Victorinox Swiss Classic 2 Piece Paring Knife Set, 3.25" Straight and 4.5" Utility, Red

For optimum performance, knives should be honed after every couple of uses. Proper and frequent use of a honing steel will keep your knives sharper and performing at their best, but remember that a honing steel will not sharpen a dull knife. Honing steels are maintenance tools and are used to help keep an already sharp blade from degrading. During use, a knife edge becomes rolled or turned from direct contact with cutting boards, bones or other hard objects. In this case, honing is necessary to straighten the edge of the knife. After significant use, the steel particles become damaged and the edge cannot be brought back by honing, so sharpening is necessary. If your knives are dull, pitted, or you see visible nicks on the cutting edge, you'll need to sharpen with a Swiss sharp handheld sharpener (49002) or bring to a professional for re-sharpening.