In article , says...

Knife steels do not actually sharpen knives. They have no abrasive but
rather only allign the edge again. There should be no metal come off using a
steel.

http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/cul.../ht/honing.htm

(1) Ceramic and diamond steels most assuredly do sharpen.

(2) Conventional steels, which anyone who uses scrapers would recognize
as being "burnishers", work the edge from alternating directions,
thinning it. When it's thin enough it comes off. The pieces are tiny
and infrequent, so they don't get noticed, but they're there.


"RicodJour" wrote in message
...
What's with all of the shards? What are you guys using to sharpen
your knives - a half ******* file? I sharpen with stones once in a
blue moon. A steel is used for the day to day sharpening. It's all
that's ever needed, and I have yet to see a shard. What comes off
with the steel is dust, and that's a mineral supplement. You'd pay
top dollar for it at GNC. Iron, chromium...what's the MDR for
vanadium?

R