butcher's steel

[bayrat]

Is it necessary a steel be as hard or harder than the blade?

How much pressure should be exerted when steeling?

Does it make much difference if the angle used for steeling is not quite the same as that used for final sharpening?

Do sharpeners such as Spyderco accomplish blade alignment without use of a steel?

Thanks

 

[Cliff Stamp]

bayrat :

[butcher steel]

Is it necessary a steel be as hard or harder than the blade?

Yes, otherwise the filing action can work the other way with the knife cutting into the steel.

How much pressure should be exerted when steeling?

For a touchup you go light, feather light can make a large difference in some cases. You can also use the steel to completely sharpen the edge if you press hard, this only works on fairly soft knives, the harder ones break apart badly under high force. So just start off light and increase the force until you get the desired result.

Does it make much difference if the angle used for steeling is not quite the same as that used for final sharpening?

No, as long as it is greater. If you go really extreme you will notice a small loss in cutting ability. However this isn't significant until after a lot of such steeling. It is why periodically the knife should have the edge reprofiled to thin it back out. Ideally you have some way to judge an angle, because if you just totally freehand it, you will tend to keep needing a higher angle each time which makes the process inefficient.

Do sharpeners such as Spyderco accomplish blade alignment without use of a steel?

The fine ceramic rods will align an edge significantly, the more coarse ones will grind off metal aggressively with little alignment. For harder blades the ceramic rods are usually better choices, as they produce longer lasting edges and the harder knives don't suffer from alignment problems as much as the softer ones do anyway.

-Cliff