With each use of your knife, the razor-sharp edge naturally bends over just a tiny bit. The edge is still sharp, but the sharpest part isn’t making contact with the food. The answer is honing with the Shun Kanso Combination Honing Steel. It gently realigns the edge of the blade, prolonging the knife's sharpness. The Shun Kanso Combination Honing Steel has two surfaces: a smooth one for day-to-day honing, and a micro-ribbed one for weekly honing.