Does a honing rod really sharpen a knife? To find out, Lisa bought nine honing rods and put them to the test.
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I LOVE THESE REVIEWS!!! So valuable.
I hone my knives with the bottom of my ceramic dishes, works pretty well for how much it costs!
The key is to understand that "honing" doesn't mean "sharpening". A honing rod will never actually sharpen a blade, as that isn't its job! Quality chef's knives have a very fine cutting edge where the metal is very thin. This thin edge is easily damaged if the blade hits a hard surface, such as bone, a hard kitchen surface, or other knives in storage. Parts of the knife's cutting edge become bent over, mean the knife isn't as efficient at cutting. But, that fine sharp edge is still there. You don't need to grind a new sharp edge, you only need to realign that metal to restore the knife's sharpness. This is called "honing". No metal is removed, but the existing sharp edge is gently realigned. This is important, as if you were constantly removing metal to 'sharpen' your knives, they wouldn't last very long.
Turning to true "sharpening" (which is only needed once honing to blade no longer works) then that's where you use a diamond rod of an oil stone to actually grind a new cutting edge, rather than simply restoring minor damage to the blade by "honing" those minor dings out without removing metal. As an amateur chef, you might use a diamond rod or an oil stone perhaps once a year on a quality steel knife. It's highly unlikely your knives would get enough use to require actual grinding metal away to form a new edge more than this. It's also why a diamond rod is probably an ill-advised purchase, as its ease-of-use compared to an oil stone means you'll be tempted to use it far too often. This being the case, your best advice is to only use a traditional honing steel on your knives and, maybe once a year to visit your local butcher to entrust actual grinding sharpening of your knives professionally to an expert!
As for ceramic honing rods, these are just like the traditional European-style honing steel, but are better suited to Oriental knives which are made of a harder steel that would quickly wear out a traditional steel. Again, think about this, there's a reason thar European knives are made of slightly softer steel, and that's because it allows us to hone those kinks out of the cutting edge by realigning the bent edge without losing metal. "Honing" is your friend; "Sharpening" isn't something for us amateurs — and absolutely stay away from those worktop sharpening tools !
Excellent video!
Thanks 🙂
My sister also has 9 rods in her drawer, with different textures, different lengths from 8 to 12 inches as well. Wonder what they do.
Very well done. Thank you for putting it up.
I just saw a chef pull the knife straight across from right to left
They are conflating honing with sharpening. Honing is just to maintain an edge. Sharpening restores an edge that has dulled. Knifed should be honed after every use but sharpened only when necessary as sharpening removes steel and shortens the life of the blade.
It’s 70 bucks now for the Bob Kramer Double-Cut Sharpening Steel . Thanks to inflation and Biden
great video.
I know I am late to this, but I have to sincerely thank Lisa and ATK for this video! I was struggling with dull knives and very confused about what to do. I'm also a bit accident prone, and needed a simple and safe approach. We purchased the runner up from this video (it's a bit more $ now, two years later, but still worth it to us because it will pay for itself over time), practiced on an old knife, and had all of our knives slicing paper in a few minutes! Thank you also to Idahone for a wonderful product!
I have the Kramer rod, but still, my whetstone and strop do a better job on my aogami super knife. These rods are more useful when you have western style knives 🙁
1:13 She didn't have to cuss. Greetings from Germany
Oh so that is how it's done.
Can you use the winning steel on japanese knives? If not, than I'd say the ceramic rod is more versatile.
instead of cutting inward edge, why not do the opposite, slicing the edge away from the rod so that the edge wouldn't be dulled? imagine pressing the edge on the rod and grind the edge against the rough surface would potentially dull the edge right?
I even hone the small steak knives in my collection. A dull knife is a dangerous knife.
I meant Wedgek HXT .
Week HXT Ceramic ! All the way !
Very impressed by the testing explanation, depth of or degree of testing various aspects. No consumer reports nonsense here where you have no idea what the test parameters or conditions are. The mechanism by which you test is crucial. I like this from America's Test Kitchen.
your video is inaccurate. this is by definition sharpening. see attached and people will know truth about these tools. its unfortunate that until someone did proper research we've all been misinformed. https://scienceofsharp.com/2018/08/22/what-does-steeling-do-part-1/
lol that mit scope really stinks. you need to go to something like an SEM image
I have a diamond honing rod and a steel one , best to have both 🙂
I worked in a butcher shop and they used these everyday
My new honing rod was delivered this morning, now I see this!🤪 It is a steel with some texture, I'm sure it will be JUST FINE!!🤣
Wow, i love the detail and scientific process. Great work. Please keep it up.
