"Felines&Fuzzbutts" > wrote in message
...
>
>> 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


Umm...you worked in a knife shop, and you knew those things about the
purpose of a steel, but you did not recognize a steel that was right in
front of your face?

Something about this scenario is wrong.