Ceramic chef knife

10after10

10after10

Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Messages
4,448
Hello,

I was wondering if any fellow Blade Forums members might have experience w/ ceramic kitchen/chef knives. What is your experience with edge retention? Have you ever had one sharpened & if yes, how did you go about doing it?

Thank you for looking.
 
Ceramic IMO is for people who are too lazy or busy to maintain their kitchen tools much, i.e housewives, college kids, etc. The advantage is that it is indeed razor sharp and they can be cheaper than steel, but it's extremely brittle and will break easy, making it dangerous if a shard gets into the food you're cutting. Plus, cheaper is still around the $40+ dollar range if you want something you won't be throwing out every week.

Really, If you're willing to make the effort of sharpening and maintaining your knife to begin with, steel is a much better choice since it will stay in good working condition and last longer in general. There is a reason you never see pro chefs use ceramic.
 
The Boker I have is horrible. It came with an edge that I just laughed at. You could press your finger down and ride the complete edge. And you have to have something like diamond to sharpen it. Drop it once.....toast.
 
The one's I've played with are very obtuse. The edge is brittle, and the friends that I know that have them have a very chipped edge.
They cannot be reground or resharpened, and for the money you are better off doing something else.
 
They are a FAD,
As mentioned they have to obtuse of an angle and are really just a disposable. I can sharpen them. But you need Ceramic belts or diamond.

If you want to play with one get a small paring knife size of 3" or so. Theyseem to be the best and you are less likely to chip them for the light duties of a paring knife.
 
I have a culinary background, and have played with a few ceramics over the years. They are interesting, and a nice one, like a Kyocera is very high in maintenance, and can cut quite well if cared for. It's corrosion resistance can be appreciated as well.

Their edge retention is theoretically great. Ceramics are around 85rhc, but suffer in real world due to the dismal toughness because you cannot use it like a regular knife. No rock chopping, lateral movement, and careful cutting board selections.

The bargain ones can be worked with, they come with obtuse angles to keep them from chipping in general consumer hands.

Sharpening is challenging. Kyocera offers(still?) lifetime sharpening through mail in. Diamond works, but leaves toothy edges. 3m trizact belts are also just tough enough to adequately sharpen ceramic, and can polish a pretty clean edge.
 
Thank you to everyone who has responded to my post so far. I really appreciated it. I truly value the ideas & opinions of fellow BF members. It's always good stuff.
 
I would put them on the shelf with Cutco. "New break through knife technology". Absolute garbage that has been marketed to people without knowledge of what other options are available. I feel they are useless, but it's an opinion. Sorry to offend.
 
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