We can’t say enough good things about this HIDAMOS High Hardness Honing Steel! It’s become a staple in our kitchen, and we reach for it almost every day. Right away, we noticed how sturdy it felt and the quality of its craftsmanship. The 12" length provides plenty of contact area for honing everything from chef’s knives to paring blades, and the flat design offers a generous surface that makes realigning the edge quick and effective, especially compared with shorter rods. One of the standout features is the high‑hardness carbon steel construction and fine brushed grain, which help maintain knife edges without wearing the blade down. The solid feel and substantial weight inspire confidence for any home chef. The included shape‑fit storage box keeps it from rolling around or clanking in the drawer. The half‑rounded shape works perfectly for our needs, but there is also a round option if that better suits your honing preference. For daily home cooking, this honing steel keeps knives performing beautifully between sharpenings. Honing rods like this don’t actually remove metal like a whetstone; they realign the microscopic edge to prolong sharpness, but this rod does that job very well. Overall, it’s durable, easy to use, and has quickly become an essential part of maintaining our knives. Whether you’re prepping large meals or everyday dishes, this honing steel delivers consistent results and is a quality tool worth having in any kitchen. Highly recommended. Read more
I am impressed with the sharpener. The handle is contourd and fits well in the handle. The surface which is wide for surface area is good for sharpening. I would not recommend this one to anyone who is not familiar with its use. This is not for someone who has not learned the proper technique of using this tool. If you know the proper process, then you should be pleased with it. If you never used one, I recommend you get some lessons first. Read more
Wow! This is a beautiful & (most importantly) highly effective knife honing steel. For over 30 years, I've had a Henckels knife set & grooved honing steel, which I religiously used after each cooking session. It did a good job. I've just replaced the Henckels grooved honing steel with a Hidamos abrasive honing steel & used it on all my knives - IT DOES A FANTASTIC JOB AS DEMONSTRATED BY THE PAPER CUTTING TEST. My perception is there's a lot of confusion about the difference between "knife honing" (realigning the very tip of a knife blade) and "knife sharpening" (repairing a severely curled or otherwise damaged knife edge). Even though the terms are frequently used interchangeably, "honing" will not repair a seriously damaged knife blade & sharpening is required. Read more
Sharpening a knife, a good one or a cheap one, is the first thing to do. Like many before me, I thought a steel or a hone was for sharpening knives. Not true. I now use a WorkSharp electric sharpener. A few swipes on the machine and the edge is ready for honing. And all that’s needed with the Hidamos is careful honing for an edge that is ready for tough meat or delicate fruit. When I visit family, I take my kit with me and fix all their cutlery. Everyone has dull knives. Read more
As expected Read more
It works as it should and has enough length to accommodate larger knives with ease. Read more
I’ve owned plenty of knife steels over the years and this one is probably the fastest. Although it’s called a sharpening or honing steel, it doesn’t actually do either. What it does (and does very well) is push the sharpened edge of your knife back into alignment along the blade. If your knife is truly dull, it will not sharpen it. Your knife will need to be honed. But maintaining that sharpened edge, which gets bent to one side or the other during use, is what this steel is meant to do. I prefer the oval cross section of the business end of this tool to the more common round steels as it gives a wider contact point as you guide your knife’s edge along the length of it. A few quick strokes with this and my Wusthof Santoku is gliding through over-ripe tomatoes with ease. I also like the wooden handle and the finial on the end with a ring for hanging the steel. But when the finial is fully tightened the ring is out of alignment with the hand guard… a minor point, but I notice it, and fear it might get more noticeable if the wooden handle shrinks, as they often do, and the finial needs tightening. Read more
This honing steel is awesome! Not only is it beautiful to look at (work of art), it feels great to use. You can tell just from picking it up in your hand that it's a high quality tool that's gonna serve you well for many years. If you use proper honing technique, you'll immediately feel the difference in your cutlery. My old santoku and chef's knives have never performed better than they do right now, slicing and dicing with ease. I can't recommend it enough! Read more
