How to maintain edge after cutting on ceramic plate

confucius37

confucius37

Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
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Most dinnerware is ceramic and I love using my knives, but I'm always debating whether or not I want to use my pocket knife for dinner. Stropping doesn't really help to get rid of the rolling typically seen from cutting on ceramic dinnerware and it just seems a little unnecessary to go back to stones after every dinner. Am I just being too picky and I should just leave the flat spot alone for a while?

What is the easiest way to maintain an edge after cutting up my steak for dinner?
 
I either use an inexpensive serrated steak knife or cut very deliberately with my "good" knives so as not to touch the plate. I do enjoy using a good sharp knife so I often just go the very careful deliberate route. My wife gave me a decent set of non-serrated steak knives as a gift and I make sure they don't touch the plate either. Makes eating more enjoyable for me also. Some folks have mentioned eating their steaks off of a wood cutting board. Mike
 
Try cutting food on your plate under an angle, as that will help to minimize edge damage.
It's the way i use my custom Laguiole (Dutch forum knife 2012)
The blade is 12C27 at 61 HRC while the handle is Arizona Desert wood.

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You could also go the plastic plate route. I keep a few around for just such occasions, I much prefer using non-serrated (but actually sharp knives for steak.
 
When I've used newly-bevelled knives on china/ceramic/stoneware plates, I've always made an effort to keep downward pressure to a minimum. Nice thing about a really sharp knife is, it should go through a properly cooked steak like it's butter, with little/no need to lean into the cut. It may seem contradictory for use on a ceramic plate, but thinner edge geometry also helps, as the force required to cut is radically reduced. If you're still uncomfortable with using a thin edge for this, you could also dress up your dinner plate with a slice of bread/toast, or a bed of lettuce to put under the steak while it's being cut. :)

My favorite steak-slicer is a thinly hollow-ground clip blade, such as found on Case's traditional stockman knives. This is what I used, when arriving at the conclusion above. I also noticed this with a newly-thinned 'cheap' imported paring knife of very softish stainless; even that one held up pretty well when used thoughtfully, as above.

I absolutely hate using a serrated blade on a steak anymore, after having been spoiled on the laser-like slicing attributes of a really sharp plain-edged blade used for the same task. Even if such a blade does need a little touch-up after dinner, the thin hollow-grind edge will fix up very quickly, on a strop with compound well-suited to the steel, or with just a feather-light pass or two on a ceramic hone. A V-crock or Sharpmaker-style sharpener is perfect for this.


David
 
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Bamboo plates, or transfer your steak or chicken to a cutting board to rest after cooking. Cut it, and transfer to a plate.

At work they have paper plates. I eat steak or chicken breasts or pork chops fairly regularly a work. I keep a #6 Opinel in my lunch bag for this. A razor sharp edge is a joy to slice steak thinly, cutting on the cardboard plates. I started buying cardboard plates at home for eating meat. Cheap serrated steak knives work, but eating with a sharp knife is a joy, like getting a hot shave. Enjoy life, as long as you can tolerate cardboard plates. If not, getting bamboo plates is your answer. Never cut on ceramic with a good knife.
 
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Prop ur steak on the potatoe so the steak isn't resting on the plate at all. Sharp knife will go through without much pressure and cut the rest of the steak on top of the other half of the steak if that makes sense. Kinda using ur food as it's own cutting board.
 
Many good suggestions above :thumbup:

In addition, I often fork the steak claw style (i.e. the convex of the fork prongs face the knife), do an easy draw/pull heel to tip. yum - medium rare ribeye sans the sound of metal against ceramic.
 
Yeah, I learned the hard way. Cutting with high hardness steel at thin geometry rolls an edge with a quickness.

I cut up a lot of hotdogs for the baby (and must make the pieces very small). My cheap serrated steak knives tear them to pieces rather than slice. Like others have mentioned, I now cut them on the plate, but lift the dog as I get close.

