Honing Steel Black Plastic Handle

After giving my favorite steel to my daughter and teaching her how to hone her knives, I began looking for a replacement. I read many reviews on many different brands, and came across this one. It intrigued me about the fact that it had 2 different surfaces to use. Having been a meat cutter for 10 years, I was very familiar with the Victorinox name and reputation. As any person who cuts food for a living knows, a good steel is a necessity and if you don't have one, it's like trying to work with one arm tied behind your back. I decided to purchase it and give it a try. I'm glad I did. There is a definite difference in the "bite" the two sides offer, and it's evident to me at least, that using both sides makes the touch up of the edge quicker and with less effort. Even though I went from a 14" steel to this 12" model, it handles my 10" chef's knife well. True, the handle is nothing to look at, as it's black plastic and not shaped wood like my old one, but I'm not displaying this on the counter as a showpiece. It's a valuable tool to keep my knives sharp and nothing more. This steel is more than worth the money, and I would recommend highly. Even if you have an inexpensive set of knives that comes with one of those cheap, short steels, I would say to spend the few bucks to buy this. Keep the short steel to fill the hole in your counter display block, but use this one to do the work.

Fue para regalo, pero creo que me compraré una para mí.La usé y me gustó mucho.

This is an excellent knife sharpener to accompany the Victorinox line of kitchen knives, and it has an undocumented trick a lot of people seem to be confused about- combo surfaces.YES IT HAS TWO DIFFERENT SURFACES! Opposite sides of the steel are in two different patterns. There's a ridged "sharpening" side, and a smooth "honing" side. Most consumer kitchen "honing" rods are actually slightly abrasive like the ridged portion of this steel. This results in a less than perfect edge, but it performs a slight amount of sharpening so you can maintain a "good enough" edge for most kitchen use longer in between having to give your knives a professional resharpening. Smooth rods are less common, they perform no sharpening and only help to realign the existing cutting edge- this will only help maintain an existing edge longer, it does not "resharpen" the blade. Professionals often prefer smooth steels because they have an in-house program to get their knives professionally resharpened whenever they need it.Pros:-Long. At 12", this steel should be long enough to safely sharpen any home knife.-Two different surfaces, a ridged sharpening side and smooth honing side.-Adequate construction. Victorinox often use inexpensive plastic handles to reduce cost. They grip well in any condition, and the cheaper price is worth it.Cons:-Honestly I'm sure they could make the handle a bit nicer without affecting the price. It still grips well, but it's enough of an eyesore that I stash it away in a drawer between uses.-Doesn't come with sufficient documentation, leaving people confused about what the different surfaces are for.Overall highly recommended.

Good product

This is an excellent combo steel that should be adequate to cover most any kitchen use. However, it is a bit heavy overall and tip-heavy in particular (the 10" version might be better in this respect). I use the grooved part for steeling German knives with very hard steel that doesn't respond to the smooth part. The smooth part is good for putting a fine edge back on softer steel knives without causing wear as might happen with a grooved steel. I took one star off because the steel arrived with several small knicks on both the grooved and smooth parts. Fortunately, the damage was near the handle and the tip and doesn't seriously affect use of the steel. Although I suspect the damage occurred during shipping (as the steel was only wrapped in a thin plastic bag), I cannot rule out it being a factory second or returned item. At any rate, such a fine steel deserves to be shipped in more protective packaging.