Use ceramic rod as everyday honing rod?

Find deals on amazon
Miura knives
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

badbeat1

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Location
Denmark
Hi,

After seeing a lot of cooking videos, I noticed most chefs say, that you should hone your knife every time you use it.

I have a Zwilling Pro chef knife, and I read somewhere that ceramic rods are better than the regular steel ones, which led me buy this rod: ZWILLING Ceramic sharpening rod | Knife sharpeners

Now, this ceramic rod is very coarse. It's definitely able to sharpen my knife, as the first time I used it I made my knife dull by creating a huge burr due to me using poor technique.

My question is: Are ceramic rods typically used for honing your knife before every use, and would this coarse ceramic rod also work for this? Or should I get a finer ceramic rod or a steel rod?
 
Short answer: No. Don’t use a steel after every use of a knife. Steels can be good for maintaining an edge in between sharpenings, but you should learn to develop a feel for when your knife actually needs a touch up and when it’s doesn’t. This will help you prolong the life of your edge and the blade itself.

I recommend the 1200 grit Idahone ceramic steel. It’s coarse enough to make a noticeable difference, but not so coarse it will totally screw an edge up with a giant burr. Once it stops being effective, time to sharpen again or touch up on some stones.

Also, don’t buy the fast and flashy methodology for using steels. Better to do two or three light strokes with a proper angle than seven just whipping your knife around the steel willy-nilly.
 
If I really have to use the honing rod, I’ll Only use it on chip resistance steel knives, those knives won’t hold the edge very long and rolled the edge over time, honing helps straighten the edge between sharpening.
 
Nothing wrong with routine honing; if done carefully and properly. Going at it all willy-nilly like you're putting on a show is trash. A few methodic, even strokes at an exacting angle on each side is all that's necessary.

I prefer the black Mac rod. I have a Boker ruby rod on backorder. Hoping I will like it.
 
Its worth delineating between a "Steel" and a "Ceramic sharpening rod".

A steel is literally a metal rod, often with little ridges running the length of it.
It relies on inertia to align edges that have become slightly damaged.
While some will remove a very small amount of metal, many don't remove any.
This is often the rod you see chefs use.

A Ceramic Sharpening Rod is entirely different. Its essentially a ceramic sharpening stone in the shape of a stick. The grit of the rod varies and many manufactures don't say what it is but they tend to range between 800 and 2K.

A Steel is fine to use all the time as it wont abrade the blade to any great degree. You can also be sloppy about how you use it, i.e. you don't have to start at the heal or tip and while angle matters, because its not abrading, its not overly sensitive to it.
A Sharpening rod on the other hand, assuming you don't want to scallop your knives over time, needs to be used much as a sharpening stone. You want to start at the heal or tip, and hold a consistent angle with consistent pressure. To use it all the time would be to prematurely abrade away your knife.
 
NO ChoP! said:
Nothing wrong with routine honing; if done carefully and properly. Going at it all willy-nilly like you're putting on a show is trash. A few methodic, even strokes at an exacting angle on each side is all that's necessary.

I prefer the black Mac rod. I have a Boker ruby rod on backorder. Hoping I will like it.
Click to expand...
I had one, still prefer the Mac.
 
I own a sieger red ruby ceramic rod. As mentioned above it really doesn't allign the edge, but remove material, and should be considered a rod shaped sharpening stone.

But no..you definitely don't need to use it every time you grap the knife.

I rarely use it anymore..I've come to the conclusion that stropping on a leather board is just as effective and much easier on the knives.
 
For my western knives such as Victorinox and Wüsthof I actually use the Ikea flaksa ceramic honing rod, works great!
 
alterwisser said:
For regular use I’d get the Dick(iron) micro.

Probably the best honing steel you can buy. Lots of guys I know even use it on very hard knife steels not just soft(er) ones.
Click to expand...
It for sure is an excellent rod. Please be aware it doesn't abrade any steel. Best use it early, before steel gets fatigued. At some point it won't work any more, so you'll have to go to the stones and abrade a bit more than you normally would.
 
For softer steels like Zwilling Pro I wouldn't use a ceramic. Imo the Dick micro works better for finer edges and harder steels and you would use it early before your knives get too dull. I use a good Wüsthof steel for them, only one I really like by Wüsthof or if you want the best a Dickoron classic. There are quite some variances with steels like there is with stones. Cheap ones suck.
Also no way you need to hone after every use. Over time you get experience when you will need it. I don't hone everday at work, so for a home cook should be even less.
 
JayS20 said:
For softer steels like Zwilling Pro I wouldn't use a ceramic. Imo the Dick micro works better for finer edges and harder steels and you would use it early before your knives get too dull. I use a good Wüsthof steel for them, only one I really like by Wüsthof or if you want the best a Dickoron classic.
Click to expand...
As the Krupp's 4116 is highly abrasion resistant, I would consider the use of a fine ceramic rod — have the Sieger LongLife in mind — to get rid of the fatigued steel, once in a few months for a home user. There is some learning curve as you will have to deburr with it. The last lightest strokes sur place will do. It avoids building up of a wire edge.
For daily use — or weekly, as a home user — the Dickoron Micro is probably the best you may get. It won't fatigue steel as much as rougher ones tend to do.
 
I have used diamond ,ceramic, WC coating and metal rods .
About the ceramic rod,
Blue color one : about 700 grits
fine white color: 3000 grit .
Blue color MAC: 2000grit
Blue color one is used when the knife is dull.
For honing use higher grit.
 
I have used the ceramic rod , diamond ,wc coating and metal rod
Blue color : 700 grits
very fine white : 3000grits
black color MAC :2000 grits

The blue color one usually for sharpening ,rather than honing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top