How do honing rods work?

A friend gave me a tip a while back --- if you don't have a honing rod, use the bottom of a ceramic plate! I've been doing it for years and it seems to work well

An Edge in the Kitchen is a great book. It taught me how to sharpen way back when and I definitely recommend it to anyone. Glad to see it getting some props.

Not gonna lie I was shook when he rolled up his sleeves to test the knife 🤣

"Honing doesnt actually sharpen" "After honing you'll notice your knife will be sharper"

"Honing is a non-destructive process" Tell that to my friend who kept slamming my knife into my honing rod and made some massive chips in the blade.

You're half correct. A polished steel honing rod does not remove any metal, but a fine cut rod does. Very similar to how a file works.

It depends on the kind of honing rod you use.... The ones with grooves actually sharpen, the ones with diamond powder also and the ceramic ones like yours also sharpens! The steel ones without groves are the ones that does what you say on this video.

5:20 heck, for a second I thought he was gonna cut his skin

Actually, honing rods do sharpen knives, including the ribbed steel ones. There is a misconception that steeling does not remove metal, but simply 're-aligns the edge.' When you use a honing steel, you restore the apex. Electron microscope analysis (seen at 2,000 times magnification) revealed that this was achieved by the removal of steel, which creates a new micro-bevel and restores sharpness.

As a butcher we would sharpen by stone maybe every second day but steel (honing rod) our knives every time we noticed significant resistance in cutting maybe every 20 minutes when working non stop. We would have people ask if we could sharpen their knives for them with the steel (honing rod) and explaining difference between edge beville and blade and correcting feathering (edge rolling over itself to one side) would always go over the head before we direct them to go to a life sharpener as stealing their knife wasn't going to give them the result they were after. Having so many knives every second day we would usually sacrifice a lunch break to get our knives stoned 😋 but it does make diceing slicing and boning alot easier as a result.

Great tip about the SOUND of the honing stroke! That's a good indicator, most people don't notice that. 👍

As a slaughter man many years ago, I made my own steels, or as you call them, honing rods, from chainsaw files polished to a glass smooth finish.....the way we tested for sharpness was to drag the knife across your thumb nail, if it drags, it's sharp, if if slides over, it needs attention.....only used Victorinox boning and slicing knives....

I love to watch you do that over and over and over and over (repeats 10 times)!

Awesome vid and very informative for someone who is researching the art of sharpening knives.

I had expected to hear the tip that I heard before at the end of this video... Before using the knife after honing it, wash it. Because you do not want any little pieces of steel that might have come loose to end up in the food you are cutting

Try a white ceramic rod if you think they don't abrade metal. Some rods are smoother than others but my ceramic rod gets black with steel it ground off my knives. It definitely sharpens as well as hones. I'd say a steel is a metal forming tool. A ceramic rod or stone is a metal cutting tool as well as a forming tool.

side note: a lot of western knives are coming in with 15 degree edges these days, including my favorite, the victorinox fibrox...

Thank you a thousand times! Been trying to tell rookie cooks for years!

I prefer to run my blade down the rod while pulling in. that’s also wears the rod down evenly. Good vid

I have that same Mercer knife and it's honestly one of my favorites!