If you want knives that can shave hair, throw out the rod and get a spyderco sharp maker. Most knife enthusiasts agree
Hilarious watching these people use the steel upsidedown. LMFAO
i always used honing steels on kitchen knives for at least 40 years. my favorites are the ones with the ridges. ceramics clog up for me. my ancient dexter has finally lost most of its ridges, but i still use it for the finishing touches. a light touch with just a few alternate strokes on each side is my preferred method–more than that probably means the knife has to be re-sharpened–with a guided sharpener like lansky or kme.
How can you make your living cooking and not know how to sharpen and keep your knives sharp???
Did anyone test the Ken Hom wok?
Honing steels are meant to realign the edge of the knife. Pushing the knife forward on the hone is a sharpening stroke not a honing stroke. To realign the Burr the knife should be drawn backwards over the hone like you would with a leather strope. Try it you will get much better results. I prefer a very fine ceramic. Lol. I do also use a leather stroke
A few comments. One point that wasn't mentioned is that steel hones generally are ineffective for high hardness alloys, such as typically used for Japanese knives. Hones work by "truing" the edge, that is, bringing the edge back into alignment. Sharpening is the process of removing metal to reshape the apex. A smooth steel will only hone/true the edge and will not remove much metal. Steels with ridges will work faster than smooth steels because there is less contact area and thus higher pressure. Steeling should be done with very light pressure, just the weight of the knife. Ceramic is harder than steel, and it will remove metal. You can see the gray steel deposited onto the white ceramic in the video. That is metal removed from the blade. You'll need to clean ceramic with Barkeepers Friend powder (or similar).
If your knives are German/Western style and low hardness, you should steel them very frequently. Ideally you'd steel them every time before use. Most home cooks should have their knives sharpened at least once per year, if not every six months, depending on frequency of use. Higher hardness alloys that don't benefit from steeling should be sharpened on a regular basis.
A steel is used before each and every activity of the knife. That ensures it's never dull when in use.
Why did you only do sharpeners, not sharpening stones? A wet stone is the proper knife care method for sharpening.
So to recap. Steel when you first pick up the knife, and every time you move on to the next thing to cut.
Then, sharpen the knife after the final washing after use. Oil and return to it's sleeve.
They definitely work, but ideally don’t wait until the knife is totally dull
Normally rods don’t remove material, they mostly realign the edge. The diamond rods try to combine sharpening with honing, I’m not a fan
Always learning ….. thanks!!
But i wantet to hear this hideous honing sound 🙁
My grandfather was the master butcher at glier's meats in Cincinnati for like 20 years. He bought me a honer this year and wow it was night and day. My cheap knives turned into cutting like Japanese sushi knives. I can cut tomatoes paper thin.
Don't forget to clean the metal off the cutting board and knife before you use it on food.
+You might give consideration to instructing the user to clean (remove metal) from ceramic honing rods with "Bar Keepers Friend". Put some Barkeepers Friend in a folded paper towel (3 folds at least) with a teaspoon of water. Slide up and down a dozen times and "Voila" new clean ready to sharpen ceramic rod.
Hi thank you for your great service. In the end I'm still confused… Should I go for a ceramic, steel or diamond? Thank you!
I would like to offer one additional criteria for knowing when to hone. Hold the knife edge-up, and rock the knife side to side by a few degrees, while looking at the cutting edge. If the knife edge has any bits which are locally dulled or curled over portions, you will see light reflecting back at those spots. A truly sharp edge will not show any light reflecting off of the edge when you rock the knife side to side because there isn't anything at the edge to reflect light up at you. A few strokes on the honing stick will sharpen up the blunt bits right up.
Pro tip: After each use of a knives strop it on a piece of leather 12 times.
If you are someone who likes knives invest in Naniwa Whetstones (800 grit and 3000 grit) rather than an electric sharpener. I can not tell you much I look forward to sharpening my knives. For all your Bob Kramer fans out there he uses whetstones as well, but he uses the Shapton Glass stones, which are the closest rival to the Naniwa stones.
I can't understand it. If the goal is to realign an edge that has folded over, why would you push rather than pull the blade along the rod?