Kimura Professional Honing Steel, 10 inch Honing Rod, Carbon Steel Knife Sharpener, Magnetized Steel, Ergonomic & Balanced Polypropylene Handle, Ideal for All Chef Knives, Japanese Gift Box

Definitely a hard wearing knife, still pristine from when I bought it, been used every day for dinner time cooking, looks brilliant on display in the kitchen along with my other knives, good craftsmanship, true to size, definitely easy to use, functional, and sharp, just watch those fingers.

I thought this would be a cheap knife that I wouldn't mind chipping while processing meat, but honestly, the quality has blown my mind. It's quite lightweight but also perfectly balanced for a pinch grip. The design is simple and elegant and wouldn't look out of place in any kitchen, from a family-run cafe to a Michelin-starred restaurant. The spine isn't rounded, but it has clearly been sanded to create soft edges that don't dig into your fingers. The knife is razor-sharp right out of the box. The only thing I can see that isn't perfect is that the handle bolster isn't completely symmetrical; however, that certainly isn't something you can feel when holding it. I would take this over the flimsy feeling Victorinox budget chef knives and day of the week. Quite honestly, I think I'm going to order the entire set. Thank you, Kimura, for surprising me with a very nice knife.

I was looking for a good chef knife as mine seemed to become dull more quickly then ever recently. But that said, I also found that three of my (seven) main knives were also not responding as well as they once did. I concluded that my extremely old honing steel rod was probably worn out. I found the Kimura site by chance and my eye was drawn to the Gyuto chef knives but before investing in them I noticed their honing rod and thought I might try one of those before investing further in knives. The Kimura ceramic rod arrived with me 2 days ago. I used the rod to sharpen all seven knives of my knives and was astonished at the amount of material that was taken off them as the torn and damaged edges were slowly returned to something resembling sharp and even. I always use a sheet of 80 gsm paper to slice through to test each blade. One of them (my chef knife) had a small imperfection near the tip which always snagged the test paper after sharpening. So I focused a minute or so on that area with the Kimura rod and it swiftly removed the snagging problem. The blade slices cleanly through the paper along the entire length now which is the first time in as long as I can remember. I was delighted. By the time I had finished though, the sparkling white ceramic rod was extremely dark and smothered in the dirty dark grey swarf that it had removed. A little Google research suggested that using Barkeepers Friend (Oxalic acid I think) was a good solution but, after I popped a couple of these in my Amazon bag, I found that baking soda (not baking powder) was also a good cleaner agent. So using a damp sponge and ½ teaspoon of baking soda from the cupboard, I drew the rod through the soda in my clenched fist, and it removed almost the entire amount of swarf on the first try. A few moments later, with only a tiny amount of TLC, the ceramic surface was back looking almost good as new (sheer white) and as smooth as silk to the touch. My sponge was a mess though! I have never used ceramic rod before but I am a convert. Fast and with minimal effort it is a pleasure to use. It has a 1200 level grit which is enough to reshape the edge but without being too aggressive and not require any significant effort to achieve despite the poor state of some of my blades. Yesterday as I was prepping some meat, I was extremely pleased at how well my three main knives now perform. I may still buy some of the Kimura knives simply because they look great (and because I fancy one!) but the NEED to do so has largely been usurped by the effectiveness of the ceramic rod. It is also worth mentioning that now I have an edge on the knives, the ability to maintain them with even less effort next time means the rod will not get as dirty in future. If your honing rod is old, trust me, ceramic is a very effective option to replace it. I attach a couple of images showing how the rod looks after simply wiping it clean with the cloth (almost completely unmarked) Finally, while registering the item on the Kimura website for their lifetime warranty I noticed something on their site that confused me a little. I pinged an email advising them (on a Sunday) and got an almost immediate reply. Not only that, but the reply was extremely helpful, dealt with my issue and inspired confidence. It appears they have real people, who actually care about their products, and that is great news! Thanks all.

First impressions Very sharp out of the box. Good balance. Nice and slim on like zone of the knives you can get from amazon Will try and review again after some time.

Item was of decent quality and nicely balanced but I’m of the opinion that it’s a bit too abrasive for fine knives . It’s likely because it’s new so time will tell . In the meantime I may well order the ceramic version and keep this for heavier blades ..

Love this knife. It's ultra sharp. Slices beautifully. Not too heavy or too big. Comfortable grip. Quality good. Used it to slice veggies, meat, and bread. Cut warm homemade bread better than the bread knife.

Extremely high quality and very sharp

well packaged and arrived in good time. Lifetime warranty was easy and straightforward to complete. Product is nic and light and has a good feel. Easy to use and does the job extremely well.

excelente cuchillo con relación valor precio insuperable .Estéticamente es elegante, muy bien terminado y pulido. esta bien afilado. y sobre todo original japonés, ya que buena parte de los promovidos como tal ,son en realidad de origen chino. en otras palabras, altamente recomendable

Built solid, works well and even bettre the one I had before

I bought this as an upgrade to my junky old pot-steel paring knife that would barely take an edge, so admittedly the bar was low. In any case, for the price I'm quite happy. It came shaving-sharp, slices paper cleanly (if a little noisily) and it's smooth as glass across a thumbnail (which means no significant burr). Quite respectable for a factory edge on an affordable knife, and likely better than most people are used to. I'm obsessive, so of course I'm going to take it to the stones to squeeze more out...but it doesn't need work. It feels nice in the hand. Balance is personal preference and it's somewhat academic in a knife this size and weight, for my purposes anyway, unless it's *really* off. That said, it balances right around the first rivet, maybe 1"/2.5cm behind the bolster. I really like the extra blade length, over the ~3"/7.6cm paring knives I'm used to. It turns it from a knife I only use for very specific jobs (cutting the top out of a bell pepper, say) to a more general-purpose "light duty" knife. The only thing that somewhat limits it in this capacity, is the lack of knuckle clearance due to the slender (spine-to-edge) profile. But you can't have it all. Fit-and-finish is adequate at this price point. It all looks nice enough. They didn't quite sand the scales and tang flush on the butt end of the handle, but you'd never normally feel that, and the rest is smooth. Overall, I'm happy. I very much doubt anyone would call this a bad knife. I don't think a paring knife is worth spending big bucks on, unless you already have a lot of very nice knives and money isn't an issue. You just need a serviceable one that isn't awful to use, and this certainly fits the bill.

Already having a steel honing rod, that i found ok, i was hesitant to get another one, even though it had much higher ratings. This Kimura product is really amazing. It really hones up a knife edge significantly with just a few strokes. And I can go much longer between needing to do a real sharpening of our knives. Highly recommend this product.

This Kimura gyuto knife is superb, well manufactured and sharp. It's balance is just right and the handle has been nicely crafted. I would recommend this knife to anyone.