For the last two hundred years, F. Dick steels have been widely recognized as the best made at world fairs and other competitions. Professional butchers likely have the best understanding of steels, or honing rods. Their work demands they start with a very sharp edge and they hone their knives every ten to fifteen minutes while working. Nearly all butchers use a polished or fine cut steel because they remove a minimum amount of metal from the edge of the knife. They will only realign the existing edge, which is what a steel is designed to do.

Our recommendation is to work with a very fine stone to rebuild your edge and a fine-cut F. Dick steel to keep it straight. When you are working as a carver / butcher, honing your knife four to six times an hour, for a full shift, you will probably want to use a Friedrich Dick polished steel in order to avoid wearing the edge down. Most cooks hone the knife before starting work or after taking it to the sharpening stone. For them, the F. Dick regular cut steel works well. If you keep the knife edge aligned, you won’t have to grind a new edge as often and the knife lasts longer.