The ideal care, post sharpening is to use a fine ceramic honing rod (such as the WUSTHOF pictured) to maintain the angle set by your knife sharpener. A fine (rather than coarse) will gently keep the edge of your blade in good condition without causing you to grind a new angle into the blade.

CERAMIC is the ideal choice rather then steel or diamond which is far to aggressive for maintenance purposes.

HOW TO USE a ceramic rod. Hold the rod vertically down on a firm surface with a tea towel between the surfaces to prevent slipping. Most amateur chefs get this wrong and wave the rod round because they've seen professional chefs do this on TV. The aim is to glide the knife down the rod at the same angle that the knife was sharpened at. Too much angle will dull the knife and too little will mean you do nothing to the blade edge. Start at the heel (back) of the blade and very gently slide down the rod while pulling to reach the tip of the blade. The pressure against the rod should be minimal. Perform this operation 3 times on either side of your blade.

HOW OFTEN to hone is up to the individual but the ideal is every 2 - 4 uses of the knife.

WHEN HONING NO LONGER WORKS it is time to have the knives resharpened professionally. When you first start honing you may find that time between professional resharpening is 3 - 6 months but with practice and good knife care this can be pushed out 12+ months.