On Oct 30, 2:12Â*am, "Josepi" wrote:

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

Well, if before I use the steel the knife won't cleanly slice paper,
and afterward it'll slice off the tiniest slivers of paper, what's the
steel doing? Dulling the blade? Of course it's sharpening it - it is
making it sharper. You use words like you're a stranger to them.

From Wiki:
"Sharpening is the process of creating or refining a sharp edge of
appropriate shape on a tool or implement designed for cutting."

Or the definitions:
sharp·en€‚ €‚/ˈʃɑrpÉ™n/
€“verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
to make or become sharp or sharper.

hone €‚/hoÊŠn/
€“noun
1. a whetstone of fine, compact texture for sharpening razors and
other cutting tools.
2. a precision tool with a mechanically rotated abrasive tip, for
enlarging holes to precise dimensions.
€“verb (used with object)
3. to sharpen on a hone: to hone a carving knife.

Please do your own homework and/or stop commenting on things you are
confused about.

The part about no metal coming off when using a steel was exactly my
point - where all of the shards people are talking about are coming
from? I don't get shards with a stone or steel - only with a file do
I get something I can actually feel.

R