My wife’s aunt sent us some Omaha Steaks for Christmas, and they came with a free cutlery set. Free large, bendy knives! Yay!!
Anyway, included in the set was a sharpening or honing steel. We don’t have one otherwise. Is there any problem with a (presumably) cheap one? Can a bad one damage a knife blade, or will the sharpening steel just wear out quickly?
I am not an expert so take this with a grain of salt.
I have had very good luck with sharpening steels.
My favorite is an old Schrade Old Timer Flat one, I have a Chicago cutlery round one that works pretty good too.
I don’t think they are a really expensive thing to produce so a cheap one may work fine.
If it’s really crappy I don’t think it would ruin a good knife, just fail to sharpen it.
My .02 worth based on using the ones I have for 20+ years.
Easy does it, a light touch is best.
Is it made of steel? Ok to use. You just need something you can draw your blade along to re-align the edge. Going expensive really buys you nothing functionally here.
I know you realize this but a steel does not sharpen your knives.
If your knife is dull a steel will do nothing. You need to sharpen it.
All a steel does is keep it sharp a bit longer by keeping the edge aligned (of course an aligned edge will cut better).