Ceramic Blade - Maintenance/Care?

MDQBox

MDQBox

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I just ordered a Boker Plus Anit-Grav knife which has a ceramic blade. I have no previous knowledge or experience with ceramic blades and was
wondering the proper maintenance and care of the blade.

Can and should I sharpen it as I would steel?

Can and should I hone it?

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the only thing that will sharpen ceramic is diamond but i have been experimenting with my paper wheels to sharpen ceramics. you need to be careful not to drop the knife since ceramic will chip so be just as careful with it as you would be with glass (but it is a little tougher than glass). the edge will stay sharp for a long time if you are careful with it.

i was sent a boker ceramic that was as dull as a butter knife but i put a good working edge on it. i'm still working on it and eventually i'll have it a lot sharper.
 
richard j said:
the only thing that will sharpen ceramic is diamond but i have been experimenting with my paper wheels to sharpen ceramics. you need to be careful not to drop the knife since ceramic will chip so be just as careful with it as you would be with glass (but it is a little tougher than glass). the edge will stay sharp for a long time if you are careful with it.

i was sent a boker ceramic that was as dull as a butter knife but i put a good working edge on it. i'm still working on it and eventually i'll have it a lot sharper.
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Okay cool. Really wasn't sure what the correct protocols were when it came to ceramics. Thanks. :thumbup:
 
you'll like the ceramic blade. just remember to never let anyone borrow the knife no matter how much they beg to use it.
 
The other thing I consistently hear about ceramic blades is, if you use diamond hones to sharpen them, make sure to use only finer grits. Coarse diamond hones will more easily chip an edge on a ceramic blade. I'd also assume they're more vulnerable to excessive pressure, for the same reason (chipping).

Might be worthwhile to see what Boker recommends, for sharpening these. They might just recommend sending it in to have them do it, but maybe they'll have some more specific advice as well. On that note, here's what I found from their warranty info site (bold highlight added by me):

(from site -->: http://www.boker.de/us/warranty.html )

"BOKER CERAMIC KNIVES
(...)
Due to their extreme hardness, which is why they do not need to be sharpened as often as a steel blade, they are brittle. Therefore, blade breakage or chipping is not covered under warranty. We do provide a sharpening service, which can get out most small chips in the blade and restore the original edge."
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I don't have any diamond hones, so I tried sharpening my ceramic kitchen knife with (fine) wet/dry sandpaper. It works well enough, but I can't get a super sharp edge on it (yet! :)).
 
mrdeus said:
I don't have any diamond hones, so I tried sharpening my ceramic kitchen knife with (fine) wet/dry sandpaper. It works well enough, but I can't get a super sharp edge on it (yet! :)).
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I did a little research online and found a recommendation of using a Silicon carbide stone as well.

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richard j said:
you'll like the ceramic blade. just remember to never let anyone borrow the knife no matter how much they beg to use it.
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Yeah, I've developed the philosophy that I will only lend out what I am prepared to lose.
 
Kyocera makes a battery operated ceramic blade sharpener, but it doesn't work well on smaller knives. The handle gets in the way. Boker has a sharpening service which does an impressive job.
 
interesting, I always thought you weren't able to sharpen ceramic blades. I always thought of them as "disposable knives" mainly for the kitchen where once their dull you toss em out.

some of you more knowledgeable guys, do you guys see a future in the cutlery industry for ceramic blades? Is the ceramic blade technology improving? Obviously their not going to replace steel I understand.

I think its kind of interesting along with carbon fiber blades.
 
I was using one of the Boker ceramic folders for a little while. When it started feeling dull, I attempted sharpening, which seemed to dull it even further. I sent it to their sharpening service and it came back sharp again, but it's just too delicate. I put it away and don't carry it any more. I have lots of other knives to choose from. My philosophy is to choose a blade that's more easily sharpened because they all seem to get dull eventually, even ceramic.

I noticed at a WorkSharp demo they have a "diamond" belt, but the guy didn't offer to show how it worked and I didn't press him on it. There was a ceramic knife on the table, though, so maybe that's an economical solution.
 
nuckingfuts said:
interesting, I always thought you weren't able to sharpen ceramic blades. I always thought of them as "disposable knives" mainly for the kitchen where once their dull you toss em out.

some of you more knowledgeable guys, do you guys see a future in the cutlery industry for ceramic blades? Is the ceramic blade technology improving? Obviously their not going to replace steel I understand.

