How are honing rod type knife sharpeners made of steel able to sharpen steel knives?

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How is it possible that steel can sharpen steel?

For example this honing rod type sharpener [https://www.walmart.com/ip/J-A-Henckels-International-Fine-Edge-Pro-9-Sharpening-Steel/49056156](https://www.walmart.com/ip/J-A-Henckels-International-Fine-Edge-Pro-9-Sharpening-Steel/49056156) is made of steel whereas the this one is made of ceramic [https://www.walmart.com/ip/J-A-Henckels-International-Handheld-Knife-Sharpener/861314185](https://www.walmart.com/ip/J-A-Henckels-International-Handheld-Knife-Sharpener/861314185)

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I haven’t seen anyone else mention it yet, so I’ll just add that there are like 1000 different formulations for steel that all have different properties, and things like heat treating and tempering can drastically alter a steel’s properties on top of those formula differences. Hell, a single piece of metal can actually be made from multiple forms of steel with different heat treats applied to different parts of it.

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