How long does a knife sharpening steel last?

[D.M. Procida]

I presume they eventually wear out to the point of being no more use than a smooth steel surface, but how long might that typically take?

Daniele

[Bob Minchin]

Depends on the quality of the steel that the "steel" is made from.

[The Natural Philosopher]

IME about a week.

[Brian Gaff]

And whether its just hardened on the surface so to speak I never did see the point of these. Brian

[The Nomad]

A steel is for polishing the already (very) sharp edge of a knife, it does not, as such, sharpen it, but it does 'touch-it-up'

I have a two steels, one very old (bone handled, & belonged to my grandfather) and a more modern one (meat inspection quality) the first is smooth but not polished, the second has an almost mirror finish.

Neither do any good unless the knife is sharp to start with, but they both put one heck of an edge on my knives.

HTH,BIBID

Avpv

(i.e. they last a very long time if good & you know how to use them & can sharpen a knife on a whet-stone/hone)

[Thomas Prufer]

The ridged ones may sharpen it a bit, i.e. in the sense of "take off material"; the diamond-coated and ceramic ones are more of a very fine whetstone and will certainly take off traces.

None of them will do a thing for the usual knife that's been dragged of the granite countertop, tossed in drawer, and was last sharpened in another millenium.

Wot e said.

I have a steel that is smooth out of the box, and is of hardened steel. It will improve the edge.

So, if you have a ridged one, it may over time turn into a smooth one: less material removed, sharper edge, more polishing. I'd leave it.

Thomas Prufer

[D.M. Procida]

Great! I shall worry no longer about my ancient and perhaps-not-so-ridged steel. I do the actual sharpening of blunted knives with a whetstone.

Presumably, almost any hard surface would work for putting the edge to rights.

Daniele

[TimW]

I had one (and not a cheap one, Sabatier iirc) which seemed to be useless when it came out of the box. I spent a long time wondering if my technique was at fault, but at the end of the day I don't blame myself. Never managed to do anything useful with it.

For some years I used the plastic backed diamond whetstones that you get from tool shops but I finally discovered that for kitchen knives a nice rough burr is much easier to acheive and much more effective in use than a finely polished razor edge.

So I recommend this ( know, you didn't ask ):

Tim W

[Vir Campestris]

IME more than 30 years. I can't say how much longer.

Andy

[The Natural Philosopher]

bear in mind that 'good edge' and 'stainless steel' don't belong on the same knife

[AnthonyL]

Not used more than a few times a year I still have one with the carving set from 1973.

However leather strops were also common in butchers when I was young.

[fred]

Not just butchers, barbers used them consistantly on their cut throat razors, usually before starting a wet shave.

These devices are for honing the edge, not polishing it.

ISTR that most barbers had their cut throat razors sharoened professionally

[Max Demian]

A leather strop would just straighten out pieces of the edge that had curled over, not 'hone', i.e. sharpen it.

[fred]

Bollix

There is a difference betweeb honing and sharpening. After being sharpened an edge can be honed several times before it needs re-sharpening. Two different operations with two different purposes.

[Thomas Prufer]

Eh? Sure it'll hone. Some/all strops are rubbed with an abrasive. For example: "Flexcut Gold Polishing Compound", for "Flexcut SlipStrop".

Or what a harness maker told me: bit of leather glued to wood, rubbed with neatsfoot oil and fine (say, 4000 grit) carborundum powder. The abrasive will remain in the leather pretty much indefinitely.

Thomas Prufer