Review on Farberware Angle Bolster Sharpening Steel by Stephanie Powells

You see people sharpen knives very effectively by pressing steel, but they are not used as effectively. You need it: it straightens the blade of a knife after it's been sharpened on a whetstone or whetstone, but straightening doesn't really do anything. another after sharpening. You can feel that rounded edge with the graininess of a thumbprint: Rub (oh my god, not DOWN) the edge with your thumb and you'll feel that one direction is rougher and the other smoother. The rough direction is where the microscopic edge rolls off. You line up this edge (vertically) by running it across the steel. Imagine pushing the curled edge back up. You only need a few taps in one direction. Check the edge by cutting the edge of the crisp printer paper. It should dive through smoothly; no jagged edges, and your knife hasn't been set up yet. So if you have a pre-installed sharpener like this or are using a whetstone, use this steel as the final step in setting up your knife blades. So. The sharpening steel basically pushes the edge of the knife back into the center and straightens it. . Honing doesn't actually sharpen the knife. Sharpening steel should be made before each use, touch the blade and check to understand how it works. I do this for my friends: when we cook together their knives inevitably get dull and I sharpen them and then bring the steel to the edge to finish them. So you need steel, and it's great if your knife set doesn't have one.