Oddly I find that my carbon Sodbuster seems to resist edge damage from plates pretty well. That's why I started using my more expensive knife, but found that it damaged easily. If you can't find a good technique I say it's time to move to another platform on which to cut. Doing it the way I do *is* a pain, but I hate crappy knives.

Isn't it a contrast in how we think about these things versus people that aren't crazy about their cutlery? I bet all of us have given an odd amount of consideration to this very subject. ;)
 
When I need a knife to cut a good steak (re: rib eye) I use my #6 Opinel that slices it like buttah. (not misspelled, Just a BBQ forum term) I will often lift it from the plate to slice a bite with my fork similar to bluntcut's method, or stack it on something or itself. The thin and extremely sharp blade of the Opinel works great and with little effort. My wife will use her serrated steak knife, and the sound and picture of her scraping the knife edge against the ceramic plate sends my heart into near arrest.:hopelessness: Oh well.... we can't all be knife nuts!

Blessings,

Omar
 
All good suggestions. I used mostly the combination of food as board, lifting off, or simply cut with light pressure. Strange buy I found that my SAK did not get even rolled (at least not visible) even kissing the plate lightly. I stropped it afterwards and good to go.
 
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Chris "Anagarika";12964472 said:
All good suggestions. I used mostly the combination of food as board, lifting off, or simply cut with light pressure. Strange buy I found that my SAK did not get even rolled (at least not visible) even kissing the plate lightly. I stropped it afterwards and good to go.
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I've found softer steels with high carbon content seem to not deform too much on plates. A Case Trapper was my favorite

I usually just lift the steak off the plate like others have said. If it's particularly thick or not cooked well and hard to cut, I lay the knife with the blade facing upward so only the spine of the knife can contact the blade, and then just use my fork to draw the steak over the blade and cut off a piece. just have to be careful not to run the fork onto the blade.
 
a fork will do way less damage.

other than cutting with care i carefully choose the knives i will use in plates. no high end steels, nothing hard to sharpen, preferably something that will steel easily. something like 12c27, 14c28, 1075, etc ... anything on the softer side.

i always have my big chris kephart in 10v @ 64rc in my bag, i use the flats of the ffg blade like a hone with great succes on those steels. it realigns the edge and it even seems to have some slight abrasive effect, maybe the slight grind lines from the satin finish.
 
pwet said:
a fork will do way less damage.

other than cutting with care i carefully choose the knives i will use in plates. no high end steels, nothing hard to sharpen, preferably something that will steel easily. something like 12c27, 14c28, 1075, etc ... anything on the softer side.
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This

Not even soft but tough, 1095 is good. Something where the edge will roll instead of chip. Then you just steel it after each use, 3-4 swipes and done.

Saw a website on how chefs do their, oh so fast, steeling. Just put your elbows in a position to where you cannot cut yourself. Then, while you are steeling, don't move your elbows.
 
pwet said:
a fork will do way less damage.

other than cutting with care i carefully choose the knives i will use in plates. no high end steels, nothing hard to sharpen, preferably something that will steel easily. something like 12c27, 14c28, 1075, etc ... anything on the softer side.

i always have my big chris kephart in 10v @ 64rc in my bag, i use the flats of the ffg blade like a hone with great succes on those steels. it realigns the edge and it even seems to have some slight abrasive effect, maybe the slight grind lines from the satin finish.
Click to expand...

Steels heavily loaded with vanadium carbides will do that; they're quite abrasive. Just to get an idea of how hard and abrasive the carbides could be, I'd 'steeled' the edge of an S90V blade on the side of a wide utility blade in VG-10 a while back. The S90V left lengthwise scratches all over the VG-10 blade. Conversely, steeling the VG-10 edge on the side of the S90V blade left no scratches at all (on the S90V). Really leaves a lasting impression, in illustrating the difference in wear-resistance between the two.


David
 
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