Honing steel - What to buy?

Moxy

Moxy

Joined
Oct 30, 2011
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I finally bought a proper kitchen knife a couple weeks ago. My Shun 7in Santoku has made a world of difference. I regret not getting one years ago. I've used it to prepare a dozen dinners or so now and I'm beginning to notice it's starting to dull. I don't think it needs resharpening, it just need to be honed. The hone that I have now is out of some Kitchen Aid set I've had for years. Doubtless, it's cheap crap. Should I use it to hone my Shun? Can a cheap hone damage the edge or make it worse? Should I buy a proper hone? If so, which one? What kind, steel, ceramic, diamond? Grooved or smooth? What makes a quality hone good? Shun makes one for around $45 which seems reasonable if the quality is anything close to that of the knife. I think I'll buy that one unless you guys have better recommendations. In the meantime should I use the one I have?
Any info is much appreciated. :p
 
I've never used a steel hone before. I like the ceramic type because the metal from the knife doesn't clog up with the ceramic like it does with the metal. I think I paid around 20 bucks for the ceramic. The only draw back to ceramic is if you drop it, it'll break into several smaller hones :) Don't know about diamond hones, never used one.
 
For what it's worth, a smooth ceramic hone is pretty much my favorite choice for touching up a kitchen knife. It's hard enough to handle most types of steel without being too aggressive, as a diamond or a grooved steel hone can sometimes be in the hands of someone less experienced.

The problem one might sometimes encounter is misunderstanding what a "steel" or a "hone" is designed to accomplish. It's a tool to merely re-align an edge between usage and trips to the whet-rock, and I've found that a grooved hone made of steel or a hone made of diamond can booger-up an edge very quickly unless in the hands of someone very familiar with their usage.

A smooth ceramic hone is more enough to handle the job without running as big a risk of goofing up the edge when trying to "tighten up" the edge free-handed while distracted in the kitchen with other tasks.

Of course, that is just my opinion based upon my experience. Others may have different opinions and experience levels with maintaining an edge in the kitchen, so please take this with a grain (or even bucket) of salt.
 
Do not use a steel honing rod on a Japanese knife, you will chip the edge. Ceramic is ok but I would recommend waterstones only.
 
I wouldn't advice any honing rod. Your Shun is made of VG-10, quite hard stuff that won't need any realignment. Diamond rods eat your edge, steel rods and to a lesser degree ceramic ones fatigue the steel. After use of a rod much more steel has to get abraded when sharpening. You better perform a few edge trailing strokes on your finest stone.
 
Benuser said:
I wouldn't advice any honing rod. Your Shun is made of VG-10, quite hard stuff that won't need any realignment. Diamond rods eat your edge, steel rods and to a lesser degree ceramic ones fatigue the steel. After use of a rod much more steel has to get abraded when sharpening. You better perform a few edge trailing strokes on your finest stone.
Click to expand...

What stones would you recommend to get started with? Would this set be appropriate?
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/sh3pcset1k4k.html
 
It's a common beginner mistake to buy fine waterstones first and neglect the coarser ones. 8000 grit is far and beyond the level of refinement you should be aiming for.

Shapton recommends the 500 and 2k glass stone so I would probably start with that. 2k is a good finishing level for most kitchen knives.
 
Okay that makes sense. I wasn't sure if 500 was too course for just routine touchups.
 
500 grit is not to touch up, that's what the 2k is for. You use the 2k as much as possible to maintain the edge and the 500 is used to reset the geometry of the bevel after repeated honing on the 2k. Over time the edge will wear and get thicker so it occasionally needs to be thinned and reset to the profile it once had.

If you draw a V on a piece of paper it's easy to see that as the edge wears it gets thicker so it's your job to thin it out and that's where the 500 comes in very handy.
 
Okay, thats what I originally thought. So just a few edge trailing strokes on the 2k to hone the edge. How long does the edge on VG10 last (how many honing treatments) before you'd typically reset the profile with a coarse stone? Assuming average daily use.
 
How long depends entirely on what you do with it. I prefer edge leading, but have used edge trailing strokes on soft stones, where edge leading caused the edge to dig into the stone. I don't think Shaptons are that soft, but I haven't used one.
 
Try honing your knife on the sides of a ceramic knife blade. The ceramic knives are as smooth as glass and as hard as a rock. Wet the ceramic blade and lightly stroke your steel blade (edge leading) alternating sides. You will feel a little resistance until the burrs are aligned. 2 or 3 strokes per side should do it. I use a 7" ceramic blade for larger knives. The correct angle is just a little higher (more obtuse) than the sharpening angle.
 
Oh, that reminds me, you can use the smooth spine of another knife for a honing steel if you like. Just use VERY light pressure, and I usually do one trailing pass on each side, then follow up with 3-4 edge leading passes on each side. I use the spine of my Farberware chef's knife for steeling other knives, from Krupp 4116 stainless to S30V.
 
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