Home knife sharpening tips 2: How to use a honing rod to keep your knives sharp

Do you remember how to sharpen a knife with a whetstone? If you forgot, you can check out our previous blog post. Today we will learn how to use a honing rod!

1. Hold the honing rod in your non-dominant hand with the rod facing away. Grip the handle, making sure to keep the rod at a comfortable angle facing away from your body. Keep the rod tip elevated above the rod handle.

• If you’re new to honing, consider placing the tip of the rod against the surface of a cutting board or work table for stability. It’s slower than holding the rod out in the air, but much easier.

• Honing and sharpening aren’t the same thing. A honing rod realigns the metal in a blade, massaging small nicks, indentations, and flat spots away.
• Using a honing rod regularly delays the need to use a whetstone. The less you use your whetstone, the longer your knives will thrive.

2. Use your other hand to position the blade against the rod at a 20° angle. Grip the handle firmly with the fingers of your dominant hand, and place your thumb on the spine of the knife, far away from the blade edge. Your angle doesn't need to be exact, just approximate.

• Make sure to maintain the same angle throughout the honing process. Changing the angle used during the honing process won't smooth out the metal in the blade as much as using a consistent angle will.

3. Draw the knife down the rod. Start this motion with the heel of the knife touching the rod and end it with the tip of the knife touching the rod. Drag the knife down blade-first, as if you are attempting to slice into the rod. Use only as much pressure as the weight of the knife itself.

• It's all in the wrist: without moving the wrist, you won't be able to sweep the entire blade—heel to tip—across the honing rod.