Steel v.s. Ceramic Honing Rod: Which is Better for my Knife?
Ever wonder why you get 50% off a ceramic honing rod when you buy ANY Japanese knife? If we’re obsessed with Japanese steel, why are we putting so much faith into the same thing our Cheerio trough is made from? Chances are you know what a honing rod is for—we’ve all seen Food Network Gordie maniacally flick his knife over one—but do you know how they work or why a ceramic one might suit your knives better?
First off, neither a steel nor ceramic rod will sharpen your knife. Rather, they help your knives stay sharp longer, so you don’t need to sharpen them as often. A honing rod (or steel, in Quebec it’s often called a ‘Queue de Rat’) smooths out the burrs on your knife’s edge by realigning the wayward steel that builds up from use. Most aren’t even meant to remove steel from your knife, just get it to smarten up and fall back in line. I always tell people in the shop that if your knife can’t nicely slice a tomato or red pepper, give it a few passes on the rod and try again—odds are it’s better now, but if not, it’s time to put your knives to a stone for a sharpening.
Most houses are equipped with the traditional metal rod and you remember Grandpa giving the kitchen knives a once over every now and again, likely before carving the Christmas turkey. I’ve never seen a cartoon character eat a piece of meat without tuning up their knife on one, and most antique carving sets have one included in the box. Metal rods can be the right choice for Western knives made of softer steels but often aren’t hard enough for Japanese knives. Confusing right? Essentially, the rod material has to be harder than the steel used in the blade in order to effectively tune up the edge, and most steel rods are less hard than Japanese knife steel. Using a ceramic rod takes the guesswork out of honing any knife because ceramic is four times (4X) harder than the majority of knife steels.
Some metal and rods aim to actually remove steel and sharpen the edge, but I’d be careful because you can quickly pull too much steel away and drastically shorten the lifespan of your knife. What’s more, they almost always leave a weird smiley/frowny profile that doesn’t properly contact your cutting board and will need to be fixed later. Diamond-coated rods are even more effective at removing steel and can mess up your knife a lot faster. Other rods have prominent grooves or other abrasive qualities added to them for the same reasons. Famed American blacksmith Bob Kramer is a huge fan of a rod that has alternating grooved and smooth sections. At least that’s what he told Kevin one time. For steel removal, we always prefer traditional whetstones. They give you way more control and come in a wide variety of grits so you can achieve exactly the edge you want.
We’ve got two types of ceramic honing rods to choose from at Knifewear: black and white. Without getting too nerdy, I like to recommend the white ones to professionals and people who might be lax in their knifely tune-ups and the black ones to people who will obsessively hone their knives every day. The white rod is harder and slightly rougher, whereas the black one is more fine. As soon as using the rod doesn’t give you the results you are after, things can be made better again through sharpening on water stones.
Every Knifewear store regularly hosts knife sharpening classes where you can learn the basics and get help picking out the stones that are right for your knives. Maybe you don’t feel like doing it —I get it, I don’t change my car’s oil. Lucky for you, we sharpen knives all day long in the stores (and we give 50% of the fee to local charities) and the first-time sharpening on any knife from us if free! Don’t live near a Knifewear store? You can learn to sharpen on our YouTube channel or use our mail-in sharpening service within North America.
Want to learn more about honing rods and how to use them? Check out this article for more.
