LanskyLansky 8" Ceramic Sharp Stick

It seems to function as if it were about 800 grit and does a rather good job at sharpening all my knives and maintaining their edges rather well. I have probably sharpened a good 20 kitchen knives and a few other pocket knives. It doesn't wear down much even after the number of knives that I have put to it. I still can't even see any wear on it at all.It's been a great thing to have around and allows me to quickly and easily touch up or sharpen a knife in general. I like it and keep it handy in the kitchen. It sees regular use and keeps my blades ready to cut like a champ and do some serious work. I used it to bring back some of a friends knives that had gotten to a rather bad point that he was considering just buying all new knives. (He didn't know how to sharpen a knife properly). A couple minutes to even very dull blades and you will be back to cutting easily.If you don't know how to use one of these just look it up on youtube, I've been using these types of rods for many years, though it's only recent that it is easier to get a hold of the ceramic type rods.Update: Oct. 2014I've had this for another year now, originally reviewed this Oct.2013, and it's still going strong. I regularly use this rod to touch up my knives in the kitchen and to touch up my pocket knife collection. At this point there is only slight signs of wear on this rod but given how much it gets used, it's doing outstanding. In several cases I should have pulled out one of the larger lower grit stones and used that first before the rod to get the re-profiling set before using this product but never the less it still sharpened the knives and it still has a very long way to go before I even need to worry about replacing it.Wear signs are minimal at this point and it's an outstanding product in my opinion at this time.

Great inexpensive honing rod. Makes it easy to use quickly to hone your kitchen knives before, after or both when using your knives. It fits perfect in my knife block and works much better than the pull through sharpener that was included in my knife block.Take care to learn how to use it and keep the correct angles when honing and you can keep a great edge on your kitchen knives. Keep in mind, this is NOT sharpener, it is for honing. It wont bring a super dull or damaged edge back.BE CAREFUL! This is ceramic and unsupported so it will shatter if you drop it.

Medium is a relative term I guess but I don't know who would call this a medium grit. My kitchen steel is sort of toothy so I figured it would be like that. Nope, this is fine ceramic, I'd call it at least very fine, maybe super fine. It has no grit that is discernable to the touch.I bought this and a lansky puck thinking that would be all I needed, the puck to put edges on things and this to make them razor sharp. I mean, it does say medium. But something in between is definitely needed if you don't want to be using this for an hour.I've only owned square whetstones and pull through sharpeners before and I don't like either of them. I like using kitchen steels though so I thought this would be good for me, like a kitchen steel but it actually sharpens. Well it does sharpen, I can see the tiny metal dust shavings after using it for awhile, but it's more for taking things from mostly razor sharp to super razor sharp. You can take things from "cuts hair but not like a razor" on up with it but you'll be sitting there a while. But you wouldn't want to use this to go from where the finer side of the lansky puck gets you to razor sharp.Still a good value for the money though so 4 stars from me.

Excellent product.just right size.comfortable handle.fast and easy.all most typical knife users will need along with a good strop.Gives a nice sticky sharp edge in just a few seconds.takes maybe 5 swipes per side to restore a just dull blade to a nasty screaming sharp working edge. It cant handle extremely dull or heavily damaged edges however. Its just not made for that. The ceramic is fairly fine and is intended to restore an edge rather than create one. Youll need additional tools for blades in bad shape.But for restoring edges and light sharpening this thing is perfect! 5-10 swipes per side,then strop it up and youve got a scalpel sharp blade easily capable of shaving and quietly breezing through phone book paper. A great tool to take along on camping/fishing/hunting trips or to keep handy in the glove box of a work truck. Youll have no excuses for a dull knife after buying this.A word of caution tho. Use carefully and make sure you keep the edge in contact all the way thru the belly and up to the tip. If you slip off youll put a nice deep gouge or at very least a bad scratch in your blade. Ive scratched several knives with this and similiar sharpeners. Just pay attention and dont slip off.Anyway its a really great tool. Simple,easy,effective and FAST! Highly recommended to everyone .