Glass Smooth Steel or Ceramic (Steatite) Rods

[BillL]

Hi,
I am thinking of getting an alignment rod from Hand American. Should I get the Glass Smooth Steel or the Ceramic (Steatite) Rods. I want to remove as little steel as possible or may be not at all. I have the Spyderco with the Ultra fine stone. I also have the Lansky diamond set + the normal set which I bought many years back but did not know how to use until I discovered this forum. Now I can put a very very sharp edge on my kitchen knives and SAK. I have not tried sharpening my knife collection (Spyderco, Benchmade, Swamp Rat, Busse, Bark Rivers etc) as I have not really used them (except for the Endura and Fred Perrin), other than admiring them.

Thanks very much.

 

[Jeff Clark]

You really only want to steel a blade if you are using it to cut meat or relatively soft material. The steeling process bends damaged blade material back into line with the edge and leaves the material weakened from metal fatigue (it has now been bent back-and-forth). If you use it hard you will take out larger micro-chips from a steeled blade than you would expect. For general use I would rather use a ceramic "steel" with a fine abrasion grit. This will straighten up the least damaged material and will hone off the more damaged material. This will wear your blade down a little bit faster, but will provide you with a more durable and reliable edge. If you do go with a steel you want it very smooth and you want to use it very lightly at the lowest angle that will work for you.