Steel stropping

[redhawk44357]

I have an old gerber sharpening steel and a Ezelap diamond steel. Both would be considered in the fine range. Could these be used for the final touch up on a edge, instead of a stropping leather?

[JD Spydo]

I've also got some interesting butcher/sharpening steels. I have some of the German made "F. Dick" sharpening steels and I've been told they are the best available. The one I use the most is my "F. Dick" Poliron super smooth steel. It sort of burnishes the edge and really straightens and aligns the edge.
I've got a few other steels as well. I have steels made by Victorinox, Dexter Russell, and Orion. I've been told that with the newer/better blade steels that sharpening steels are no longer as important as they once were. But I still like experimenting with those German made "F. Dick" sharpening steels I got from a restaurant supply company a few years back.
I wish I had more of the diamond steels. Those are handy on job sites.

[Pelagic]

There are steels and there are sharpening rods. I don't like the word "hone" because it literally means "to sharpen (a blade)". But steels generally are for apex re-alignment and do not remove steel. They DO make they edge sharper and therefore your blade lasts longer, but edge retention gets worse with every touch up as you continuously bend the apex back and forth. Sharpening rods remove steel and are excellent sharpeners on their own. Just be mindful of the tip of the blade and the fact that you cannot sharpen down to the ricasso unless you have a rather large sharpening choil. I think maintaining angles and properly minding the belly of a blade are both easier on sharpening rods than on stones.

[soc_monki]

I don't even strop... I go up to the ultrafine rods on my sharpmaker, and have no trouble popping hair off my arm, and can do curly cues cutting paper. Don't really need it any sharper or more refined than that!

[Pelagic]

I don't even strop... I go up to the ultrafine rods on my sharpmaker, and have no trouble popping hair off my arm, and can do curly cues cutting paper. Don't really need it any sharper or more refined than that!

A valid point. To me there's just something nice about carving wood with an extremely sharp, highly polished blade (200k+ grit). The UF stones leave a remarkable edge. I'm often fine with a 325 or 600 grit edge straight off the DMT (in 600 I have the stone and the rod). Just depends on what I'm cutting.