KITA Series 9-Inch Honing Steel, Diamond-Coated Knife Sharpener, 501493

I'll start with the good. . . this thing is really, really pretty, and it's impressive to anyone that sees it. It's built very well and I found absolutely no defects on my copy. The materials seem to be of great quality, the metal seems to be as hard as advertised in my estimation, no complaints there.

Unfortunately, that's where my compliments end. I expected the ridges to be on opposing sides, with smooth on opposing sides as well, so that you can use the ridges or the smooth sides individually without rotating the steel for each side, or else awkwardly manipulating the knife to hone each side without rotating the steel, as another famous manufacturer does. That would be a much better design.

I was really on the fence about returning this, I got it because my wife and I have Krita knives for when we cook together and I thought it would be fun to have the honing rod too, but the way they've designed it makes it very annoying to use. You have to either twist it in your hand when switching from one side of the blade to the other, or do strokes left and right on the same side which is awkward if you have muscle memory from using a traditional steel.

I really like Cangshan, I'm not trying to knock them or their products, but I think this one needs some work. I'll be keeping it because it does do a good job of honing, it's just awkward to use and it certainly won't be my main honing rod (I have a collection, I'm a cutlerly nerd. )