Ruby Sharpener Rod: Durable Knife Sharpener, Harder Than Steel Honing Rod, Japan Product

This is legit. With its combination of grit, hardness, and construction, I have found it to be the perfect honing rod. It was so good, I bought 8 more and gave them as gifts to my knife brothers. Full review under my YT Knifeluencer channel.

I've used a 3000 grit ceramic rod forever. Saw a video about this rod on YouTube, for the price, thought I'd try it out. It does seem to cut a little more aggressively than ceramic of the same grit. I do like it! So far, I have sharpened mystery Paknisium and Chinesium blades, D2, 14c28n, and a touch up on S35vn. Great ruby rod for the price!

It's a good honing rod, does not take much pressure to get the knife is sharpened .

So far it's done everything that they claim. It's a nice, fine ceramic that doesn't clog. Easily. And it isn't too aggressive or too fine

Finishes a fine edge nicely @3000 grit. Not for fixing dings. Using it with a 1500 grit green elephant ceramic to keep the kitchen sharppp.

This is nothing more than a alumina rod that's red, alumina/aluminum oxide is Ruby/sapphire. This rod at 40 bucks is no different than any fine white ceramic honing rod that you can buy for 10-15 bucks, they are just charging you 2-3x and calling it "Ruby" and having a YouTube influencer tell you how much better it is when he is just making money off the link clicks. It's a ceramic rod that's it, nothing more nothing less just a simple sintered alumina rod with a plastic handle on it that they are charging a couple times more than what it should cost due to it being red and them calling it ruby and preying on the uninformed thinking it's special and having a YouTuber push it telling you it's different and leaves a better edge than a ceramic rod and is totally full of it. NEEVESKNKVES is simply collecting all those link clicks by telling you it's something special when in reality it's EXACTLY THE SAME as any fine alumina/ceramic hone. Them saying it's ruby the 2nd hardest stone is correct but keep in mind that diamond is over 4 times harder than ruby/alumina so it's a big difference. Keep in mind that they say it will cut any steel in the description and while that is true it's also untrue, while yes alumina/ruby is hard enough to cut any steel matrix even up to 70hrc (it won't do it well, anything over 65hrc it will be very slow and struggle with) but what it can't do is cut the hard Vanadium and tungsten carbides or Vanadium or tungsten enriched carbides that are harder than the alumina/ruby abrasive and this results in a phenomenon called carbide tear out on steels that are full of these very hard carbides and results in edges that perform poorly and dull far before they would if you simply touched the edge up on a diamond or cbn abrasive as the diamond or cbn is hard enough to cut both the steel matrix and the carbides no matter the type or % of carbide in the steel. This is a good quality fine ceramic rod but it's nothing special, there are plenty of 10-15 dollar fine ceramic rods out there that perform IDENTICAL to this rod and will cost between 25% & 50% what this rod costs, this rod is not even close to worth 40 bucks because you can buy the exact same thing in a longer 12in rod length for about 15 bucks and even less if you look around. Neeves making those videos on this was nothing more than a cash grab to get his viewers to go spend a premium on a product that is no different than the ceramic rods they likely already have or can get for 10-15 bucks all because it's red and he could call it ruby and say it performs better knowing the uninformed will go buy it just because he said it's better and that commission really adds up when a couple hundred viewers go and buy one and that's exactly what happened. Once people started saying ruby isn't nothing but alumina and exactly like any other ceramic rod out there now guess what? You haven't seen him make another video on the topic because he's done make his couple grand driving buyers to over pay for a rod that is nothing more than any other fine ceramic except that it's red in color and said to be ruby rather than ceramic. If this rod was made in Japan and priced at 20 bucks it would be an okay buy as those 10 to 15 dollar 12 inch ceramic rods are made in China so I don't mind paying a few extra dollars for a Japan made product rather than China but when they are just charging a couple times what you can get these rods for just because it's red and they are calling it ruby I have a problem with that and when they are using a YouTuber to make a video and get a large push of buyers because he says it's better mean while it's literally identical to any other fine ceramic that is not cool. I can not stress it enough this rod is IDENTICAL TO ANY OTHER FINE CERAMIC HONING ROD YOU CAN BUY. there is no difference it's a sintered alumina rod with red dye in it to make it look special that's