"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
u...


More important, stainless steel is very hard, which is why better
kitchen
knives are NOT stainless. The material is almost impossible to sharpen
without a machine, and chefs need to touch up knives constantly, using
a
steel. This relates to spades because they get dull quickly, and
should be
touched up with a flat file kept in the garage. The performance
difference
is amazing, in case you've never tried this. It takes about a minute
to put
the spade in shape to cut through soil like butter (almost).



You use a soft material so that it can be easily sharpened but loses its
edge quickly?

You use a "soft enough" material so it can be resharpened quickly. The
reason is speed: When chefs are working, they don't head for a sharpening
machine or a stone. They grab the steel (the rod-shaped abrasive tool) to
touch up their blades in under 5 seconds so they can go back to work. Trying
this with stainless steel is like ****ing into the wind. This is why carbon
steel knives like Wusthof and Henckel are found in the hands of most
professional chefs.

And you don't use a hard material that keeps its edge longer than a soft
one because it is too hard to sharpen?

When knives (or spades) lose their edge in a major way, it's usually because
of accidental contact with items which damage them, like rocks (for spades),
or metal objects like sink edges or cooking pans (for knives). This will
happen just as easily to stainless steel as it will to normal steel spades.
What matters at that point is speed. Is the average busy gardener going to
go find the drill, the abrasive wheel (if he/she even has one), or haul the
shovel into the basement to the bench grinder (which most folks don't own)?
No. You want a soft material that you can sharpen quickly with a file, which
is hanging next to the garden tools, and requires to extension cord or setup
time.


Not all stainless steel is especially hard. Most chefs' knives
(including the better ones) in the specialty equipment shops around here
are stainless steel and this does not stop them being polished on a
steel or sharpened with a stone. If fact some of the "better" chefs'
knives are ceramic which is so hard that they cannot be sharpened at all
except in the factory. All of whcih probably has nothing to do with
spades.

Well, everyone eventually mangles the edge of their spade. And as I said,
not everyone has a grinding wheel (the garden equivalent of the chef's
sharpening machine or stone). Based on my experience, the ability to sharpen
a spade quickly is important, especially when trying to cut clean lines to
remove turf, while creating or expanding garden beds. Otherwise, you end up
shoving the grass down into the earth, rather than slicing cleanly through
it. And, a sharper spade allows you to slice UNDER portions of turf, leaving
more soil in place.