Arkansas Sharpeners Ceramic Sharpening AC46

It's not very course so don't expect material remove, think of it as a hone and not as a abrasive. Even tho it is an abrasive and does remove steel, it's so fine grain that the steel removal is extremely low. This is a perfect ceramic rod for touch ups of carbon steels and simple stainless steels. I've looked at the scratch pattern under Magnification and it leaves around 1000-1200 grit scratch pattern in the steel. This will not replace sharpening stones but what it will be is greatly extend the time needed in between sharpenings for more simple steels like used in kitchen knives and lower end pocket knives. The rod is long enough that larger kitchen knives are easily touched up on it. It's a decent quality ceramic as the steel load up will clean right off of it with some water and dawn dish soap or bar keepers friend if you really want to get all the steel particles off it. I really wish they also made this rod in a course model as well, something around 400 grit. Then for 15 bucks or so you could have two rods that one would be abrasive enough to actually remove some steel to clean up minor chips and other minor edge damage. I personally use IDAhone ceramic rods mainly but most people don't want to spend 40 bucks on a ceramic rod... they are however far and away the best and come in multiple grits. All in all this is a fantastic 6 dollar ceramic rod that will do you a good job on softer low alloy stainless and carbon steels just to keep edges touched up, don't expect to be able to get even the littlest chips out of knife edges as it just doesn't remove enough material to be able to do that. It is a good and low cost way to be able to touch up edges and keep them sharp for as long as possible in between sharpenings. This rod and a strop with some diamond emulsion will keep the average decent quality kitchen knives sharp without the need for stones for a good year or two... eventually you will reach a point to where steel has to be removed to get to fresh unfatigued steel and will require you to take the knife to sharpening stones but this can help you to extend that as long as possible and for very little money.If this company is listening, make another version of this in a dark ceramic (dark ceramic rods are normally of larger aluminum oxide abrasive size) that is around 300-400 grit. Charge like 15-18 bucks for both the course rod and this rod as a set of two and include a simple 17 degree angle guide that slides on over the shaft. For the 2 rods and the angle guide and under 20 bucks this would be a must buy for every home cook. The courser rod is key, just this rod alone severely limits what can be done with those ceramic rod hones, with a courser 300-400 grit rod as well people could then actually use it to maintain small chips and rolls in the knife edges and then use the fine rod for quick touch ups. I guarantee if you made a set like that it would sell like crazy.It would be hugely beneficial to your customer base.

Very effective, affordable sharpener to MAINTAIN and touch up a good edge on various types of knives.The rod style configuration of the sharpener handles curved blades very nicely, also Tanto style or reverse curved blades which are (at least for me) a bit challenging to sharpen on a flat stone.Note:1. This is not an appropriate tool to sharpen a very dull edge (in my opinion), and,2. You do need to understand the basics of how to use a sharpener to match the knife's edge angle, (that is why I gave it 4 stars for ease of use) but if you do then it's very sweet. Just a few passes of the blade over the rod, with light pressure, and the edge is very noticeably sharper.If you have very dull blades, then you will most likely need another tool to get them into at least passable condition first. Think of this sharpener as the "fine" stage of a two-stage sharpening system.If, on the other hand, you like to keep your knives pretty well sharpened all/most of the time then this is probably all you need to get the job done quickly and easily. Yes, I know that it's not the equivalent of a sharpening system that goes up to 8000 grit, etc., but for everyday sharp knives this rod is pretty darn good.A nice bonus is that due to the light color of the rod It's easy to see that a tiny bit of steel residue from the knife edge remains on the rod (a dark line, or streak), showing that each pass is indeed having an effect on the blade.Allowing excessive buildup of this steel residue could, over a long time, lead to clogging of the pores on the surface of the rod, reducing sharpening effectiveness.I was very pleased to see that the steel residue washes off very easily with soap and water, or even with just water and a gentle wipe, leaving the rod in great shape, looking brand new, ready to continue sharpening the next blade, and the next...Two possible concerns:1. I don't know how fragile this rod is, and whether it would survive dropping. Some of the reviews that mention a broken rod on arrival leave me concerned about that, but so far it has not been a problem, though I've handled it with care.2. I would also not feel comfortable taking this outside or hiking/camping. It's too big and I would be concerned about breakage.Summary:This is my new favorite sharpener for use in the kitchen, not only for various kitchen knives but also for outdoors type knives. Very effective, quick, easy and pleasant to use.

Works well. I've been using ceramic sharpeners for a long time as used to work for a company that made them. This one is fine except needs to be a bit longer. Hard to sharpen long knives.

Most of our kitchen knives have serrations. This can sharpen the sort of serrated blade which has wide scalloped serrations about 4 per inch. It will also sharpen regular blades on choppers and chef’s knives.

Excellent product. Exactly what I need for honing my knives. Delivery was quick and price was right.

New to sharpening & owning high carbon knives, recently bought a few Japanese style vg10 Damascus knifes and the manufacturer recommended ceramic sharpening rods. One of the blades was damaged a little by a guest and I was able to get the tiny little chips/burrs out using this. I also sharpened several old knifes and got a pretty good edge on them.Still new to it so admittedly am not great at sharpening but even as a first time user with no experience was able to get a good edge. Not a great razor sharp one but sharp enough to slice easily through a soft tomato or anything else you'd encounter while cooking.You can see the steel it removes in the rod, not huge amount you wouldn't use this to restore a completely dulled blade but one that is still reasonably sharp and begining to dull.Update- still have the rod & the $5 handleless one I ordered with it. You can wash them, so unless you drop one it'll last years. I find it the easiest way to sharpen a knife & $ to results wise can't be beat. This rod & a leather strop will get knives very sharp & only set you back $20-25.Don't see them offered by this company but there are darker colored medium grit (~400) rods that'll remove more material if you have really dull or damaged knives. I just seen a 4 rod box that has 2 of each type along with preset angle guide holes to place them in here on Amazon and will be ordering it.

Works as expected. Great choice given the price.

Extremely fragile honing rod that came in five pieces when received from Amazon! The reason is simple: it came in a plastic sleeve that was no protection whatsoever for such a delicate ceramic rod. Having said and after receiving a free replacement from Amazon, I am happy to report that the rod/sharpener is quite a fine product and my knives have not been sharper since they were bought. The size of the rod is perfect for normal kitchen knives, including chef's knives and bread knives, and it only takes a few soft passes on the rod to get the perfectly sharp edges.Back to rod's fragility: because of my original experience with the broken sharpener, I would recommend you buy or make a sheath or case to protect the rod made out of thin leather or foam and finally, put a screw hook on the end of the wooden handle and hang it with your knifes so that it's not thrown in a drawer where it could be hit by heavier objects like knives and such.