PROPER USE OF STEEL
Your knives are an important investment. With proper care and sharpening, your knives can remain as sharp as the day you bought them.

Every knife’s sharp edge is made up of thousands of fine cutting teeth. With repeated use, these cutting teeth flatten out. It is a fallacy that a sharpening steel will restore a knife’s sharpness to its factory edge. For that, we recommend the regular use of a knife sharpening service. However, the regular use of sharpening steels will at least help re-align the cutting teeth and maintain the new KNIFEX edge.

Before you hone your knife, first make sure you are familiar with how to use your sharpening steel, of which there are various styles available. Sharpening steels should match the size of a knife, which means the steel should be a little longer than the knife so you can properly arch the whole knife blade against it. You should only use steels that have a protective guard at the base of the handle. Some older steels have no guard, which is very dangerous--especially after you’ve re-edged a knife! Also, make sure you inspect the steel to ensure it still has some grain on it. Once polished steels are worn out, they are incapable of properly re-aligning the cutting teeth, at which point they the steels should be replaced. When you’re ready to hone your knife, run it in an arching motion across the sharpening steel, maintaining a 20-degree angle. Use light pressure across the steel and repeat a minimum of five times, alternating from side to side.