I think its kind of interesting along with carbon fiber blades.
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I never thought ceramics to be practical for all-around EDC use, because of the potential for breakage/chipping, and difficulty in sharpening. There does seem to be a pretty robust 'niche' for ceramic blades in kitchen uses, though. I'm noticing more of them being used on TV cooking programs, and also seeing more of them for sale in the kitchen departments in stores. A lot of kitchen professionals are accustomed to having their knives professionally sharpened anyway, so it's not the same inconvenience to them to send them out for sharpening. Ceramics are evolving, a lot like steel technology, and some newer ceramic knives are apparently more shock-resistant than older varieties (or the 'cheap' ones ;)). There are videos out there, 'demonstrating' drops/impacts to the knives, and at least some of them seem to 'bounce' back.
 
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My only concern with ceramic kitchen knives is a small chip off the edge ending in in the food and busting someone's tooth. Other than that I'm very interested in seeing what new advanced ceramics can do for cutlery. They're getting better every year it seems, I don't think it'll ever be as good as steel for general purpose, but I'm guessing they'll eventually have ceramics that are tougher than steels run at excessive hardness (over rc64)
 
You might check out this youtube video of a ceramic knife sharpened so well by it's owner, he can shave with it:

"Kyocera Ceramic Knife Shave - World's First!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqnkcPIuCY

Sharpening ceramic knives is very difficult. I have gotten a working edge, but could not get it to scary-sharp. Part of the issue, is the brittleness of the material: If you are not careful, the apex just crumbles.

From what I understand, the video used a ceramic knife sharpened with diamond film. Presumably, diamond film is less hard than a diamond stone, but not as soft as a strop. My _guess_ is that diamond stones are very unforgiving because the medium is so hard, and it is easy cause the ceramic to microchip a lot, unless you are super-careful. Stropping with diamond compound is good in theory, and unlikely to cause micro-chipping because of the softer medium. but is probably too slow if you are trying to reprofile or set the edge. So perhaps, diamond film is a reasonable compromise. Plus, the diamond film that is used, is based on 3M micro-finishing or micro-lapping film, which is very high quality with very uniform scratch patterns. Some of these films are used to polish fiber optic splices.

So far, I've only tried diamond stones (too much chipping) and stropping with diamond compound (too slow). I would like to try the diamond films. If any of you try the films, please let us know how it goes!
 
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Regarding stropping with diamond compound, you can 'tweak' the aggressiveness of the compound by trying it on different substrates. Try progressively firmer backing, such as from leather to various grades (hardnesses) of wood, like balsa --> pine --> maple --> oak --> etc...

You could also try different thicknesses of stacked paper over glass, for the substrate. I'd think this would be most similar to using the diamond films, which I think are often used over glass. Might also use single or multiple layers of masking tape on glass in a similar manner, with the compound applied to the back of the tape.
 
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I not only use ceramic knives in the kitchen for food preparation, but I also use the sides of the ceramic blades as finishing steels to touch up my steel and Titanium blades.
 
One of the chefs i sharpen for once in a while came to me with this ceramic knife, a small santoku with a white zirconium oxide blade.
When he bought it in the shop it was about paper slicing sharp, but after using it for some time it got blunter to a point that he didn't like using it anymore and he brought it to "a knife sharpener".
This person managed to make the edge even more blunt than it already was (chipped almost the entire edge) and thus made it completely useless.
Fast forward a few weeks, and the chef came to me asking if i could maybe restore the edge again.

I reprofiled & sharpened the edge on my modified Paper Wheels which are now loaded with 15 micron diamond compound on the sharpening wheel and 6 micron on the polishing wheel.
The resulting edge is slightly convex (making it more durable) as well as sharper than the factory edge, although still not as sharp as a good steel kitchen knife.
Anyway, the chef was happy with it,


 
tiguy7 said:
Kyocera makes a battery operated ceramic blade sharpener, but it doesn't work well on smaller knives. The handle gets in the way. Boker has a sharpening service which does an impressive job.
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I thought that they sharpen there ceramic blade for free you just had to pay for the postage. did I get told wrong??
 
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