I have been discussing honing steels with a mentor of mine, Dave Martell (
www.japaneseknifesharpening.com). He's helping me understand how to create a proper edge for knives used for BBQ - and how to maintain those edges. He's really generous with his time and advice. In an email today he indicated that the typical steels that come with knife sets actually do damage to knives. He recommends using a ceramic "steel." He also suggests that we not use the "acrobatics" we often associate with chefs and their steels - but use a slower "slide" concentrating on the edge. I wrote up an article about this and you can find it here with some links if you are interested in more info:
http://slowfoodrebellion.blogspot.com
Do any of you use ceramic "steels"? Thoughts?
