Arkansas Sharpeners Superstick Ceramic Rod, White

It’s a lot bigger than I expected it to be. Very nice weight to it easy to control. Versatile for many different blades. Good value for the money. Quality product. The material stands up D2 steel. Great for finishing of sharpening knives.

This Arkansas Sharpeners Superstick Ceramic Rod, White rod seems to put an edge on a knife easier than my older metal rod. I like the looks of this rod and especially the wooden handle. I am pleased with this purchase.

This thing is MUCH larger than I'd expected, which was a good thing. This thing looks like something you'd beat someone with, as opposed to hone a knife. It's about 18 inches long and the ceramic rod is about an inch in diameter. I am under 40 years old, and would imagine this to be an item that I could put in my last will and testiment. I love it!! As for its honing capabilities: I would say that this rod has been my missing link. I will use this rod between my stones and my strop, and for most all of my knifes, it will be the starting point, before hitting them with the strop. I have a BK16 that I had in the field the week prior to this ceramic rod ariving. I wouldn't say that it was dull, but it was not at peak sharpness. I rubbed it on this ceramic rod about 100 times each side, rubbed on the back of my leather belt, and I am amazed at how sharp that BK16 is. I then decided to do the same to my Esee Avispa that has been riding around in my pocket, cutting everything it has the chance to cut, and it is the sharpest it has ever been. Just for kicks, I pulled out my Esee 5 and did a quick sharpness test on a piece of news paper. It would cut the paper, but not anything like the BK16 and Azispa would cut the paper. I initially thought the difference was due to the difference in blade thickness. However, after rubbing it on the ceramic rod 100 times each side, and then on the strop, it would glide through the paper just like the other 2 knifes. This rod isn't going to replace your need for a good set of stones, as they have their own purpose. However, it is exactly what I have been missing to keep my knifes in shape, and the sharpest they have ever been. Go ahead and buy this rod. If you use it like it in the correct stage of the sharpening process, you will love yours like I love mine. I hope this helped you make your buying decision.

Pictured with an ESEE Junglas II for scale, as you can see it is huge. Others have given measurements already if you need exactly ones for some reason. I JUST got this the other day, but I have already used it quite a bit on several blades to test it out. Yes it has a sticker that says "Made in Taiwan" on it, so it's "Proudly Made in the USA" claim is dubious, but it's fitness for purpose and quality is not. I took off one star simply because of that. The wood used for the handle is good quality and well adhered to the ceramic rod. The ceramic itself seems to be fine quality, and has stood up to a great deal of use from me already, on many size blades with various steels. It put a fine edge on them all, as one would expect a good ceramic rod to do. I purchased a large ceramic rod specifically for it's size, hoping that the quality would be adequate, and it is. The size makes it extremely easy to work with no matter what size blade you need to sharpen. Obviously this isn't something you're going to carry around with you typically, but it's a great home/shop tool. Of course if anything changes over the course of the lifetime of this tool that justifies it, I will post an update. As of right now though, it's very much worth the money!

so far so good. it works well to keep my knives level. couple things to note- it's large, much wider in diameter than the old school stuff I'm used to. took a minute for it to feel natural, but I like it now. because it is larger than normal, and ceramic, it is not the easiest thing to store. i have a decent spot for it, but if you are limited on safe space for ceramic, this might not be the right object for you. the handle is uniformly symmetrical rather than having a little flat spot or erg shaped handle like many rods I've seen. For me, this is a small detail that I really appreciate. it allows for even wear around the whole cylinder of ceramic instead of encouraging you to wear down the same two sides by shaping the handle in a certain way. not sure if that makes perfect sense, but it's something I hadn't considered before getting this rod. I've had it for a while now and have no complaints. Would likely buy again if I broke it.

Item is large and well made. Good for quick knife sharpening.

Wasn't sure about this thing, but after using it for a couple of weeks I'm completely sold. I have a ceramic rod with a stated grit of 3000. My routine is to give a few strokes with the ceramic rod and finish with the Arkansas stone I'm obtaining a remarkably sharp edge. It's a keeper.

I've had a ceramic rod to sharpen my knives for over 30 years but the old rod was much smaller in diameter - therefore less surface area to sharpen knives with until you need to clean (with Ajax or similar). This hefty rod came quickly in perfect shape and will put a keen edge on your steel cutlery (not for ceramic or serrated knives) that get abused by the rest of the family who will use but NOT sharpen them! I would recommend this to anyone that hates to use dull knives. Using it involves a slicing motion down the rod as if you were whittling a sliver at approximately 30 degree angle. Do this on both sides of knive blade. I am right handed so to sharpen the opposite side of blade I switch knive to my left hand and hold the rod by the other end with my right hand and stroke blade toward the handle - it seems to give me better control. It is hefty so it will not fit in many knive blocks so expect it to keep it in your dinnerware drawer but expect that it's too big to fit in with your regular dinner utensils - it's at least 16" long and handle is over 1" diameter. Other reviews have commented that their rod came with a small defect on the very end - mine did not but in any case it is not anything that would affect its use so don't infer that it's defective in any way.