How to Use a Honing Rod (And Whether You Actually Need One)

A honing rod is a maintenance tool, not a sharpening tool. It doesn't remove significant metal or create a new edge. What it does is realign the existing edge,  straightening the thin apex that bends and rolls slightly with normal use. Done regularly, honing extends the time between sharpenings and keeps a knife cutting consistently rather than gradually declining between sessions.

Whether you need one depends on the knife. Softer-steel knives, most German brands, entry-level lines,  benefit meaningfully from regular honing because the edge moves around more with use. Harder Japanese steel holds its geometry longer and needs honing less often, though it still benefits. Ceramic knives don't benefit at all, the edge doesn't roll, so there's nothing to realign.

How a Honing Rod Works

When a knife cuts, the thin metal at the apex, the very edge, gradually bends to one side or the other. The knife feels dull not because the steel has worn away, but because the edge has moved out of alignment. A honing rod can be used to straighten the bend. A few passes and the edge is tracking straight again, which immediately restores cutting performance without removing a meaningful amount of metal.

This is different from sharpening, which actually removes metal to create a new bevel. Honing buys time between sharpenings. It doesn't replace them.

The Types of Rods

Smooth steel rods are the traditional honing rod, a hard, smooth steel surface that realigns the edge without removing material. Best for softer-steel knives used frequently. They're forgiving and hard to overdo. A smooth steel rod is the right choice for German knives like Wüsthof and Zwilling used in a home kitchen.

Ridged or grooved steel rods have fine grooves that act as a mild abrasive in addition to realigning the edge. They remove a small amount of metal with each pass, which makes them slightly more aggressive than smooth rods. Useful when the edge needs a bit more than just realignment, a few strokes on a rigid rod can restore a knife that's gone slightly past what honing alone handles. Less suitable for harder Japanese steel.

Ceramic rods are more abrasive than steel rods and remove more material per pass. They sit between a honing rod and a light sharpening in terms of how much they do to the edge. Useful for knives that need more frequent maintenance, or as a finishing step after coarser sharpening. On harder steels (60+ HRC), ceramic rods can remove more material than intended, use with a lighter touch on Japanese knives. Note, they will clog with metal and lose effectiveness. 

Diamond rods are the most aggressive option, a true abrasive that removes metal more quickly. They're better described as a portable sharpening tool than a honing rod. Useful for touching up edges in the field, in a professional kitchen, or for knives that need more work than a standard rod can provide. 

The Technique That Works

The motion you see on television sweeping the knife edge-first down a rod held vertically requires much practice to do in a way that produces good results. Done wrong, which is most of the time for home cooks who don't do it daily, that motion pushes the edge forward rather than realigning it, and can tear the apex off the knife rather than straighten it. You end up with a rounded, duller edge than you started with. Bummer.

A more reliable approach for home cooks: lay the rod flat on a cutting board or counter, hold the knife at roughly 15–20° to the rod depending on your knife's angle, and draw the blade spine-first across the rod with the edge trailing. The spine-forward, edge-trailing motion is more forgiving (you can more easily achieve results) than edge-first and produces consistent results without the risk of tearing the apex. It's a motion closer to buttering bread than the dramatic television sweep, and it works.

Either way, light pressure is better than firm. The goal is to guide the edge back into alignment, not grind it. Five to ten passes per side is usually enough for routine maintenance. Start on the side that is most bent.

The Stick by Sharpow

We designed The Stick by Sharpow at Vivront to solve a specific problem we kept seeing: customers bringing knives back in poor condition because their maintenance tools were working against them. Pull-through gadgets were damaging edges. Traditional honing rods were being used incorrectly and leaving edges worse than before. But the desire remains for approachable and easy to keep up on kitchen knife edge maintenance. 

The Stick uses the spine-forward, edge-trailing motion described above, built into the tool by design. You lay it flat (or hold it with a tip on the counter) glide the blade across spine-first, and the abrasive surface resets the apex and adds a fine scratch pattern to the bevel and the apex that restores bite. It's not a hone in the traditional sense and it's not a sharpener. It's the maintenance step in between ,something you use before dinner prep to bring a knife back to performing well without any training, special technique, or fear of ruining the edge. It's just like putting cream cheese on a bagel. 

Aluminum body, flat so it doesn't roll, sized to fit a drawer, knife roll, or knife block slot. Performance-grade abrasive for repeatable results. Used in pro kitchens, butcher shops, and home kitchens. It's the tool we wished existed when we opened our first sharpening shop.

Honing vs. Sharpening: The Simple Version

Hone when the knife has gone slightly off but still has a good edge underneath. Sharpen when honing stops working, when a few passes on a rod no longer restore cutting performance. That's the signal the edge has worn past what realignment can fix and needs to be reset with actual metal removal.

For most home cooks with good knives: use The Stick by Sharpow every few times, hone occasionally, sharpen once or twice a year. For softer-steel knives used frequently: hone more often, same sharpening schedule. The honing extends the time between sharpenings, that's the whole point.

Related: How often should you sharpen your knives? · Knife sharpening angles by brand · The Stick by Sharpow · Mail-in sharpening kit