How To Maintain kitchen knives: steel or strop

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maximus83

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Nov 7, 2011
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Can you maintain kitchen knives as effectively with a strop as with a steel?

Background: My family members do most of the food prep and are not into sharpening, so after I sharpen the kitchen blades, I want to give them an easy, simple way to maintain those knives when I'm not around. We currently have a high grit ceramic steel, but they are having trouble using it effectively. I could get them an angle guide for the steel. Or I could get them a small hard strop block and they could just do a few strop passes at a low angle, which is probably easier than using a steel.
 
The small dings and rolls created in the kitchen, usually caused by cutting on a hard surface or against a harder food item (chicken carcasses and such) don't straighten out on a strop, in my experience. The steel is the best tool. But, really, how hard is using a steel? If they can use a screwdriver or a scissors, they can put a few passes on a steel. I had a family member with MS who could take care of her knives!

Zieg
 
Depending on the chosen strop and/or compound, either can work. I use both, depending on what's needed at any given time. I've liked a fairly polished edge on some kitchen knives (santoku, for example). When it's in near-peak shape, I use a smooth (polished) steel to keep the edge aligned. If it gets a little more edge wear, a hard-backed denim strop with some white rouge (aluminum oxide) compound gets it back in shape again. Between the two, they handle about 98% of the work needed to keep it in shape. I've generally only taken it back to a stone if I wanted to thin the edge a bit more.

For ease of use, maintaining a thin, shallow-convexed edge on a kitchen knife is very simple on the hard-backed denim & white rouge strop, BTW. The strop itself will induce a polished convex of it's own, if the edge isn't convex already. And for a hard denim strop, I'd also suggest giving it some extra length. A paint-stirring stick for 5-gallon buckets has about 18" of usable length (excluding the 'handle'), and makes a good strop backer for this. The extra length makes it work very, very fast, and will be easier to use with larger kitchen knives as well.


David
 
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Good luck! I never had any asking the family to steel or maintain the edge with one pass per side on a dry stone (much less a splashed one). Per my request, what they have done is reduce working pressure and force when using knives that I have sharpened and prefer a light thud over a hard thwack against cutting surfaces. Time between required sharpenings has absolutely increased as their finesse with knives has improved.
 
I was watching a old guy on youtube he said you need to steel your blades at the same angle you would sharpen them at, otherwise you are wasting your time.
 
The way my wife can roll an edge,--- stropping won't help. I wonder if a steel could. I take them to a fine India stone and take it out.
If you check your kitchen knives and see it beginning to get dull. Then stropping can work. Otherwise take it to the stone. DM
 
PoorUserName said:
I was watching a old guy on youtube he said you need to steel your blades at the same angle you would sharpen them at, otherwise you are wasting your time.
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This is kind of what I've observed after seeing the effects of her trying to steel them--she can't maintain the angle well even after I showed her. She doesn't want to learn freehand sharpening, and I don't blame her, it's not for everybody. But I don't want to buy a fancy sharpening gadget that's all $$$ and complicated, nor do I want to buy one of those absurd pull-thru things that wrecks your knives. I'm trying to find a happy medium that helps her maintain them with relative simplicity. I'm thinking maybe one of the following: steel with an angle guide and a little more training from me, or a strop block loaded with compound. One other option, I could profile all the kitchen knives to 15 dps, and show her how to maintain using the 15 dps Sharpmaker angle and the medium grit gray stones (skipping the ceramics, that'll cause more problems than it solves, I think).
 
Have you tried an Taylor Chantry Knife Sharpener, it has two steels inside that move when you pull the knife though, A lot of people love than and they last for years, you can get replacement steels, The only problem is the sharpening angle is fixed so any knives you use on it will be ground to that angle, but once that is done it will take virtually nothing off the blade every time you sharpen.

https://www.amazon.com/Taylors-Chan...000IXHING/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
 
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The only issue with a guided steeling rod is that the novice may inadvertently round the tip coming off the end.
 
maximuns, I've worked at this for years. Then I settled in on-- when it gets dull tell me and I sharpen them. I don't grip or ask how this blade got so damaged. As I've come to realize this is about supper. Not me quizzing her about knife damage. DM
 
^^^ lol...This. Years. M maximus83 : Make sure you pick up a cutting board proper as well. My solution is to create an environment which limits damage in an effort to extend the time in between sharpenings.
 
