I had some years ago. They ended up chipped as hell. That’s when I bought some halfway decent (not good, just not Target grade) steel ones that aren’t stainless. I hone the ones I use most a couple of times a week and the rest of them on an as needed basis. I sharpen them as needed.
If your schedule and executive fiction allow for it then I highly recommend it. Ceramic is sharp as fuck, but not enough sharper to deal with buying a new one every time it chips.
Ceramic knives are kinda stupid yeah. But a ceramic “steel” to hone your metal knives works amazingly. And those don’t chip, because they’re round. They can shatter though.
Technically diamond? But cutting bits are only large as like 2mm, and are very expensive. Diamond also can’t support a very steep cutting edge, so you will be limited by possible edge geometry. Used for machining highly reflective, perfect, mirror finishes on parts.
Please ignore the baity title and some of the editing at the start, I feel like this is one of those very high quality channels that play with “exciting” changes to their videos to attempt to make YouTube work for them. It sets a bad tone but it doesn’t ever get too bad. The video gets pretty serious about the edge of the knife, Including microscope photos of it after various treatments.
Long story short: Ceramic knives genuinely do have a “durable” edge, but not in that “toss, tumble, use and abuse me” kinda way.
They may be good for some marathon cutting tasks if you treat it with care. Niche professional settings, for example.
Ceramic knives do not belong in a chaotic family’s kitchen drawer. Maybe they don’t belong in grocery shelves, either. Wrong market, wrong environment, it’s predictable that they’ll shatter and otherwise be damaged.
I’m thinking they’re in some ways more like the pointy tungsten rod of a TIG welder, if you consider dipping the tungsten in the welding puddle (which messes up the tungsten rod and ruins the delicate welding arc) analogous to chipping a ceramic edge from careless/clumsy usage.
It’s not a 1-to-1 comparison, but I think it sets the tone of what I think ceramic knives are; Cheap, fixable if you have the tools for it, but not exactly a tool the general public will be able to use well.
That being said, I’m not confident it’s ever really better as a hand knife, even when used right.
I’m personally not using ceramic knives anymore, I don’t know who still are.
If you work with knives long enough you likely know how to maintain a steel edge well, and steel might just be better. I’ve seen ceramic used for cutting tools in machines, maybe that’s their main niche.
Still, the vast majority of ceramic knives are some medium-low tier material, and I know the world of ceramics is very diverse. I’d be interested to see more about it.
Yeah, ceramic knives are like that. They get duller with time however.
I don’t think there’s a blade that doesn’t get duller with time, is there?
Ceramic is less prone to get dull, but it still not a 100% solution, and once you go dull you never go back. Sometimes it even chips.
I had some years ago. They ended up chipped as hell. That’s when I bought some halfway decent (not good, just not Target grade) steel ones that aren’t stainless. I hone the ones I use most a couple of times a week and the rest of them on an as needed basis. I sharpen them as needed.
If your schedule and executive fiction allow for it then I highly recommend it. Ceramic is sharp as fuck, but not enough sharper to deal with buying a new one every time it chips.
Ceramic knives are kinda stupid yeah. But a ceramic “steel” to hone your metal knives works amazingly. And those don’t chip, because they’re round. They can shatter though.
Yeah, I bet a ceramic honing rod is pretty great. I’ve seen them as a part of some of the better knife sharpening sets.
So could you smash car windows with these bits? Are they like the snake bite things made out of smashed up spark plugs?
Just curious if it’s the same type/grade of ceramic, or if this stuff would just continue to shatter/bounce off.
And no, I’m not planning on smashing up at knives at Target in order to rob the cars in the parking lot.
Go do that at Home Depot after you smash up a few display toilets.
Yes, but these can’t be resharpened
This guy disagrees
Okay, I stand corrected.
Technically diamond? But cutting bits are only large as like 2mm, and are very expensive. Diamond also can’t support a very steep cutting edge, so you will be limited by possible edge geometry. Used for machining highly reflective, perfect, mirror finishes on parts.
TLDR you’re right
I found this video very informative: https://youtu.be/FFEgg7OWsUk
Please ignore the baity title and some of the editing at the start, I feel like this is one of those very high quality channels that play with “exciting” changes to their videos to attempt to make YouTube work for them. It sets a bad tone but it doesn’t ever get too bad. The video gets pretty serious about the edge of the knife, Including microscope photos of it after various treatments.
Long story short: Ceramic knives genuinely do have a “durable” edge, but not in that “toss, tumble, use and abuse me” kinda way.
They may be good for some marathon cutting tasks if you treat it with care. Niche professional settings, for example.
Ceramic knives do not belong in a chaotic family’s kitchen drawer. Maybe they don’t belong in grocery shelves, either. Wrong market, wrong environment, it’s predictable that they’ll shatter and otherwise be damaged.
I’m thinking they’re in some ways more like the pointy tungsten rod of a TIG welder, if you consider dipping the tungsten in the welding puddle (which messes up the tungsten rod and ruins the delicate welding arc) analogous to chipping a ceramic edge from careless/clumsy usage.
It’s not a 1-to-1 comparison, but I think it sets the tone of what I think ceramic knives are; Cheap, fixable if you have the tools for it, but not exactly a tool the general public will be able to use well.
That being said, I’m not confident it’s ever really better as a hand knife, even when used right.
I’m personally not using ceramic knives anymore, I don’t know who still are.
If you work with knives long enough you likely know how to maintain a steel edge well, and steel might just be better. I’ve seen ceramic used for cutting tools in machines, maybe that’s their main niche.
Still, the vast majority of ceramic knives are some medium-low tier material, and I know the world of ceramics is very diverse. I’d be interested to see more about it.