Review on 🔪 12-Inch/30cm Cooks Standard Professional Ceramic Rod Knife Sharpening Steel by Jessie Burgos

If you have knives of any kind and want to touch up their edges yourself easily and quickly, a ceramic stick like this is probably the best solution I've found to quickly refresh the blade. I've used many supposedly quick and easy sharpening solutions. Some work well but often remove too much of the blade. Others not so much. I already had a few small ceramic sharpeners, but I wanted something that would handle large blades better than those found in pocket files. It fits the bill well and has a slightly rougher feel than my other ceramics as it removes material quickly. In the week I had it, I sharpened half a dozen knives and several scissors, including one I thought would never cut fabric again. A set of old hickory carving knives crammed into the back of our knife box, dull and badly tarnished from not being used and cared for. They were probably last used for slaughtering fish in the 1980s. Less than 30 seconds on a knife, about 10 strokes each side of each blade and they were all ready to go, almost as sharp as my new ESEE which has never been used and came out of the factory with sharp hair. I'm sure Old Hickory will do the same with a little tweaking. What this ceramic rod can't do: It won't alter the profile of your blade or repair chips, at least not effectively. If you need this type of edge repair, this is not what you are looking for. The Cooks standard is great for freshening up a blade and bringing it back to usable razor sharpness in a day, an hour, or an hour (a higher quality razor that will remove hair on the arms but not as cleanly as a knife that was also sanded). even a few minutes of use depending on what you're doing. Between 1 and 15 strokes on each side and you should cut the paper again. Get a functional razor edge FAST with this ceramic stick! Finish off with a sharpening course or two to get the sharpness you want. Ceramic rods have long been the preferred method of sharpening curved blades, but they will work with any type of blade, even serrated blades, as long as the diameter is small enough. rod to fit in the teeth. This rod uses 1/2" larger diameter ceramic steel. This is especially handy with large blades like the ESEE in the photo, as it leaves enough room to hit the entire length of the blade in one hit without feeling the feel that you have to hit the entire edge of the blade before the rod runs out.You can even use this with a machete if the need arises.Of course the longer length makes the ceramic potentially more breakable than smaller rods so not for spot sharpening in this one Size is appropriate. If you sharpen a blade longer than a pocket knife then you will love this size at home. It doesn't strike me as the least bit fragile or poorly made. I will know more when my nephew arrives this summer and decides to go with him playing Luke Skywalker while I'm not watching.If you're new to sharpening, you can buy plastic guides to help you, i to find the right angle. But knifemakers use a wider variety of bevel angles than the usual grades I've seen guides for. So if your knife doesn't match the angle of the guide, you will need to change the angle of the secondary bevel on the knife to match the angle of the guide. This isn't a big deal depending on blade design and intended use, but it does take a little longer to sharpen for the first time. And once you get used to sharpening, the guides are just thrown aside. You will no longer need these and probably no longer need them, so that you can make better use of the full length of the rod. So if you're investing extra in guides, think of them like training wheels on a bicycle. Once you're done sharpening, use a layer of tape and some soap and water to quickly remove any gray metal streaks left by the knife. Behind. But a simple eraser also works great. Again, unless you need to fix the edge of the blade, a shank like this is probably all you need. However, the combination with a good leather belt (belts are usually better made than bought) would be the icing on the cake.