Help with ceramic blade sharpening

presenttc

presenttc

Joined
Nov 22, 2000
Messages
229
I have two Boker kitchen ceramic knives. They seem to need sharpening faily often. I sent one of them to Boker for resharpening and payed $18.00 for the sharpening.
Now it's dull again.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can sharpen these ceramic blades myself?
Many thank,
Terry Coleman

:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
I once tried sharpening a friend's ceramic Boker folder with a diamond stone and was unable to do any good. Even with the lightest pressure I could control and a 2300 grit diamond stone, there were still chips popping off the edge. The stone did work at removing the material, but the ceramic was too brittle to stand up to the stone. It would have taken me all day using a half ounce of pressure to finally get it sharpened properly. It's my opinion you need a high speed water cooled diamond grit grinding wheel used for lapidary work.
 
same situition here. Got the boker gemini ceramic bladed folder. Chipped it, and has been trying to resharpen it since. Got DMT 4 grits, Lansky type 3 grit dia and lots of synthetic and arkansas stones. Nothing doing. The edge chips, and all I can get is a saw type edge.
 
They aren't supposed to need resharpening all that often. What are you using for a cutting block, wood or plastic? If you use a hard surface like a ceramic or glass plate, your blade's edge is doomed.

Has anyone tried to use ceramic rods to sharpen one?
 
I think that the ceramic rods and the knife blade are of the same material zirconia and have about the same hardness depending on the firing temperature. The only thing that can scratch the ceramic blade would be diamond.
 
kevtan, I agree. But find a slightly harder ceramic to use almost like a steel, instead of using diamond to shred the edge, and it shouldn't chip.
 
There is a special polishing process needed to refinish the edge on a ceramic blade. I think I learned this at Plaza Cutlery. You might try their website and send them an email. They're pretty knowledgeable folks.

jmx
 
Slight update.

My friend in the ceramic industry told me that the Kyocera kitchen and most ceramic blades are made of tungsten oxide. Most ceramic rods are alumina or aluminum oxide. The blade would be harder then the rod. On a black blade you might get white powder of the ceramic rod!!
 
Kevtan, so you'll be up to date, ceramic knife blades are made from zirconium oxide and, to my knowledge, every ceramic blade in the world is made by Kyocera. Take care.
 
Thank you guys for giving me ideas as to sharpening my ceramic blades.
What's interesting is that they DO get dull with use. We use a plastic cutting board. I emailed Plaza Cutlery for any suggestings they may have for sharpening.
Thanks,
Terry :confused:
 
Even the finest DMT stone, 1200 grit, is much too coarse. The teeth left are much larger than what would be produced on a steel knife as the ceramic breaks apart rather than be cleanly cut. You need a finer abrasive, DMT also sells diamond paste available in grits 10c finer than the 1200 hone. That would seem to be the best bet. Ceramic rods don't work at all. The contact pressure is really high and the edge on the ceramic blade breaks apart badly. If you are going to try to align it, use a broad flat surface.

-Cliff
 
The same equipment that polishes caboshones (?) , that is to say diamond belts that run wet can be used to put new edges on ceramic blades.

Last I heard Kyocera would sharpen free any of their knives.

A. G.
 
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