GGs;
The F. Dick site differentiates this way: coarse steels for the
household, medium for chefs, and fine for butchers. Makes some kind of
sense....
http://www.dick.de/en/tools-for-chefs-and-butchers/sharpening-
steels">http://www.dick.de/en/tools-for-chefs-and-butchers/sharpening-steels
--
Steve in Kokomo
On Sat, Oct 4, 2014, at 07:02 AM, Thomas Conroy wrote:
> Kermit Perlmutter wrote: "I have never seen a truly smooth knife steel.
> Anyone have a photo? I love older steels for their fine teeth."
>
> I don't have any dead-smooth steels, but learned about them from books, a
> long time ago. One was that very strange book by a very strange man, John
> Juranitch's "The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening." I find, though, on
> re-reading a few pages of Juranich that he isn't outspoken that the
> smooth steels he talks about are really dead smooth and polished. The
> clearest statement I have to hand is from a slightly less strange book by
> a slightly less strange man: Merle Ellis' "Cutting-up in the Kitchen: a
> butcher's guide to saving money on meat and poultry" Ellis began training
> for a career as a butcher at 13, then somehow sidestepped into television
> as a producer for NBC and with his own production company. Somehow he
> ended up back in a butcher's shop, his own, in Tiburon up in Marin, at
> the end of a ferry line from San Francisco. In 1975, "Now, in a time of
> high-flying meat prices, he has undertaken a consumer-oriented syndicated
> newspaper column and this timely
> book." Timely? Just as the yuppieocracy was switching to mung beans,
> tofu, and quiche as tenets of faith? I like red meat, myself, though I
> can't often afford it; I hope the Sprout-Eaters didn't martyr him with
> his own cleavers. Maybe Ellis' sense of timing is why he didn't stay in
> TV production.
>
>
> OK, seriously, this is a good and knowledgeable book, written for the
> layman. I wish I had more need for it. On steels, Ellis says: "There are
> several different types of steel and almost certainly the one you have,
> the one that came with the carving set, is the wrong type. Most
> 'home-type' steels are much too rough and give the knife a saw-toothed
> edge.
> "The steel that hangs off a hook on the belt of a guy who makes his
> living boning necks in a packing house is as smooth as a mirror and
> the knife he uses is as sharp as a razor.
> "Between the rough steel that came with the carving set and the
> mirror smooth finish of a packing house steel, there is just the
> right steel for your purpose. It has a medium surface, not smooth but
> nearer to that than coarse. It is 10 or 12 inches in length and may
> be either round, flat or oval in shape....
> [long clip]...."For my money there is but one steel: F. DICK. Ask any
> butcher you know who made his steel."
>
> Tom Conroy
> Berkeley
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
> To change your subscription options:
> http://rucku
s.law.cornell.edu/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>
> To read the FAQ:
> http://swingleydev.com/archi
ve/faq.html
>
> OldTools archive: http://swingleydev.com/archive/">http://swingleydev.com/archive/
>
> OldTools@r...
> http://rucku
s.law.cornell.edu/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
|