WÜSTHOF 10" Sharpening Steel

Excellent quality. I'm a snob when it comes to kitchen tools and this works perfectly for keeping my blade straight and sharp in between sharpening with a stone. Can't go wrong

I didn't realize how badly my 25-year-old sharpening steel had dulled until I started using this one. There are many similar steels available at lower prices, but I find Wusthof products to be well worth their cost. I prefer to hold a steel upright with the tip on a cutting board and, holding the knife at a 15-degree angle, gently swipe it down each side of the steel several times. You can sense which side the blade has curled and swipe it more times on that side until in slides easily. Then hone the blade with a ceramic rod.

Wow - I read an article in Family Handyman about sharpening your own knives. They recommended starting out with the Wüsthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener, then finishing with a sharpening steel. So... We've had knives that I've tried to sharpen before but didn't know how. Was a pain in the butt. So we kept getting new knives. Now we have a drawer full of them. I bought this steel and the 2-stage sharpener, pulled a dull knife out of the drawer, and about 5 minutes later the thing was SHARP! So I kept going, and now we have a drawer full of super sharp knives that are a PLEASURE to use. The secret here is to use the carbide part of the 2-stage sharpener for really dull knives. Run it through enough times 'till it "catches" on your fingernail when you slide it down (perpendicular, not parallel...). Then go to the ceramic part and slide the knife 10 or so times. Both are set up so the knife is held at the correct angle. Finally, pull out your steel, place it TIP DOWN on a cutting board. Position your knife so it's at about a 25 degree angle to the steel. Easy to do if you start at 90 degrees, then cut that in half to 45, then cut in half again. Then firmly but gently run the blade down the steel, pulling it toward you as you slide it downward. Do that a few times on each side, and you're guaranteed a sharp edge. The way to keep it sharp is to run it down the steel a few times each time YOU FINISH USING IT. Cutting with the knife will cause very fine deviations in the edge of the blade. Running it on the steel straightens the edge back up. i love things that make my life easier. This does so, and at a good price. And... I threw away two other sharpening steels after using the Wüsthof. A previous reviewer mentioned how quickly it works, and he's right!

this steel is well built with a substantal handle, it also weighs quite a bit more than my last one. the texture on the steel is pretty agressive. I see the cuttings from my carbon steel knives. it also works well on my vg-10 blade. I would purchase this again, though i may find a finer texture steel or a true hone also.

If you love your knives, a good sharpening steel is a must for daily mainenance. This one is sturdy, stable, and hefty (all good things). 10/10!

To clarify, this is a honing steel, not a sharpening steel as the title suggests. The actual product says honing. Honing and sharpening are two different things. This is my explanation of what honing is: if you look at a brand new knife's edge under a microscope you will see a straight line. As you use your knives more and more that line will start to get wavy and lose some sharpness. This honing steel is meant to make those waves straight again. It's not meant to sharpen. If you need to sharpen your blades, you can do that with a whetstone or a proper sharpening steel (I use a whetstone to sharpen). To use, tilt the knife so that there is a 14-degree angle between the knife and the steel. If you honing an Asian styled knife, tilt the knife to a 10-degree angle. Gently pull the blade toward you while gliding it downward, ending with the top of the knife at the bottom of the steel. Be sure to maintain the correct angle as you go. A fairly sharp knife may only need 2-3 repetitions, while a dull knife will need more. I like the simplicity of this design, and the only thing that I would critique is that the little red logo is a sticker. It's not manufactured into the handle bar, which means it could easily be peeled off. If that happens, how will anyone know this was a Wüsthof? Ha-rumpf. That's really it. The steel is magnetic so whatever microscopic particles come off the blade sticks to this. You can then wipe it with a wet paper towel to clean it off. This was easy to use and you should get one if you want to maintain the knives in your kitchen. Recommended.

Very good.

Easy to use and does the job. If you feel yours doesn't I suggest you watch a video on how to use one because the movement matters, along with the angle you hold your knife at. The key is always knowing the angle of the knife edge and making sure you are maintaining that angle through the entire movement. Note to some. This is the same thing as a honing steel. They do the same thing. Even though this is called a sharpening steel, it isn't meant for a dull knife. It's meant for daily or near daily conditioning of the knife edge. Daily means when it's used of course, not pulling your knives out of the drawers and conditioning each one. If you do light cutting, you don't need to use each time, but if you are cutting through dense things and coming down hard on a cutting board then you need to use it each time. The edge gets tiny damage that honing will take care of. Even using this the way you should, you will have to sharpen your knives every so often, and the time duration depends on your usage so it's impossible to when. Basically you remember how well the knife cut when you first got it. When honing doesn't get you back to that, then you either sharpen it with something made specifically for that or you take you knifes to a person who has a good reputation who understands blade angles and will ensure they sharpen your knives at the correct angles.