Differences in Honing Steels

If your knife is getting dull, use a honing steel to get back the edge.preparation of food image by Francois du Plessis from Fotolia.com

When you use a knife repeatedly its sharpness gradually begins to decline. The reason for this dulling is that the tiny sharp edges on the knife get bent down from use. Honing steels are used to straighten out the bent pieces and put a sharp edge back on the knife between knife sharpenings to make the knife easier and safer to use. There are different types of honing steels commonly used in the kitchen and elsewhere. Each comes in a different size and grain texture and some are also magnetic to collect loose metal shavings.

Chrome Steel

For a steel to be effective in sharpening a knife, the steel rod that the knife scrapes against must be of an adequate hardness to bend the edge of the blade back to where it belongs. An all-carbon knife is the softest of the common knives and is the most appropriate for use with a chrome honing steel. A chrome honing steel is not recommended for use with harder knives such as high-carbon or very-high-carbon steel types, according to the Cooks Wares website.

For many years all-carbon steel was the most common type of knife-making steel, but because it is susceptible to rust and stains it has been replaced by other harder versions. When using a chrome honing steel it is very important to know which type of knife material you plan to sharpen.

Ceramic rods are not technically honing steels because they are made of ceramic and contain no steel. However, they look similar to those made of steel and perform the same function. The difference is that ceramic is harder than steel. High-carbon or very-high-carbon steel knives are a good match with ceramic rods. The hardness of the ceramic can straighten out the bent, dull blade of a hard metal knife with just a few quick passes against the rod.

For very-high-carbon steel cutlery, the diamond steel is the preferred type of honing device for the job. According to the Culinary Institute of America, these steels are impregnated with bits of diamond to provide the ultimate in hard-knife honing. Actual diamonds are harder than any type of knife and can therefore sharpen even a very-high-carbon stainless steel knife to a fine edge. Softer metal knives such as an all-carbon knife should be used with care against a diamond honing steel to prevent excessive breakage of the metal.