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Traditional Steels

Revitalise your dull blades with our high-quality knife sharpening steels. Ensure razor-sharp precision for effortless cutting every time.

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Knife Sharpening Steels – Sharpen Your Kitchen Knives the Traditional Way

A kitchen necessity, sharpening steels for knives are designed to maintain the integrity of kitchen knives.

A knife sharpening steel generally consists of a tapered rod, protective guard, handle, and a carry ring. Featuring fine or course grooves depending on its purpose, rods are made of either hardened steel, ceramic, or diamond-coated steel, with each material providing a different level of hardness.

Sharpening steels keep your knives from blunting, which in turn, reduces accidents in the kitchen and allows you to achieve a cleaner cut. This improves the quality of the food you’re preparing, decreases damage to the ingredients, and minimises effort.

Choosing the Right Rod Material for Sharpening Steels

Whatever your environment, be it a kitchen, butchers, or anywhere else food is prepared, sharp knives are crucial. But how do you choose the perfect knife sharpening steel?

A diamond rod is the hardest and most abrasive material used in sharpening steels for knives. These qualities make them ideal for sharpening professional kitchen knives of all kinds, including chef knives, bread knives and Japanese knives.

Ceramic rods aren’t quite as hard as diamond, and they can be used for a range of blunt knives in your kitchen. Great for precise sharpening, they’re versatile and effective for sharpening pretty much any knife in your arsenal.

Steel rods are the most popular sharpening steel and are split into three grit categories. Standard grit is used for hard cut sharpening, fine grit is for maintaining professional knives and edge sharpness, and ultra fine grit makes your knives look freshly polished.

Selecting the Size and Shape of the Steel

When it comes to size, your sharpening steel should always be at least the same size as your knives, but preferably longer.

In terms of shape, rounded rods are the most common sharpening steels for knives, and they’re light and simple to use. Oval roads have a larger surface area, so they’re popular with less experienced cooks.

A squared rod is capable of two different sharpening levels, with one grit type on two of the rod sides and another grit type on the other two sides. Squared rods are generally used by professional chefs because the corners can damage knife blades if used incorrectly.

How Hard Do You Need Your Knife Sharpening Steel?

Hardness is important when choosing a knife sharpening steel, and the general rule is that a more abrasive, harder steel is required for a harder knife blade. Diamond and ceramic steels are therefore recommended for the hardest knives, and whetstones are also popular for harder knives.

How to Use Sharpening Steels for Knives

To use a knife sharpening steel, lightly point it downwards with the tip of the rod resting somewhere sturdy. Hold your knife across the steel with the back of the blade touching it, and pull the knife down across the sharpening steel at around a 20- degree angle. The blade will move diagonally while the steel stays in place, and you should repeat the process on opposite sides of the knife, five or ten times per side.

Bear in mind that sharpening steels for knives are only used for sharp, non-serrated knives.

Knife Sharpening Steel Care

To keep your sharpening steels for knives in optimal condition, you need to take care of them. Cleaning your sharpening steel will remove build-up of dirt and dust, and keep them in top condition.

You can clean sharpening steels in three ways:

  • With a damp cloth and some vinegar
  • With a plastic brush and an alkaline detergent
  • If you’re a professional, you can sterilize your knife sharpening steel, which burns off dirt and restores abrasiveness.

It’s very important to be cautious when cleaning your sharpening steel and to store it in a dry place to prevent corrosion.