If you use a honing rod to sharpen your knives, you may already know that it has its limitations. While it can help keep your knives sharp, it may not be sufficient when it comes to restoring the cutting edge of your knives. In order to remedy this, you need to use something more effective than a honing rod. This is because when you cut with a knife, some microscopic parts of the cutting edge roll to one side, and later break off, causing the cutting edge to become dull. This is called a burr. The honing rod can remove some of the burr and make the edge less round, but it is only a temporary solution. To fully restore the sharpness of your knives, you need to use a more substantial sharpening tool.