7” Ceramic Honing Rod

Your edge is (hopefully) very thin, and steel is ductile, even when hardened. As you cut through foods, especially more dense ones, your edge will bend slightly, causing the performance of the knife to suffer. A honing rod gently pushes the steel on your edge back into alignment with just a few strokes. A ceramic rod is preferable to a steel one because it is less abrasive on your edge. You should hone a knife whenever you feel that the edge is not as toothy as it should be, once it starts skating across foods like tomatoes or peppers. 

Eventually, however, like when you bend a paper clip back and forth, your edge will fall off or be damaged. That is when you will need to resharpen your knife, however you prefer to do it. You can tell when a knife needs to be resharpened when honing does not improve the performance of the knife. 

To use a honing rod:

Take a kitchen towel and fold it into a neat square on your counter or a stable surface, this will act as a cushion and stop your honing rod from moving while you use it. Place the end of the rod on the towel and hold the rod in your non-dominant hand. With your knife in your dominant hand, place the edge gently against the rod near the bottom of the handle. The angle with which you use depends on your knife. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as you are contacting the edge and aren’t digging your edge into the rod. With just the weight of the knife, drag the edge from heel to tip down the rod, and switch sides. It is important to get every inch of the edge honed. To hone the other side of the knife, you can either flip the knife upside down, or move the knife to the other side of the honing rod. Do not hone towards your hand. 

If you have questions, please reach out to me at henry@hydehandmadeknives.com.