Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
BigZX
22
Apr 25, 2017
How easy is sharpening ceramic?
musgrat
41
Apr 25, 2017
BigZXYou can't really do it yourself. Most ceramic knife companies will sharpen them for you for free, or for a small fee, once they are dull. But truthfully, ceramic knives stay sharp very long. I know a few people who use them, and only one has ever needed them resharpened.
As to this particular company, I didn't really read the description. You'd want to make sure they have a sharpening service. Too many options out there to not have that.
PaganD
104
Apr 7, 2018
musgratActually, ceramic knives blunt still cut better than steel knives, though as you say, they stay sharp a long time. I have the Kyocera Black Zirconium coated knives & have used them pretty much every day for 5+ years & are still going strong. Ceramic knives can only be sharpened &/or honed with a ceramic rod, wheel or 'ceramic stone', if you use anything else, you destroy the ceramic material. So it can be done yourself quite easily.
shimage
228
Apr 8, 2018
PaganDThat was not my experience with my mom's kyocera knives. When she bought them, I told her ceramics weren't my thing because I can get steel knives very sharp (sharper than any factory edge I've seen, and I've seen a lot), so I won't buy something I can't sharpen myself. By the time I was able to visit her, maybe a year or so into ownership (they live 2500 miles away), the knives were what I would describe as dull. This would be after sharpening the ceramics with the kyocera-branded sharpener she bought.
I sharpened her crap steel knives to show her what sharp was, and after that she switched to using shun more or less exclusively. Not that I am a fan of shun, but I would choose shun over kyocera every time.
PaganD
104
Apr 8, 2018
shimageI don't disagree with your kyocera experience, depending what she was actually cutting into, eg bone, hard surfaces, etc, that actually does dull & potentially 'destroy' the knife, not to mention depending which kyocera sharpener she used has been known to potentially 'wreck' a ceramic blade. I did mention this in my answer to musgrat. I would be interested to know more info. Just curious, what did you use to sharpen your mom's steel knives? In your own steel knife maintenance, do you ever use a strop? It's part of my own routine so I'm just curious how many others actually use one as well as I rarely sharpen my knives anymore as a result.
shimage
228
Apr 8, 2018
PaganDShe doesn't cut anything like bone, but has this habit of cutting and then pushing the food over by dragging the edge across the cutting board. On a plastic cutting board and with a sharp knife you can hear this quiet snapping noise when the blade is tipped a little, which is probably a bad sign. She also doesn't have the best technique. Whenever I sharpen her knifes I always notice a lot of chipping in the blades (this was the problem with the kyoceras as well).
As for sharpening, I favor edge leading strokes. I used to use edge trailing to finish, but had trouble with wire edges. When I sharpen for others, I usually put the bevel on at 15dps and then microbevel at 20dps. To get the microbevel with edge-leading strokes, I pretty much have to use ceramic stones. My preference is for spyderco bench stones and a very light touch. That said, your practice doesn't seem that uncommon, based on what people say they do on forums.