The Ultimate Edge 12W 12-Inch Oval Diamond Sharpening Steel
Although steels often are touted as sharpening tools, few actually sharpen knife blades, but they do perform the vital task of realigning, or resetting, edges, which bend when contacting a cutting surface or other hard object. Because this tool's rod contains microcrystalline diamonds bonded with nickel to an oval steel shaft it's hard enough to somewhat sharpen a blade. Using this steel won't replace a professional sharpening job, which proceeds from coarse grinding to ever-finer grinding at tightly controlled angles. However, it will lengthen intervals between sharpenings better than a steel without diamonds because it accomplishes the final task of a professional sharpening, which is polishing the edge with its 600-grit mesh to a fine point.The rule is that a steel should be at least as long as the knife blade being drawn across it and this steel's 12-inch rod is short for most household knives. Lightweight and durable, the tool has a rugged plastic handle with a hanging hole, can be used for serrated knives as well as straight-edge blades, and also is useful for filing glass, crystal, and china.--Fred Brack