OK you doods convinced me. I'm fighting a battle with inevitability. I value marital harmony too much to browbeat her about sharpening stuff. :p

Hey, at least we all enjoy sharpening anyway right? This is just an opportunity to do more of it.
 
maximus83 said:
(...)I'm trying to find a happy medium that helps her maintain them with relative simplicity. I'm thinking maybe one of the following: steel with an angle guide and a little more training from me, or a strop block loaded with compound. One other option, I could profile all the kitchen knives to 15 dps, and show her how to maintain using the 15 dps Sharpmaker angle and the medium grit gray stones (skipping the ceramics, that'll cause more problems than it solves, I think).
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In your (i.e., her) situation, I think that's the first approach I'd try. It seems like the V-crock type sharpeners like the Sharpmaker, Lansky Turnbox, etc., are a little less intimidating to non-sharpening-enthused folks who just want to use a knife with a decent working edge. In terms of teaching her the mechanics of using it, it may be the most straightforward to learn. Encourage her to practice with it; maybe even get her some inexpensive knives dedicated to that goal, with no judgment and no questions asked if they get a little beat up in the learning process.

I'd personally prefer the grey ceramics for learning and for kitchen use. If the knives get very dull at all, the white ceramics might just feed more frustration in how slowly they'll restore some sharpness, and they might just quickly burnish or round off an edge when technique is still not as good. I went down that road early on, and it drove me crazy. The grey rods will much more quickly restore some 'bite' to an edge that's not too dull, maybe in just a handful of light passes. The faster she see's a noticeable improvement in sharpness, the more enthusiastic she might be to keep working at it. That's just my 2 cents' worth... :)


David
 
This is how I roll. I use the bastard diamond steels, they last about 4 months. I take the knife out of the drawer (or knife roll) I give it one lick each side on the steel and use the knife. I sharpen as needed when working and when finished I wash the knife repeat the lick each side and put it away. As a chef those metal destroying steels are great if you use them VERY conservatively. It works for me because I have much more hair on my right arm then my left
 
maximus83 said:
OK you doods convinced me. I'm fighting a battle with inevitability. I value marital harmony too much to browbeat her about sharpening stuff. :p

Hey, at least we all enjoy sharpening anyway right? This is just an opportunity to do more of it.
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Get a magnet to hang them on, and a cutting board, and no dishwasher! This is about the only stuff I'll put up a fuss over.
 
^Yep good tips. I already don't let her put the nice ones (Wuesthofs) in the dishwasher. We probably do need to hang them up. She currently puts them in this horizontal wooden knife block inside a drawer. Keeps them separate but there's no doubt the blades hit the wood on the way in and out.
 
Knife block beats magnetic strip. Most users grab the handle, twist the blade edge into the strip (because that puts the blade away from them--good thought), and drag the blade down and across the strip at about 90° to the cutting edge. You'll watch that with horror a few times before you take it down. Wood is the surface you should be cutting on, and most blocks are soft wood and won't ding or dull.

Another solution is just to run your knives over a steel yourself at the end of the day.

And nothing goes in the dishwasher except table utensils, plates, cups, glasses, and the cat.

Zieg
 
We use a magnetic block. Two of them: Boker 30402 and Boker Saga. Best of both worlds.

EDIT: Best of both worlds in that it combines the advantage of a magnetic strip (quick drying, reduced harboring of bacteria) and that of a block where the edge is protected from complete exposure.
 
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Why no dishwasher, folks? Here is a recent and relevant thread on the topic: Dishwasher safe? Have any of you honestly noted edge or micarta/G10 degradation as a result of cycling a stainless knife through a dishwasher?

EDIT: I am going to run Shun Classic VG-10 at 10/15 + 400/6K (JIS) through ten straight dishwashing cycles. Impromptu, no controls, no thread, no scientific method and see if I can note any visible wear to the edge. It will take about a week as I plan to cycle this in with normal loads. Dishwasher is a Thermador DWHD440M less than two months old. Seventh Generation Free & Clear with Lemi Shine as a booster. What do you guys think will happen to the edge? Microchipping? Will the edge degrade so far as to develop a light reflective flat spot?

IMG_20171009_103757_edit.jpg
 
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