coatings made of sapphire and diamond , as well as sharpening sticks made of ceramic or stone. These surfaces are usually even more aggressive than the trains. The use of these sharpening steels will also produce results with moderately sharp or even blunt knives, as material is removed relatively quickly, so that the knife is sharp again. However, the cutting edge produced is rough and therefore does not offer optimal sharpness. It is sufficient for most users and for less demanding work.
There are great differences in aggressiveness among the cutting steels. The ceramic rods may be so fine that they come close to a Mikrofeinzug depending on the version. An old, worn steel with trains can be almost as fine as a polished steel.
Use of the sharpening steel
For sharpening, the knife is placed against the steel at an angle of approx. 20 degrees and moved (sharpened) from the handle to the point over the steel with light pressure . This is the safer method of working, moving away from the body. You can also place the handle of the knife on the tip of the steel and then move it along the steel until the knife tip is in front of the handle of the steel. You do this alternately on the left and right (i.e. front and back of the knife). You can work pushing (cutting) or pulling. In principle, this sharpening does not remove any steel from the blade, so the knife is not sharpened in the same way as when using a whetstone , provided of course that you use a polished steel that is not abrasive. Instead, microscopic unevenness on the blade is straightened up again by the sharpening, so that it forms a straight line again and can cut better. A sharpening steel is only really effective if the blade is basically already sharpened sufficiently, on which small bumps have arisen through use, which are raised again by the sharpening steel.
If the use of a sharpening steel no longer produces the desired sharpness, the blade must be sharpened again with the aid of a whetstone or the like, with some steel being removed from the blade.
Web links
- Properly sharpen the knife sharpening rod (accessed on 27 March 2020)
- Sharpening steel primer (accessed March 27, 2020)
- Sharpening steel - Manufactum (accessed on March 27, 2020)
- A knife sharpener is the best sharpener (accessed March 27, 2020)
- The right knife care (accessed on March 27, 2020)