Can you sharpen a knife with steel?? There's a huge misconception about sharpening a knife amongst many home cooks that i meet. So here's some basic tips on how I take care of my knives, hopefully it'll help you too! The steel is only to maintain and align the blade, if you have a habit of using the steel often enough, then your knife will maintain sharp. However if you don't, thats when the knife gets dull real quick and once your knife is dull or blunt, the only way to sharpen it is with a sha