From: deowll@gmail.com   
      
   "Chilla"  wrote in message   
   news:4b4661b8$0$6094$afc38c87@news.optusnet.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.   
      
    I do know what a diamond steel is. I have never used a diamond steel. I   
   most likely won't. Somehow the phrase diamond suggests knife damage.   
      
   What I do has worked for as long as I've had the knife and I expect it to   
   keep on working for as long as I need a knife.   
      
   >   
   > 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.   
   >   
      
   Charles that knife was bought cheap most likely about 1950 for a few dollars   
   when the school building was built and the county bought what they needed   
   for a kitchen for as little as possible.   
   I'm guessing old hickory or something very similar as to quality. It had   
   wood scale handles.   
      
   > 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.   
   >   
      
   Well steeling certainly works great for me and has ever since I started   
   using it for large knives of a certain kind.   
      
   What abrasion against ceramic rods does is obvious.  You need to wash off   
   the fine particles of steel left on the ceramic occasionally. That is   
   abrasion happens but at a much finer level  than against a butcher steel.   
   The only reason for the v is because some people can't hold a consistent   
   angle.   
   >   
   >   
   > Regards Charles   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)