Steeling - Why I don't do it.

Now this will come as a surprise to you and most won't agree with what I am going to say.

Here we go:

First of all, I am still amazed by the amount of people, people who should know, that think Steeling a knife is sharpening it. I often ask the butcher in a grocery store  how he/she sharpens a knife. I'm always curious and I always get the same response.
There is grinder of some form, or an electric sharpener that is used but most of the time they just use a Steel hone like the one in the picture.  I have never seen a water stone in the store, and I gave up a long time ago trying to explain sharpening.
So to remind folks  the honing rod does not sharpen a knife, it hones it, it will keep a sharp knife sharp for a while but you cannot get a dull knife sharp with one. It is not intended for that, it is a maintenance tool, a means of realigning the edge, moving fatigued metal that has folded over back to where it should be.

Why don't I do that you ask?

When  a knife is dull, fatigued metal along the primary edge (cutting edge) has folded over, it isn't something visible to the naked eye and it doesn't mean you can't cut anything. Heck, lets face it, likely 90% of people cut with a dull knife.

Now we take our Steel and let's assume we are world class "Steelers", we have it down pat, we know how to use the Steel like nobody else.  Are we not just pushing tired metal back and forth, what happens to metal that is moved back and back forth, back and forth........it breaks.  Basically, we are just pushing fatigued metal back to the spot where it will get the abuse and in no time, it has rolled over again. The cycle continues and for some people, they do this for years thinking they are doing a good job sharpening their knife.

Here is something to think about:
Forget the steel, get a fine grit water stone, 2,000-5,000 grit stone and use that instead. Instead of moving metal back and forth, remove that minute amount of metal and just hone your knife with a water stone instead.  I can re-sharpen or hone my knives this way in about  2 minutes.

5,000 grit water stone.......or rectangular hone...just sayin

If you are worried about removing metal, you can do this for about 30 years once a week and then maybe you could see a little wear. Seriously, it's something to think about.

I know I may have confused some folks and I am not suggesting throwing away that good steel, perhaps the best approach is a combination, use a good Steel for a week and then take out that 2,000 grit stone and use that once a week and then keep that cycle going. You are constantly refreshing working part of the knife that way.

Just my thoughts.
Peter