Ruby Sharpener Rod: Durable Knife Sharpener, Harder Than Steel Honing Rod, Japan Product

I’m pleased with the product, sharpen my knives very well, but the only thing is that I thought it would stay red all the time when you start to sharpen the knife the red goes away, but it did a great job

My experience using this tool:I'm pretty new to using this style of sharpening tools, but it was pretty intuitive to put a fresh edge on a kitchen knife. I used a light drag across the whole edge of the blade using the full length of the rod holding them at *about* 30 degrees to one another (the listing says to hold it at 20, but to each their own), then did the same thing on the other side of the blade. I alternated sides with each stroke and repeated for about 5 minutes. When I was done the knife had a little bit of a burr so I still finished up on the leather strop, when all was said and done, my old santoku once again cut like new.My thoughts on this sharpening rod in particular and sharpening tools in general:I've been primarily using synthetic whet stones for as long as I have been servicing cutting tools. As far as I understand it, the chief benefit to using a sharpening rod is that achieving a symmetrical cutting geometry is a little easier than with stones. You go at it long enough, and the irregularities in your technique sort of start to cancel each other out. This results in a knife that cuts straight down without pulling to one side or the other. When cutting thinly sliced soft foods, a knife that pulls to the side can be a real pain to use, so this aspect can be pretty important to the good functioning of a trusty kitchen knife. The common down side to a traditional sharpening rod (a sharpening steel) is that they do have an effect on edge alignment, but they don't really sharpen effectively, at least not in my experience of them. This particular sharpening rod, however, being made of an abrasive corundum is a pretty great hybrid of traditional sharpening steels and whet stones. It can and will sharpen even a severely blunted blade while also giving the uniform edge geometry typical of this style of sharpener. When I finished touching up my santoku the rod had acquired several grey streaks where metal had started to clog the abrasive surface. This is called loading, and it reduces the cutting action of the abrasive. Often with ceramic stones, or "Arkansas" (novaculite) stones I've ended up spending time cleaning off the loaded parts with warm soapy water, and scouring pads after lapping the stone flat again. It can be a lot of work, and this doesn't go into all the different grades of stones ($), and the soaking before use, and the sometimes extremely finicky drying procedures (which if not followed can result in cracks forming in your expensive stones). This just took some soapy water and rubbing with only my hands to clean it off, pat it dry with a towel, and back in the drawer it goes.Summary:It sharpens and aligns edges at the same time without any hard-cultivated technique. I still needed to finish on a leather strop.It's easier to clean store and maintain than a lot of the stones out there.You'll spend less on just one tool getting a fine edge than a set of 2 or 3 (or 6) stones.Well deserving of 5 stars

First of all, I would like to point out that another reviewer incorrectly called this a "steel", but it is in fact a hone, it even says so in the description. There is a big difference between a steel and a hone. A steel straightens out a damaged blade, but a hone actually grinds away at the edge and removes metal in order to repair the edge.The reason a hone is needed on some knives, instead of a steel, is because a steel may not be as hard as the knife you are trying to use it on, so the steel wears instead of the knife blade. With this hone, you are guaranteed that it will be harder than your knife, no matter the hardness of the steel, so it will work on any knife, even really hard Japanese knives.I've had the opportunity now to try this hone on several chef's knives and I am really impressed. This synthetic ruby material cuts better than any material I've ever used, except for diamond itself.The big advantage to using a ruby rod such as this is that it does not lose its effectiveness when it wears down, like diamond impregnated steel does. Over time, the diamonds become dislodged from the steel and eventually all diamond impregnated steel sharpeners gradually lose their ability to sharpen until they barely sharpen at all by the end of their useful life.I can tell after using this sharpener for only a relatively short time now that it is going to be good quality because I can barely notice any missing material from the rod and it was easy to clean up when I was finished using it.That is the only bad thing about using this kind of sharpener is that you do need to clean it from time to time as it gets clogged up with metal dust. As it clogs, it will become less effective at sharpening, just like a normal ceramic sharpener does.This hone is 3,000 grit so it is only meant for fine polishing of the blade edge. If you let your blade get in a really bad condition before honing it, you will likely need to sharpen your knife with a sharpening stone before using this hone to polish it.If you want a super scary sharp edge, after using this hone, you will need to strop your knife on a leather strop that is impregnated with a good polishing compound. I like to use the green polishing compound, as I feel that it works best for knife steel. Once properly sharpened, honed and stropped, you will end up with a scary sharp edge that you had best handle very carefully to avoid serious injury.I have been very pleased with this hone so far and I really like that it is made in Japan, the home of some of the best blades I've ever had the pleasure of using. The Japanese really know how to make a proper blade and they also really know how to make a proper sharpener for sharpening them. Highly recommended.