Use of the Eden Quality sharpening rod

The Eden Quality sharpening rod is made from top grade ceramic material that is ideal for keeping your special knives sharp. It is very important to keep your knives in tip-top condition so that they will not become dull. It really only takes a few seconds to maintain your knives and you should do this on a regular basis. For instance, if you do this every week, your knives will always have a sharp edge and the cutting performance is guaranteed to be excellent. On the other hand, if you wait until your knife is completely dull, you will be using a knife that is just not up to scratch! And what is more, if you do not maintain your knife, you will find it much more difficult to re-sharpen it once it has become dull.

The advantage of a ceramic sharpening rod is that it really does sharpen your knife. An 'ordinary' sharpening steel only re-aligns the microscopic serrations on the edge of the knife without removing any material. From frequent use, the edge of a knife often rolls over on itself and bends a little, making it less functional. Sharpening steels are suitable for straightening out the metal on the edge of the blade, making it effective again. Contrary to ceramic sharpening rods, sharpening steels are not at all effective in actually honing the edge of the knife, and particularly not with superior quality knives that are manufactured from top grade, hard steel. If you do use a sharpening steel on high quality knives, you will run the risk of damaging either your knives or your sharpening steel itself. So you should just avoid this.

Use of the sharpening rod
Take the sharpening rod firmly in one hand and the knife in the other. Hold the knife at a 15 to 20 degree angle to the steel. Hold the knife so that the bottom of the blade closest to the handle is just barely touching the end of the sharpening rod. Make a cutting motion upwards towards the handle of the sharpening rod. Make sure that you use both the full length of the blade and the full length of the sharpening rod. You should end with the point of the knife touching the handle of the sharpening rod.
Do not be afraid of cutting yourself. This is highly unlikely because of the protective bolster in the handle.
Now, repeat this procedure, using the other side of the blade and of course the other side of the sharpening rod.

Sharpen each side of the blade 5 to 10 times and your knife should be nice and sharp again. If you do sharpen your knives in this way every week, you will always have razor-sharp edges on hand and the cutting performance of your knives is guaranteed to be superb.

Tips
- Do not exert force. The less force exerted, the better. It is not the force exerted that is important in the sharpening process but rather the material used in the manufacture of the sharpening rod. If you try to sharpen your knives using too much force, you will only run the risk of damaging your blades.
- Concentrate on sharpening the whole knife. Use the full length of the sharpening rod and sharpen the whole blade.
- Make sure you use the correct sharpening angle, which is about 15 to 20 degrees. To find the correct angle, try the following: position your knife at a small angle to the sharpening rod, so that the blade appears to glide over the sharpening rod. Slowly increase the size of this angle until it seems as if it is biting into the sharpening rod, as it were. Once you have reached this point, you have found the correct sharpening angle.
- Only sharpen your blades using a cutting motion. Using this method, you will prevent your blades from scratches.
- Only sharpen your blades moving from the point of the sharpening rod to the handle otherwise you may damage your knife if it slips off the end of the sharpening rod.
- Use your sharpening rod as often as you like. Frequent use will not damage it at all. Such a negligible amount of metal is removed during sharpening that you do not have to worry about your knife being honed down to nothing!
- Even though sharpening your knives on a sharpening rod is done in a jiffy, you should take your time to do it with care. Don't try to copy celebrity chefs from TV programmes, who routinely sharpen their knives in rapid motion. If you do, you will probably not sharpen the whole blade, nor will you use the correct sharpening angle. Remember to take your time because sharpening requires care and concentration.
-A sharpening rod is used to keep a knife sharp. If a knife is really dull, it should be re-sharpened using a sharpening stone. We recommend our excellent Eden Quality Sharpening stones for superb results.

Don't forget to watch our video demonstration of the Eden Quality sharpening rod.

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