it, it's called ruby because alumina is ruby with a touch of chromium in it to make the color red that is it, every ceramic rod out there is a ruby rod just like every ceramic rod out there is a alumina rod because they are one in the same. Sure this is a good ceramic hone, but so is every other ten dollar ceramic hone. In performance there is zero difference they perform exactly the same. Just don't fall for over paying because a YouTuber told you it's different because he's just trying to make money by making you spend your hard earned money. If you already have a fine ceramic rod/hone and you buy this you are buying exactly the same thing you already have and the performance will be the same. If you are looking for a ceramic hone that's fine and you don't mind spending the money for a Japan made rod then okay buy it but don't expect it to perform any different than a standard fine grit ceramic rod because it won't because they are exactly the same thing. Don't let Neeves tell you that it "gives more bite to the edge than ceramic rods do" and "cuts all steels because it's ruby and that's the 2nd hardest thing on earth and cuts faster than ceramic rods" because this is a lie, it doesn't cut any faster or give any more bite than a typical fine ceramic rod. As far as cuts any steel, yes any ceramic rod will cut any steel but will struggle badly over 65hrc and depending on carbide type and percentage the rods not be able to cut the hard carbides and the higher the percentage the more problems it will cause you. Ruby is NOT the second hardest thing on earth it's the 2nd hardest gemstone on earth but things like CBN (cubic boron nitride) is FAR harder than ruby is. The rod is solid alumina so it will last forever should you not drop it and break it. Just don't fall for what some YouTuber is telling you when he's just trying to get those oh so sweet link clicks and make that oh so sweet afil money and is literally giving you misinformation knowingly (and possibly unknowingly as well) to make you buy and pay substantially more for something that is no different than the cheap ol sintered alumina ceramic rods that you likely already have. These you tubers have turned in to nothing more than a commercial so keep that in mind when you buy something they are pushing. If this rod was 20 bucks ide rate it five stars as it's just as good as any other fine ceramic rod out there and the 5 to 10 dollar premium ide be paying I would be okay with because I would be buying a Japan made product and not a China made product so I would be okay with that. At 40 dollars it's just a cash grab and using influencers to make videos and say this and that about it to trick you in to spending a lot more on a product that will perform exactly the same as the fine rod you currently have or the 10 dollar rod you could buy on Amazon. This rod is far to expensive at 40, it's trying to deceive you with the red coloring and the calling it ruby instead of ceramic and that is what I have a problem with. Both Neeves and the company trying to deceive with calling it ruby and the red color and telling you it's different and the color shows you it's different and it's ruby to make you think its something different and gonna perform better because it's ruby. They are literally depending on the uninformed to not know that aluminum oxide/alumina/ruby/sapphire are all exactly the same compound. If they colored this rod blue and called it a sapphire rod it would still be exactly the same and if they left it white it would still be exactly the same. The rod isn't red because of it being "Ruby" the rod is red because they add a dye before they sintering process to fuse the alumina together under massive heat and pressure to create the sintered alumina rod that's red because they added red dye. It's a good rod and performs exactly like a fine ceramic rod should so it's 5 stars for performance... Minus 1.5 stars for the over inflated price as it should be 20 or less. Minus 2 stars for the deceptive ad and the deceptive use of an influencer to tell you it's something different and preying on the uninformed. Resulting in a final score of 1.5 stars and that half star is being nice as the deception alone should make it 1 star. Below are 3 pics under the microscope. First Pic is the ruby rod, 2nd pic is a medium grit ceramic rod and 3rd pic is a fine ceramic rod. Besides for the color of the binder you see they look identical and the abrasive is the "WA" white alumina is the white stuff you see. Don't be fooled in to wasting your money on what is literally the exact same thing.

This thing works well. It hones my newer super-steel knives perfectly. It's also fun that it's "ruby" red instead of plain white.

Very nice product, with all kinds of enclose information with it. used it on an older Spec-War Bench Made and it did the job! I will strop it on cardboard as the manufacturer recommends and it should be ready for duty!