New knife, asymmetrical Kikuichi sharpening issue

Hi all,

I recently received a western style japanese santoku knife as a present from my wife. It is a kikuichi with a hammered finish on it and the edge seems to be asymmetrical maybe 70/30.

After normal use in wooden board, I noticed that the edge line gets a little slightly uneven judging by the way it reflects the light back in certain parts rather than being totally invisible. I almost feel like the edge is thin...

When this happen, I usually bring it back to alignment with a fine ceramic honing steel. This method works very well and it only requires a few strokes on each side.

My question is, is it OK to use honing rod or this will damage this particular type of knife?

Thanks for you input.

It's fine to steel it to realign the edge. For 70/30 I use more strokes on the 70 side - not necessarily 7 to 3, but several more then debur.

I hesitate. The core steel is VG-10, and often factory edges are weak, due to the buffing. Steeling will make it even weaker. Best solution is sharpening and making sure enough steel to get abraded.