Revive Your Dull Japanese Blades: Reasons to Use a Ceramic Honing Rod

How frequently should you sharpen a Japanese knife? The answer is not often: during the sharpening process, the abrasive stone takes some of the metal from the blade, hastening blade wear. You can use techniques like honing to keep the knife cutting edge sharp. In this regard, a ceramic honing rod is a must-have tool to help you get the most out of your kitchen knives.

Why Choose a Ceramic Honing Rod?

When sharpening your Japanese knives, a user-friendly sharpening rod made of ceramics is the hardest to beat. It offers the best performance when compared to other tools for sharpening. If you have been using ceramic sharpening rods in your kitchen for a while, then you already can’t imagine being without them. For those who are still hesitating, we have narrowed down a few good reasons why you should start utilizing them as soon as possible.

Sharper Knives

First things first, a sharpening rod doesn’t sharp your knives. Honing is the process of straightening the cutting-edge line of a blade to maintain its sharpness without removing material. This is done with a rod made of several abrasive materials, the most common of which is ceramic. This rod is typically fixed on a handle for easy use.

The hardness of the rod allows the cutting edge to be pushed back into alignment, restoring it to its original shape and eliminating rolling faults. Steel’s elasticity and ductility allow you to hone a knife repeatedly until minuscule flaws show on the cutting edge.

Since honing does not remove metal particles from the cutting edge, the blade does not wear down and its service life extends. During honing, you merely remove the rolled parts of the edge back in line and return the blade to its original shape.

Ergonomics on Point

Long gone are the days when sharpening your Japanese knife was science fiction. Nowadays, almost every ceramic sharpening rod is lightweight and does not require special skills. Additionally, most of these rods come with ergonomic handles for easy use. Some handles feature a hanging cord which allows you to hang it freely wherever you want.

A good handle should provide a comfortable grip while in use. If the rod slips out of your palm, it can cause damage to the edge. The best honing rods have handles that feel comfortable and safe in your hand. To protect yourself from cuts, you should also wear a finger guard.

The shape of your honing steel also matters when ergonomics is in question. For instance, because of the oval shape, the ceramic surface’s contact with the blade increases. This makes the honing stick easier to utilise for beginners or novice chefs. Flat-shaped rods, on the other hand, feature a larger contact surface, which allows for faster and more effective edge honing.

There are also square ceramic rods. They have varying grit levels: two edges have a greater grit, while the other two have a lesser one. As a result, the level of knife honing might vary depending on how dull the knife blade is. Keep in mind though that if you use a square rod carelessly, the sharp edges may damage the blade.

Ease of Use

One of the several main reasons why you should start sharpening your Japanese knives with a honing rod is because it’s simple to use and doesn’t require any additional skills. However, due to safety reasons, you should know how to properly use it.

Draw the knife evenly towards you, edge first, at a 20-25 degree angle between the honing rod and the knife. After each stroke, alternate sides and maintain a perfect angle. Hone the knife 6-8 times on each side, and it’s ready to use. If you do not want to hone yourself, you can relocate the rubber ring at the top of the handle to a tabletop. Then insert the ceramic rod, and you can draw the knife from the handle to the rubber ring without causing self-injury.

Also, ceramic rods have a unique design: the hilt serves as an angle guide when you place your knife’s spine along it. The skinnier side creates a 15-degree angle for Japanese blades, while the wider side creates a 22-degree angle for Western-style knives.

Range of Features

There are two types of honing rods: hard black and even harder white ones. The black is significantly finer, while the white is slightly rougher, comparable to a 4,000-grit stone against a 6,000-grit stone. If you are a frequent honer, the black rod will be gentler on your edge and produce a somewhat smoother polish, but it must be used more frequently.

Most people prefer the white rod because they are rough with their knives and fail to hone them regularly. Those who are serious about their knife collection will have both: a black rod for extreme fine-tuning and collector’s items, and a white one for everyday use.

Those who are super serious about their rod collection should consider a leather strop for storing. Originally designed for barbers, strops provide the ultimate, razor-like edge that your blades have out of the box. They are made of Latigo leather with an extremely tiny texture that picks up any leftover burrs and removes them. If you execute it correctly, you should be able to see your reflection on the edge.