Seki Japan Chef Knife Sharpening Rod, 6 Inch, Durable Ceramic Honing Steel Knife Sharpener (150mm)

I've just purchased this sharpener 'again' about 5 minutes ago. I stumbled upon it through amazon.com where there was a strong positive reviews for this product. I was looking for a different type of steel to the standard daimant ones. Thi product also drew my attention after reading a review from another customer who professed to this sharpener being really great for sharpening Khukuri's, a knife native to my heritage. So I thought I would give it a try. It came from Japan in a box buried under piles of Japanese newspaper. I didn't realize what was in the box until I got past the piles of foreign language printing haha. The item looks really cheap, and the handle is made of plastic that looks tacky. The instructions arent clear either, it's very basis English. And to start off with I used it like I use a normal steel, but I couldn't feel and resistance agains the teeth of my knifes. But then after reattempting the instructions to the letter in various degree of inclination until I could feel some kind of resistance I soon found out how FLIPPING AMAZING THIS CERAMIC STEEL IS!!! I cannot recommend it enough! really nice steel. A bit odd method of using and that aspect might take trial and error to find. But really nice. Just incase tho, start with your least favourite knife. I don't own any expensive knifes, just a few basic victoriknox so I had no fears. I wouldn't want anybody to take my review as the word of God and start with their most fav knife and be disappointed. Happy sharpening to everyone. And ps, this really does work with Khukuri's. Superbly, it's the reason why I've ordered a second one.

Well made and works well.

I bought this as a replacement for a worn diamond sharpener, but in spite of repeated strokes, it seems to have vey little effect . Maybe I'm not using it correctly.

Before even using the honing rod, the ceramic part fell out of the plastic handle.