Diamond Machining Technology CS2 12-Inch Ceramic Steel

No offense, but if you are experienced in creating and maintaining a sharp cutting edge, you don't need this review. Just buy it!

If not, here is what you need to know. This tool doesn't sharpen, it hones. And if you hone your knives regularly, you may never, or rarely, need to sharpen them.

Sharpening is the process of creating a new cutting edge; honing refines or restores that edge. In my opinion the steel and diamond tools are sharpening tools and not very good ones. Graduated sharpening stones, or a professional, do a much better job.

I have a set of Katana knives which is over five years old and, with one exception, have never been sharpened, but are all razor sharp. They are honed regularly with a DMT ceramic rod. (The one exception arose as a result of some ill-advised hacking at a unseen bone, which produced large nicks.)

Try this. Take an ordinary butter knife and hold it facing away from you so that a light source...Read more

The purpose off a "steel" is to straighten out the tiny roll the blade edge develops as you use a sharp knife. This roll is what makes a knife start to feel dull. I've found that using this rod every time before I use the knife makes a terrific difference in how sharp the knife feels and how long the edge lasts.

This is the perfect tool to keep that super edge on your fine knives. A couple of very light (just enough presure to keep contact) strokes per side, at a shade more than the angle use to sharpen the blade, and that edge is straight and ready to glide through your food.

This product is a good option for people with intermediate level knives that come with highly sharpened/polished edges. For example Shun Classics, Messermeisters, or high-end F. Dicks (like the 1905 line).

The way to use this "steel" is to take your already sharp blade, and before each use swipe it 3 times a side (lightly) on this hone. Most of the knives that I mentioned come with a 20 - 15 degree polished edge from the factory. That's what makes them seem sharper than the average wusthof or henkels. So that is about the angle you want to swipe at. That is all that this steel should be used for; to re-align your blade's edge. Remember: the only job a steel/hone like this does is to RE-ALIGN your edge, not to sharpen it - that's what stones are for. To get all technical, yes, this does do some sharpening because it removes metal particles, BUT it is not intended to bring a dull blade to razor sharpness. Nothing is indestructible, and with repeated heavy usage this thing...Read more