New life for a kitchen steel?

[HWooldridge]

I'll preface this question with a short backstory.  My mom's father did a lot of home butchering - back in the Depression and WW2 he traveled around within our family (which was quite numerous then) and the local neighbors to butcher hogs and cattle whenever anyone needed it done, often in barter for some meat.  He was given a kitchen steel as a wedding present when he married my grandmother in 1925 and eventually it was passed on to me at his death as I was the only person who had use for it.  I also inherited a couple of his butcher knives but they are so worn down that they look like ice picks.

 

The problem is that the cutting texture on the surface of the steel is so worn and polished that it really won't sharpen much anymore.  Near the handle, some remnants of the original texture can be seen and it appears to have been a fine cut when new but not much remains after all these years.

 

This steel has no collectors value to leave as-is and I would just as soon use it then pass along to one of my sons but I need to renew the surface so it will cut again.  Has anyone here either made a kitchen steel from scratch or renewed one?  About all I can think to do is get some really coarse sandpaper - like maybe 40 grit - and rub it lengthwise to raise some coarseness.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Hollis W

[doc]

I've renewed  them by annealing/normalizing (if you can get the handle off) and then draw filing with a double cut file. You have to keep the file aligned so the angle of their cut across the file is parallel with the length or axis of the steel. This will give you the fine texture you want.

  Next is re-hardening, you can wrap in stainless HT foil or cover with clay so you don't ruin the new sharpening texture and quench. Then temper as hard as you dare, so it will stay sharp for another generation or two. :)    

[oof]

a proper steel is not meant to remove metal, but to realign the edge.

 

mark

[knots]

I posted a similar thread a while back, probably a year or more ago.   You might look for that thread.   I have a really old steel from my grand mother's estate.   I used an extra course diamond hone and draw the hone down the length of the steel.  It doesn't take much texture to do the job.  Some say none ( no texture) is needed for a properly sharpened blade.

[HWooldridge]

I've renewed  them by annealing/normalizing (if you can get the handle off) and then draw filing with a double cut file. You have to keep the file aligned so the angle of their cut across the file is parallel with the length or axis of the steel. This will give you the fine texture you want.   Next is re-hardening, you can wrap in stainless HT foil or cover with clay so you don't ruin the new sharpening texture and quench. Then temper as hard as you dare, so it will stay sharp for another generation or two. :)    

I wire brushed it tonight and got the surface clean enough that I could see what was left of the lines. They appear made by machine and rotate slowly part way around the axis - like very slow rifling. In addition, the line count is a consistent 112 lines per inch. I can still feel lines in some places with my fingernail but they are pretty rolled over. I wonder if acid etching would recut it like renewing a file?

[doc]

Hollis, an acid etch might work. I think I would start out with something mild like white vinegar or muriatic if I were to try it.

[HWooldridge]

Thanks for the information and suggestions.  I have several other newer steels so I may just clean this one up and hang it on the wall as a testament to a life of work.

 

BTW, I looked this model up on the 'net and it's an old "KeenKutter" - worth about $35 as an antique.

[bigfootnampa]

Yeah I renew steels like that all the time.  Some guys say that they do not need the teeth or grooves and that smooth is fine... but I do think they work better with the grooves.  I don't try to copy the original grooves at all but just use a coarse diamond dressing tool (made for dressing grindstones) to create random scratch patterns in a vertical orientation (along the length of the steel).  By using the diamonds I avoid having to reheat-treat the steels (diamonds think that hardened steel is soft stuff).  I sometimes knock off any excess burring caused by this process with a little sandpaper before putting the steel back in service.  My theory is that the grooves in the steels help to trap and tear away the fine wire edge left after honing or sharpening.  Lately I have come to prefer a 600 grit diamond steel for this purpose and get very fine edges with a simple two step process grinding to 120 grit and using the diamond steel to take off the wire edges.  I still have regular steels stashed wherever I might need them to touch up an edge though.

[Michael]

They make wonderful long punches

[Charles R. Stevens]

My experience leads me to belive that one should have two steels, one smoth to role the edge back to center, and one to touch up the edge. If you go looking for one these days, usualy you find them with pretty aggressive texture. These are designed to maintain an edge on the harder grades of stainless, as a smothe one doesn't seem to touch them. But they are also nice to touch up your plane steel blades wince they're worn down a bit.
In my kitchen I have a steal of a similar vintage, it's part of an Army cooks kit, it's smooth as glass, I also keep a diamond hone from a farriers supply, I don't remember the brand, but it's the cheap one with the blue handle and the hollow tube. The black handles one from Mustad isn't worth the money.

[DevilWorx]

In Australia the old timers would sand the grooves off and paint with iodine, which would rust it, they would then remove the rust and etch again with iodine, then remove that rust again and oil. It was said to produce a very good steel for sharpening. 

[HWooldridge]

My other steels are much newer (I bought them within the last 20 years or so) and they are all pretty aggressive.  I'm going to keep this old one as a "fine" steel to use as a second step after the coarse pass.

[Charles R. Stevens]

I use my smoth steel every time I use my plane steel knives (and about every 5 minuets when skinning a pig) and only sharpening them when nessisary. This keeps them "tomato" slicing sharp.
Infact, one of the two traditional (actually there are 6-8 more) acrutriment to a kirkri is a small smoth steel.

[Francis Trez Cole]

As a Chef and butcher there is one thing no one has said a steel has to be magnetic to work. that is the key not the texture of the steel. a leather razor strap dose the same thing. When you sharpen a knife you add a very fine burr and in steeling the knife you straighten the burr. The best way to test is lay your knife flat on its side on the table and with the tip of the steel at the tip of the knife see if you can lift it a little. Some people will use the back side of an other knife as a steel. I would wash it real good with hot soapy water and a green scratch pad. get all the old oil off of it first. then test. the more you use it the better it will work the magnesium will get a little stronger over time you are not going to be able to pick up a paper clip with it but its for straightening the burr  

[iron woodrow]

does it have a makers stamp?

i have an old "pipe" brand steel, and it is really smooth, the perfect finishing steel.

old meat workers have been known to do awful things to obtain "pipe" steels.....

[HWooldridge]

does it have a makers stamp?

i have an old "pipe" brand steel, and it is really smooth, the perfect finishing steel.

old meat workers have been known to do awful things to obtain "pipe" steels.....

It's marked "Keen Kutter" - which apparently are still made.  Simmons Hardware owned the brand during the time period when my grandpa got his steel.

[lerryvon]

You can use 40 grit sandpaper and hone stone for remove coarseness and bring sharpness and I think  it will be a good treatment for your steel knife.

[GNJC]

I have not refurbished steels, but I have made a couple of them. Both were pretty course since the best ways I could come up with to create the grooves was to repeatedly pull the steel along a fine cut saw or the edge of a file.

 

I have a particular interest in old (18th Century) cooking gear and have not come across any instructions for or records of the making of butchers' steels.

 

I guess that file cutters may have made sharpening steels too, any info' or thoughts on this from anyone?