How To Use A Ceramic Honing Steel

A honing rod also referred to as a sharpening steel the handled metal rod sold with most knife sets doesn t really sharpen a knife.

How to use a ceramic honing steel.

Honing will keep your blades sharper for longer especially since honing will not remove part of the metal blade as sharpening does. Instead it trues the edge of a slightly dulled blade. Thankfully despite the variety of names and materials most if not all honing steels look the same a single bar or metal or ceramic with a chunky handle and a guard to keep you from lopping off any of your fingers. Never stroke the same side of blade more than once in succession in general ceramic rods are more forgiving than the grooved steel ones which in my opinion should be avoided on good knives.

Use this guide to to learn more about knife sharpening angles. Over time the sharp cutting edge of a knife blade can turn to the side making the blade seem dull. The steel and ceramic honing rods may have longitudinal ridges whereas the diamond coated steels are smooth but will be embedded with abrasive diamond particles. To properly hone the knife hold it at a 20 degree angle and draw the blade across the steel.

Honing rods are made of steel and can come coated in ceramic or diamond in addition to steel. Hold the honing steel vertically and move the knife blade down at an angle. Commonly referred to as sharpening sticks sharpening rod chef s steel butcher s steel or sharpening steels honing steel typically looks like a rod that s about a foot long and can be made out of pure steel or have a steel interior coated with either ceramic or. You ve probably seen honing steels lying around the kitchen faithfully waiting to straighten faltering knife edges.