Diamond Machining Technology (DMT) 14-in. Diamond Steel, Fine Grit Sharpener (DS4F)

I had been using an electric sharpener (Chef'sChoice 310) for the past 10 or 15 years and decide to make a change because it took a great deal of time to sharpen my knife set and I was never fully satisfied with the sharpness or longevity of the resulting edge. I chose to buy the DMT 12" fine and extra-fine sharpening steels as well as the DMT 12" ceramic steel sharpening rod. Overall I am very happy with the purchase and am fully satisfied with the results of using this set of sharpening steels. The amount of time I am spending to keep my knives sharp has been reduced, the knives are now sharper than they ever were with my electric sharpener and the knives hold their edge longer than they ever did as well. The first time I used the set, I used all three sharpening steels and spent about four or five minutes per knife to clean up the edges of small nicks and put a great edge on all my knives. Given the quality and longevity of the knives edges, I now only need to hone them with the ceramic steel once every week or two and am done in less than one minute per knife. I would highly recommend this set to anyone who’s interested in keeping their knives very sharp and are willing to spend a few minutes doing so.One word of caution that needs to be said, the coating on the ceramic steel is somewhat fragile and a great deal of care should be taken when using it. The first time I used it, I put a long nick (about 1” long) where the ceramic coating was removed and the aluminum rod in the core was exposed. I knew about this susceptibility based upon others comments here and used caution when first using however clearly not enough. I was very upset with myself for damaging it and now use even more care when using it. I also now take care to avoid the damaged area of the ceramic steel rod. All that said, it still works great and it’s helped me to keep my knives sharper for a great length of time with less work and effort.

I bought this with the Fine grit steel for my kitchen knives, as much because I didn't know for sure what the actual grit was. As it turns out, they go really well together; the Fine is good for a knife that has started to feel a little dull or catch, and the extra fine is perfect for when you're getting ready to start cooking and the knife is sharp, but needs that extra polish before you get busy. In use, say, I'd pick the fine for when I'd been chopping a lot of vegetables and gotten a couple of places where the edge was getting flat; the extra fine would be for when I had cut a lot of meat and the edge was just off a bit.The tools themselves are hefty and large enough that you can easily maintain a consistent edge angle if you hold it freehand. On the other hand, they come with safety caps on the ends, but under the cap is a point for those who ground the steel vertically on the block and stroke down. I don't know yet about how well they'll wear, but since they're diamond steel I hope they won't have the wear that people have reported with ceramics. At this point I'd buy again.The only caveat I'd place is the obvious one-- these don't replace stones. If you have lower quality or heavily worn knives, you still need stones to put an edge on. You probably could do it with these if you had lots of time on your hands, but this isn't the right tool for that. It also may be worth noting I'm using these with Henckels knives-- they might give different results with different alloys from another maker.[One month later] With some time passed, I am satisfied still with these steels. My habit is to give ten or twenty strokes to each side with the extra fine when I'm getting ready to use a knife. This steel brings the edge up perfectly, including the tip that drags on the block when slicing, and the knives stay sharp enough that I can slice a six inch thick roast in one or two strokes or cut a sandwich by just pressing down the blade without crushing the food. Very pleased with my knives as they are maintained by this tool.[Still using them] These have turned out a good purchase. I give a knife I'm going to use a good stroking each side with the ultra fine each time I use it, and my knives stay perfectly sharp. I haven't had to use the other one since the original conditioning of the blades as a result.If anyone's interested, SharpeningSupplies.com has a good, easy to understand explanation of how to use a steel. They make the comment that steels don't actually sharpen the knife, though; while that's true of a traditional steel, it's not true of the diamond coated ones we're looking at here.