Recommendations on ceramic honing rods

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I have both the Idahone and Mac. I would say go with the Mac hands down.
 
I am really happy with with my idahone that I have had for 6 years or so. Never tried a Mac though.
 
DMT ultrafine. Lots of use with european/softer knives.
 
I have both Idahoan and Mac and use the Mac 90% of the time - I wish they'd make a 12" model.
 
Do the Mac's still have those weird rubbery tips? I personally always hold mine tip down, when honing, but not on an actual surface. Which is the only use I can see for said rubbery tip...
 
Do the Mac's still have those weird rubbery tips? I personally always hold mine tip down, when honing, but not on an actual surface. Which is the only use I can see for said rubbery tip...

Mine does, but I got it the middle of last year. Not sure if they changed for the new year ;)
 
They still have a rubber tip but it's now flush with the rod. Also they've added grooves running down the length on opposite sides alternating between smooth and grooved.
 
I must be lucky, mine is completely smooth. I'm not sure how I would appreciate the one with grooves :scratchhead:
 
They still have a rubber tip but it's now flush with the rod. Also they've added grooves running down the length on opposite sides alternating between smooth and grooved.

I find the grooves a bit odd... Roughly what grit is the Mac?
 
I have the Mac, and despite my love of sharpening, I find I actually still use it. It was definitely worth the $40 or whatever I paid.

I've seen just the sticks for the Sharpmaker sold before, and thought that would be a nice lightweight option to bring around in my travel bag.

As for Mac grit: I've read 800, 1k and 1.2k. Realistically, for touch-ups, this does the job beautifully, if it's any of the three. I feel like mine is 800, but has become 1.2k since the grooves started wearing down. I've also intentionally allowed it to load up with ex-knife powder.
 
For unalloyed value for money, ikea make one for sixteen bucks (in Australia) that is short, but does the job restoring a very toothy edge when the edge dulls, but is not yet gone. My feeling is that it's about 800 grit. I bought one for home, but it is so handy in an emergency - i.e edge is lacking midway through a busy service
- that it lives in my knife kit.

I don't love rods,so less than twenty bucks was the right amount of investment for me.
 
Ceramic steel between sharpenings: I have a Chicago Cutlery brand, I'd guess 12" long. Been using it for maybe 25 or 30 years now, and it works very well between sharpening. Sharpening I use oil or wet stones of various types (depends upon whether knife is SS or CS. BUT, important to clean the ceramic steel frequently as steel will accumulate in micro-pores. I use chlorine based scouring powder. Put some in hand, a little water to make paste, rub back and forth on ceramic and in about 1-minute ceramic is clean and white, and ready to go. Usually I clean about 6-times per year. This is an old steel, but works like new. Restores razor edge on knives very quickly.
 
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