Very fancy feeling
If you’re new to the kitchen knife world, then chances are Cangshan might be new to you, and the price might be intimidating or maybe even tempting to some. Personally, I’ve been wanting to get into owning a few knives from Cangshan’s series, so I was excited to at least have the opportunity to try their new honing rod from their new Kita Series.I’ll split this up into sort of two reviews, one for brand itself and other for the product, starting with the Product part:This Honing steel is meant to serve as a multi purpose tool, both for Honi and for Polishing. The steel itself is diamond coated, which from what past experience means it’ll help align burrs on the blade of a knife a bit better than the regular steel or ceramic ones. This honing steel has the Akita’s blue G-10 Fiberglass handle with a neat design on the handle itself. The construction feels firm and I was confident with using it at moderate speed. When used on my Misen VG10 blade, it did a pretty good job. Granted that I purposely created a bit of dulling and burring prior to testing, the blade felt as if I had just used a high grit whetstone to strop.Price wise, I think this is a bit pricy at $60, but it does align with the competition’s usual prices ranging from $40-80. For someone who just needs a good honing rod however, this might be 2-3x the money you’d need to spend.Cangshan as a brand itself:The brand came in hot as a competitive high quality knife maker, and when they hit Amazon it felt like they were the only option for a good time. They make good quality knives with multiple series that provide different characteristics and construction. This is typically scary to me, but I’ve noticed that they are very transparent about the type of materials used on their products and the form of heating/forging used, whether it’s stamped/forged/hammered etc. They also give you a few guides on how to maintain your knives and even how to use some of the accessory products like this honing rod. Yes, they are pricey, and there are cheaper alternatives out there for certain materials. For example, I’d lean more towards Mercer and even Babish’s knives for entry level compared to spending $200+ on here. As for their more premium lines, you’ll have a hard time deciding between Cangshan and others, since the steel construction becomes very desirable and durable with amazing sharpness.Hopefully I’ll grab a nice set in the future, but for now I’m thankful Vine allowed me to grab this honing steel to try out and add to my arsenal.
✔ Verified Purchase
Good, but it's not "Diamond Coated" as advertised.
I have mixed feelings about this honing steel, even though as a honing steel it is excellent. My gripe is with the description. This is NOT diamond coated, and it is NOT a knife sharpener. It's a honing steel, meaning it is used to maintain your edge (uncurl it), not to actually sharpen a knife. It will not sharpen a knife... at all.However, it IS a very good honing steel. Construction is good, finish is excellent, and performance leaves nothing to be desired. I love that it has a 2 in 1 design with a standard honing steel grain on one side, and polished on the other. Finishing off with the polished end sort of works like a strop. It really does do a better job than just a standard honing steel. This quickly replaced my Wusthof steel that I've had for 20+ years.I only with they had a 12" or 14" version, as it is a little bit on the short side for my needs.I do recommend this product. The price is fair for what you get as it is not just a steel, but a really pretty one that is finished well. Cangshan really needs to correct that product description to accurately portray what it is. More so, the "diamond coated" part, as somebody that was actually looking for a diamond coated honing steel will be disappointed and will likely leave a poor review.If the description didn't stretch the truth with the whole "diamond coated" nonsense, then I would have happily given this the 5 stars it deserves. It really is an excellent steel, and I don't feel that any puffery was required.
✔ Verified Purchase
F
FreddyMo
February 22, 2024
Great replacement for the honing steel in my Wusthoff knife block
The honing steel that came with my knife block had a plastic handle and worked great for over 10 years. But and it seemed to be happening more often was that the steel would slide out from the handle. I would push it and pound it back in, but a couple weeks later it was coming out again. This honing steel came up on my Vine page and I thought it would be a great replacement. When I got it out of the packaging, I noticed that it was very fancy looking with a wood handle surrounding the steel handle with the honing steel embedded into there. It reminds me of the upgraded honing steels you get with those high-end knives at about a third the cost. It has a great heft to it and feels solid in your hands. It does a great job keeping my knife sharp and I use it every time before I start cutting vegetables or meats. Since I got it through Vine, I did not have a choice of color, so I got the one with a blue handle which doesn’t match my knife set which is black. But at the end of the day it doesn’t bother me since ti does what its supposed to do so well.Pros: Solid feel, looks elegant, priceCons: The hilt is very small and even though I don’t get near it, it’s just a trick of the mind that I imagine that I’d cut myself. Especially since my old one had a much bigger hilt that would protect your fingers and had been using it for so long.
✔ Verified Purchase
C
cannabible customer
February 26, 2024
Honing rod
If people are realistic about their expectations for a honing rod, then you'll get great use out of it. No, this won't do a good job sharpening something on it's own, especially if you're starting from something very dull. The handle feels decent enough. It's not real wood, but I'm not really concerned about aesthetics here. The rod feels decent enough in hand and ergonomic enough. It hones the knife edges as expected. Personally, I prefer to sharpen using whetstones. I generally use a ceramic rod for honing/very mild sharpening. Sometimes I use an electric sharpener if I'm super lazy. For the really cheap beater knives, I'll sometimes just use a good pull through sharpener & honer/polisher if I'm really lazy or short on time. I don't really see this replacing what I already have in rotation, but it's definitely not bad either. Perhaps if 1 of the other rods does out, I may use this more. It least it works at what it's supposed to do, which is honing/straightening out the little metal burrs and/or curved lip on the edge.
✔ Verified Purchase
