From: charlesanderson@optushome.com.au   
      
   deowll wrote:   
      
   > Rubbing metal against anything hard will remove some of that metal. The   
   > amount removed by a smooth steel is almost nothing. As such it isn't   
   > going to do a lot fast other that realign the edge. A butcher steel is   
   > just a round file. The part of the blade that comes in contact with the   
   > butcher steel  is soon nice and shiny while the blade is still darkly   
   > tarnished on my carbon steel knives. When I put a clean sheet of white   
   > paper under the knife while I sharpen it small particles fall on it. A   
   > butcher steel is  all I need to sharpen a large knife to the point I'm   
   > ready to stop on a slicing cut knife or to move on to the ceramic rod if   
   > I'm going for a push cut knife. Of course there is a limit on how dull   
   > I'll let a knife get before I give it a touch up.   
   >   
   > I do agree that years of such sharpening doesn't seem  to do much   
   > visible damage to the knife. I don't agree that no metal is removed or   
   > that the blade is not sharpened.   
   >   
   > One school cook  I knew, Mrs. Marjie (I spelled it the way she said it.)   
   > Littrel, used the back of her cast iron skillet to good effect. She kept   
   > that butcher knife blade sharp through years of use. It was sharp. I   
   > started to lecture her about the right way to sharpen a knife meaning my   
   > way then shut up. I was smart enough to realize that she didn't have a   
   > problem and my jawing wasn't  going to change jack. She'd found a way to   
   > sharpen her blade that worked and she didn't need any advice from me.   
   >   
   > If a knife is so worn it needs reground then mere sharpening isn't the   
   > issue.   
   >   
   > The last  new knife I got with no edge was first sharpened with a file   
   > then a butcher steel. It worked.   
      
   True, you will eventually break off that fine edge that gets rolled   
   through use.  It's the same as if you bend a piece of sheet steel, after   
   you do it long enough it's going to split and break in half.   
      
   It's not a filing action it's a bending action.  It's not a file for   
   knives as the steel is a lot softer than the edge of your knife.  If you   
   want to damage a steel just run a knife over it edgeways. You will of   
   course flatten that micro edge on the knife too.   
      
   Those small particles are simply bits of the micro edge breaking off.   
      
   The diamond steels aren't steels at all, they're diamond impregnated   
   sharpening rods.   
      
   Lol, Mrs. Marjie, was using her skillet as a steel :-D  She must have   
   treated her knives with great care and I bet they were quality knives also.   
      
   If a knife is made right, you only need to sharpen it once.  By dumb   
   luck my first attempt at a "pretty" knife, actually it looks pretty ugly   
   (we've all got to start someplace), has worked out really well.  It's   
   been sharpened once, it has a slightly convex edge, and it's used all   
   the time.   
      
   What happens when you do an initial sharpening is that when you abrade   
   that edge, the micro edge is getting bent in line with the sharpening   
   device.  Not sure what happens with those ceramic "V" sticks.  The steel   
   straightens that micro edge.   
      
   At the end of the day if you can get a knife to slice that's all that   
   matters.   
      
      
      
   Regards Charles   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)