Sharpening Steels and Micro Bevels

[Herman Trivilino]

I have a kitchen knife that I could no longer sharpen with a steel. Looking at it with my 40X scope I saw that it had a micro bevel on it where the steel had been applied. I estimate the bevel width to be about 0.5 mm. To get rid of it I had to prepare the grindstone coarse and it took quite a few passes to raise a burr, even though it appeared I had created a new bevel all the way to the edge.

My technique with this knife was to test its sharpness by sliding it over my thumb nail. Whenever it got too dull to pass this test I'd sharpen it with the steel. I found that as this process was repeated I had to apply ever more force with the steel to get it sharp again. I purposely waited until the steel could no longer sharpen it before I took it out of the kitchen and into the shop for sharpening.