Steeling Knives : Smooth or grooved?

J

Jameson

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
294
My basic question is:

How dramatic is the performance difference between a GOOD QUALITY grooved and smooth steel?

Personally, I have a Wusthof 10" top of the line steel (bought 60% off two years ago) which has served well since purchasing. Sees much use on filet and EDC knives. Before this I had (still have) a Henckels and a Thiers-Issard as well. Those were very nice but developed a bit of rust over 3 years use, probably just weren't cared for very well by me. They are all finely grooved steels.

Anyway, I feel that these have done an exceptional job, but have been pondering dropping $40 for another "wonder" tool. Are they really that? My steeling methods vary much for EDC knives with hard steels (m2, 154cm, ats34, 440v, 1095) on my EDC's, or kitchen chefs and filet knives.

For EDC's I will usually go spine first. Meaning like you would do if stropping on leather. I hold an angle equal to the bevel as much I can, and stroke lightly. For Kitchen or filet knives I go forwards with the blade, and do it much faster with more force on the blade. I do try and imitate "iron chefs" while steeling larger knives, and do quite well at that.

So should I buy another steel? Am I damaging my blades with the grooved steel? Never had one chip like people tell me can happen, and have never dulled a knife on the good quality steels, so I don't think so but you might? Why? Thanks for the time.

JC
 
If you already have steels, then another $40 mught be a bit of a waste. But, my preference for steels always has been as smooth as possible. This comes from personal experience, and from John Juranich of Razor Edge Systems fame.

John says that a steel is for aligning an edge, not for sharpening. He recommends a steeling as the final step in a sharpening process. If so, then is is a step backwards to go from your fine hone/strop to a rough steel. It has been my experience that a coarser steel seems to put a more aggressive edge on a blade, but this doesn't last as long as the edge realigned by the smooth steel. This, plus John's ideas, makes me a smooth steel guy. I can recommend f.Dick, or Razor's Edge Systems for smooth steels.

By the way, I worked for 2 summers at a hog plant, and smooth steels were there in the hundreds, while grooved steels I only saw a few times. I bet there was less than 25 in the place.
 
They perform about the same. The grooved steels are a little more agressive so you lighten up the pressure a bit. If you want a real smooth one, you might try using the back of another knife blade. Take care.
 
Jameson, a grooved steel is basically a file. If you use it with enough force, and the blade steel is decently soft ~57RC or less, depending on the steel, you can file the edge and produce an aggressive finish. This, like all finishes, has advantages and disadvantages. If the steel is much harder the edge can get damaged under high pressure as it can break apart. If used softly this isn't a problem. I have not compared the quality of the edges produced though, nor the lifetime, in any detail of smooth vs grooved steels with light pressure.

Crayola :

[JJ]

He recommends a steeling as the final step in a sharpening process.
Click to expand...

This should never be done as the edge will be weakened by the plastic deformation. As well it only holds for a short time, as does all steeling, thus if you don't use the blade right away the advantage is lost.

-Cliff
 
Originally posted by Knife Outlet
If you want a real smooth one, you might try using the back of another knife blade. Take care.
Click to expand...

That seems like an excellent sugggestion, thanks much for that.
 
I bought a burnisher from Lee Valley Tools which I use to steel edges. It's a smooth oval rod about 12" long, about 64 RC or higher, and is designed to be used on scrapers of about R45-50 to re-form their edges. Works great as a steel, too. Cost was about $15 (that's around $10 US) as I recall. Do a search for Lee Valley -- they mail order and you pay in the Canadian peso.
 
Ditto what Crayola said. I have one of the Razor Edge steels and it is one of the best sharpening items that I have ever owned.

I tried a variety of grooved steels and found that with really hard blades (ATS-34/ 440v Sypies, BM etc)I was more often than not either actually cutting into the grooves or not doing anything to the blade or both.
 
Revolver, What types of grooved steels did you try? In my expereince, the high quality ones I listed do not "shed" any metal when using hard steel blades, frankly I have never used a knife steel lower than AUS8 with them, so I may have never used a knife with a lower RC than say 55-56? Most of my knives are high-end factory folders with hard steels so that is what I use the steeling for.

As for the razors edge steels? Anyone have a link or a picture of them and a price? Are these the very thin steels (smooth?) with a white thing on the top and a white handle? Thanks again for the info guys.

JC
 
I bought a carbide steel from Lee Valley for about 5 bucks. It does quite well with the M2 and BG42 steel blades that I have. I believe that carbide is a good deal harder than the larger steel Lee Valley sells - both are an excellent bargain.

To answer your original question - smooth steel. Otherwise I would burnish a blade using the fine ceramic rod on my Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Geode.
 
I have not held onto any of the grooved ones except for one big Chicago cutlery one and I still have my grandmother's put up somewhere (think it was an Old Hickory brand), but I seem to remember that I at one time had a Victorinox and a Froschner (?? white handle commercial butcher steel). All of these worked very well on the various quality kitchen knives that mom and other family members have had and some machetes that I have had in the past, so steel hardness does seem to be a big factor.

On the machetes that I tried I could actually see the Chicago Cutlery steel removing tiny bit of metal just like a file would. With the smooth steel I think that there is more burnishing going on, with little if any steel being removed.
 
I use both when I work on a worn edge. I am concerned that if I steel edge-first ribbed steels can abrade or roll over small dings so I use my ribbed steel in a gentle stropping (spine first) motion. I do this to catch and pull up any bent over dings. Subsequently I smooth out the edge with harder steeling on my smooth rod. This may be edge first. On a freshly sharpened edge I only use the smooth steel.
 
I have a 1200 grit ceramic rod that I purchased with my Edge Pro Apex. Making one pass on each side edge first with no pressure at all brings back a hair popping edge. I want to get a steel 'steel' as well and compare results. I used only the rod for a month on a Voyager and didn't have to sharpen until I dinged the edge at work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top