Steel and Strop started the way most useful gear sites do: out of frustration with the alternative. We were tired of “best knife” round-ups that read like they were written by someone who had never actually sharpened an edge, and reviews that couldn’t tell VG-10 from a butter knife.
We cover kitchen knives and the sharpening gear that keeps them working — whetstones, sharpening systems, honing steels, and the accessories around them. Some of our articles come from direct testing. Others, especially product reviews and comparisons of gear we haven’t personally put through years of use, are built from manufacturer specifications combined with consistent, long-running owner and enthusiast reporting. We say so explicitly wherever that’s the case, rather than presenting compiled research as first-hand testing we haven’t done. We’d rather be upfront about our process than pretend to an authority we haven’t earned.
How we make money
Steel and Strop is reader-supported. When you click a link to Amazon from one of our articles and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission through the Amazon Associates program, at no extra cost to you. This is disclosed on every article that contains affiliate links. It doesn’t influence which products we recommend — our opinions are our own, and we’d rather send you to a cheaper stone that actually works than a pricier one that pads our commission.
What we’re not
We’re not a knife-review mega-site with a warehouse full of test units, and we’re not a marketing arm for any single brand. We’re a small, focused publication trying to give straight, useful answers to the questions people actually have before they buy a knife or a stone: is this worth the extra money, what’s the real difference between these two steels, and will this actually make me better at sharpening.
If you have feedback, a correction, or a topic you’d like us to cover, we’d like to hear from it — see our Contact Us page.