I’m gonna copy/paste a response I made to a comment as a response below so that (hopefully) it’ll channel the eternal debate over the benefits of a honing rod into one thread.

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Not true, at least in part.

While it won’t sharpen, it does remove material, even the steel honing rods.

There’s been a ton of microphotography done over the last decade or so showing what happens at that level.

What a rod does varies based on the material. Metal rods basically friction off steel from the blade, whereas ceramics work exactly the same as a whetstone.

The problem with rods is the inconsistent angle, and the small area of contact. It makes them prone to irregular results.

So, you have to use a light touch.

But, since you’ll likely be working a microbevel rather than trying to totally grind out the same angle as your edge bevel, it works out fine even if you get over vigorous with the pressure. Hell, most folks are going to finish their more thorough sharpening with a microbevel anyway. It’s the easiest way to deburr the edge, and it gives a slightly more resilient edge with no loss of cutting ability.

There’s a site called knife steel nerd, operated by a guy that’s a metallurgist (who was part of coming up with magnacut, which is fairly widely considered one of the best steels for knives ever, if not always agreed as the best). There’s video footage on YouTube as well as other sites that cover the effects of various knife maintenance methods and materials.

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On to not copy/paste stuff

Now, back on reddit, particularly on the r/sharpening and r/knives subs, this subject got done to death. There were some great guys that went the extra mile and did their own microscopy in photo and video form. It is a settled and well documented thing that honing rods do remove material, they don’t just bend the edge back into shape, and are a useful part of knife maintenance. So anyone wanting to fuss and argue the subject should either go there and look for links, or hit their favorite search engine because I’m not duplicating that work here.

They also aren’t a high skill tool. They also aren’t mandatory. What they do is extend the time between more extensive sharpening sessions on a whetstone (as an aside, it is whetstone, not wetstone, the word whet is synonym for hone or sharpen) where you’ll remove more material and reset the angle of your edge bevel.

There is both art and science to sharpening knives. The science part is well established at this point, and backed up (as already mentioned) by documentation in visual formats. The art part is where you get to have fun! That’s where you decide angles and adjust your method, then apply them to the stones you prefer.

Me? I’m an oil stone guy mostly, with ceramics for very fine grit work (around the 3k range, though there’s multiple systems for describing “grit”). But I do tend to stick with forming and removing a burr, which is fairly beginner friendly, but takes less time than other options. I’m always glad to describe the basic process, but it is already out there if anyone wants to go looking. Just don’t automatically swallow someone’s explanation based on them using good techniques. There’s plenty of folks (especially chefs for some reason) that can turn out a superb edge but spread total bullshit regarding how it happens.

Thing is, despite all of this being well established and documented, the info hasn’t made its way into everyone’s hands yet. Then you’ve got folks that simply reject the s

cience of it because they either don’t like thinking they’re wrong, or just don’t want to change their thinking since what they were doing already fit what the research shows.

And then you run into the assholes and idiots that just refuse to accept that the science even exists, which baffles me, but humans are fucking dumb sometimes.

All of which is to reach the summation that most of what you’ve been told about why knives get sharp when you rub them on things is wrong because nobody had bothered to properly study it until maybe twenty years ago, and by properly I mean documenting their work nd experimental processes. So, you can freely just use stones and rods however works for you, no worries. Just be aware that a lot of people scoffing at honing rods don’t actually know what they’re scoffing at or why.

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Edit:

Shit, apparently there’s a lot of confusion about how edges “dull” as well. This comment was already long as fuck, so I’m not gonna go deep (that’s what he said).

However, knives don’t get dull solely by having the very apex of the edge bent. It can also be abraded away, chipped, and/or deformed in other ways. Again, there’s microscopy available out there of what happens as you use a blade on various materials. There’s a difference in what happens cutting cardboard vs on a wood cutting board vs a plastic cutting board, and even a good bit of variance depending on what you’re cutting on those boards.

Sorry but a honing rod does not sharpen a blade. It just bends it, and ifbyou know what youre doing, you can bend it correctly and the blade will be sharper compared to before.

A grinding stone will sharpen it properly

Can’t just roll over. Got to keep some kind of edge.

You gotta be kidding me bahahah. Got a job as a deboner at an MPP, just finished training with a honing rod and see this

That’s a honing rod, not a sharpening tool.

Those sharpeners are worthless.

Whetstones are the only true way to sharpen a good knife.