Kyocera ceramic

[sandness]

Well, I made an impulse purchase of a Kyocera ceramic santoku/paring knife box set as a gift for my mother. I have done some more reading on them, and I am beginning to have second thoughts. Here's the story:

My mom has been using the same old serrated knives as long as I can remember. She occasionally has tried a few knives from the grocery store and obiviously was not pleased with the results. I wanted to get a few nice knives for her. I've bought a cheaper santoku for her a while back and she loves it. But the only time it is sharpened is if I do it. And here's the worst part- she uses 2 glass cutting boards. My original thought with buying the ceramic knives was that they would be harder than the glass and not get dulled as quickly. From searching on the forum, I'm wrong. And these knives are tough to sharpen.

So I must decide if I should [1] go back to the shop and see if I can twist their arm for an exchange for some steel Wusthoff, [2] sell the set on eBay for a small loss, and buy any other decent brand online, or [3] give her the ceramic knives, buy her some nice non-glass cutting boards, and hope she tosses the glass ones.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Buy her some better steel knives AND toss the glass cutting boards. The Forschner knives with fibrox handles are relatively inexpensive and very effective.

She'll destroy the Kyoceras in no time, and the glass boards as you seem to realize will destroy any other edge as well.

 

[Mick R.]

I definitely agree with Esav. Ceramic knives are very brittle and will snap under lateral stress - they're also prone to shatter when dropped on a hard surface.

There's a reason you'll find Forschner knives on the prep tables of the majority of commercial kitchens and fishing docks in the USA - They're reasonably priced, durable, take a killer edge, and are easy to sharpen...
(oh yeah - and definitely buy her a new cutting board. )