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Sharpening Steel

I am very confused. Is this merely a chrome plated steel rod for keeping an edge straight, or is it supposed to be abrasive to allow "honing" as they said in the video? If it's the latter, how the heck does it possess any sort of a cutting edge after all of that post-hardening machining? Also, why did they wait until the whole damn thing is hard to drill and tap the tang?
 
The tang wouldn't be hard, like the tang of a file or shank of a drill. Shaper part was neat.

That reminds me I need to calibrate my sanding belts lol.
 
I do not believe they are chrome plating after shaping the cutting edges.
Most times the narrator is clueless, and the film splicer knows even less about the product being represented.
 
I would think they would drill & tap the end when it's turned or right after or before, then they have a center.
 
I use a steel a lot in the kitchen. It's very effective for maintaining an edge over weeks or months of use, and pretty much useless for sharpening "from scratch". They don't really have cutting edges, per se, certainly not sharp ones. "Honing" is probably as good a term as any for the action of a sharpening steel on a knife edge, but it's not like having sharp abrasive particles grinding the knife edge.

I've never paid big bucks for a sharpening steel, and frankly have never seen a chrome-plated one. I could easily believe that they are made from chrome-vanadium or chrome-molybdenum steel, however.
 
I'm something of a student of sharpening methods for hand tools, and still don't quite know how steels really work. I poo-poohed them for years but of course friends in the food business rely on them, and I tried one a few times (we have some in the drawer with wife's inherited knives).

I sort of think they work more like a rough version of a burnisher (as used on woodoworking scrapers) to draw the edge out thinner. They probably also roughen it, sort of microscopic saw teeth that make it catch more easily. Or like a scythe. I used to mow with a scythe, and you have to not only stone the edge routinely, but sometimes hammer it out or draw it out thinner. The work hardening also helps.

Good on traditional carbon steel knives. Probably not recommended for users of high end laminated chefs knives, though. :)

smt
 
I worked as a cattle surgeon years ago and steels were used frequently to keep an edge on your knife. One of the things I was told by the older guys is that a steel will always work if it is magnetic. I am not sure how that would make the the thing work unless its magnetic qualities pull off microscopic bits of knife blade as the blade travels down the length of the steel.
I have seen chrome plated ones - usually in carving sets targeted towards the homeowner.
 
Sears Roebuck used to sell chrome plated files(dull surfaced hard chrome). I had one back about 1958. At the time,I didn't like its looks,but I had no real reason to not like it other than that.

Now they sell these "Valtitian" needle files for filing platinum,considered a hard metal by jewelers,used to filing silver and gold. They are nothing but chrome plated files,too.Highly touted and more expensive than regular files. I bought some of them when I was toolmaker in the museum,just to see what all the fuss was about. They looked like they were just chrome plated like the old Sears file.

Back in the 70's or 80's,Wholesale Tool sold some Chinese rasps with straight sides,looking like some 18th. C. rasps. I bought some,since they were only about $1.50 each. They had tiny,hand cut teeth. They looked like they had been very lightly sprayed with silver paint,which did not fit into our 18th. C. setting in the museum. I tried removing it,but it turned out to be a very thin chrome plating!

Now,these SAME rasps are being sold at some luthier's supply houses for $40 to $50.00! They call them "Dragon rasps"(an appropriate name for a Chinese made tool,since the names "dragon" and "tiger" are very commonly used names in their culture. I have known more than one Chinese guy nicknamed "Tiger". I sure would not give the prices they are now asking! I think the original rasps were not even hardened,relying upon the chrome wash coating to give the teeth a hard cutting edge. It didn't work!! The teeth were tiny,and easily broke off,and you could nearly see through the ultra thin chrome plating!!
 
They don't show a tempering step. Which brings to mind, are (good) files even tempered?

Didn't bother to see where the Euro is since the election, but the steels in the video appear to sell for something close to $250.00 (170.58 Euros. Or 12 Euros cheaper with a mere Olive wood handle instead of the oak wine barrel version. :) )

smt
 
I would think they would drill & tap the end when it's turned or right after or before, then they have a center.

I don't understand the drilling and tapping....Yet they do not show anything screwing into those threads. In fact....at the 4:12 point....they show the handle being attached. I don't see anything screwed into the threaded tang. Furthermore....If you watch a little longer...You can make out what appears to be spot welds where the handle frame is welded to the main body.

What am I missing ??
 
They don't show a tempering step. Which brings to mind, are (good) files even tempered?

Yeah, to some extent, and dressed at the same time. Hardening almost always warps parts, so an important step is to warm the blades and look down along them. The file maker uses a wooden mallet.
 
I heated the rifflers I have made dozens of,by hardening first while they were coated with PBC "No Scale",available from Brownell's Gunsmith Supply. Then,I'd dip the end of the rifflers into water,and heat them till the water boiled off. Wait a second,then quench at once. Old timers called this "Taking the snap out of it".

File makers would also heat up warped files to a light yellow color( before straw) and catch them for bending between 2 wooden dowels driven into a heavy chunk of wood. While they are hot,you can bend files like noodles till they are straight again. This works amazingly well. Things that would snap off at once can readily be bent as long as they are still a few hundred degrees hot.
 








 
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