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Ed Pawlowski[_2_] Ed Pawlowski[_2_] is offline
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Default A steak dinner bet on using a steel to sharpen knives


"Bob-tx" <No Spam no contact> wrote in message
...
>
> My best friend and I agree on a lot of things. We both like to barbecue
> and grille, we both like Canadian whisky, we both like to look at pretty
> women, and we both like sharp knives - which is where the disagreement
> comes in.
>
> I sharpen my knives on Arkansas stones, a soft stone to get the initial
> edge back, and a hard stone to finish it off.
>
> He "sharpens" his knives on a steel, like the butchers use.
>
> I maintain that a steel does not sharpen a dull knife, in the sense that
> it does not remove any of the knife blade metal. The purpose of a steel
> is to correct a wire edge on a knife. A wire edge is a knife edge that
> has rolled over from hitting a bone or something hard. In the sense that
> it corrects the wire edge, it does make the knife sharper, but once a
> knife is dull, a steel will not sharpen it.
>
> We have a steak dinner for four riding on this, so come on people - I need
> some support here. Thanks
>
> Bob-tx


Technically, you are correct. A properly steeled blade will cut better than
a stone sharpened blade that has not been maintained.

You really need both. Depending on use, a couple of times a year on the
stone, a couple of times a day on the steel. I've watched butcher that
steel the blade after only a few cuts, then have the blade sharpened every
week.

Now, over dinner you can argue over what angle the blade should be sharpened
to.