> It's a "steel". It *is* used to freshen up the edge of (non-serrated!)
> knives. Not really a sharpener, exactly, but it will give you a better
> edge when you need it. Just run your blades at a very shallow angle down
> the length of the steel, as if shaving bark off a stick. A couple
> strokes on each side is all it takes.
> A die-hard knife person would use the steel as the final touch after
> actual sharpening of a blade, I believe...- Hide quoted text -

THANK YOU, Dave!! I am SO tired of people who incorrectly advise
others to use a steel to "sharpen" their knives. I worked in a knife
shop for several years, and learned early that a steel merely re-
aligns the "burr" on the edge of knife -- it DOES NOT SHARPEN. I
can't tell you how many people we had come into the store and raise
hell because their "sharpener" never worked. Sometimes, even after
we'd explain it to them, they still wouldn't get it.

Ah, well....

~Eri in TX