- Joined
- Jan 4, 1999
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- 3,000
Someone in another thread asked about ceramic blades. I thought it might make a good new thread so I started it here. OK here are my experiences with ceramic blades.
Pluses. Well, only one plus in my opinion. Ceramic blades will hold an edge longer than any steel. Zirconium oxide, the material from which they are made is harder than anything except diamond. So if you are unwilling or unable to sharpen a blade, ceramics might be for you.
Minuses. Lots of them, in my opinion.
In the first place ceramics aren't capable of taking as keen an edge as steel. I don't know why. They get sharp enough but not as sharp as steel blades.
Secondly, they are brittle and can break if dropped or used as a pry bar. So they aren't at all "tough" in the terminology used in the knife industry. Ceramic would make a terrible survival knife, as an example.
Thirdly, their brittleness causes them to chip easily. We have two ceramic kitchen knives that we keep in the same drawer with all the other kitchen knives. They are pretty seriously chipped as a result. In the kitchen you need to be careful how you store them.
Fourthly, they are hard to sharpen. Naturally, it takes diamond sharpening equipment since only diamond is harder. It also takes longer and, as I mentioned above, the results aren't what you would expect from a steel blade.
Lastly, the hardness of the blades can be a potential problem. Ceramic kitchen knives will scratch the glaze on your dinnerware so you don't want to use them as steak knives for example.
Ceramic blades are also light in weight. That can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your preferences. I like heavy kitchen cutlery so I don't use our ceramics. My wife likes light cutlery so she does. I think the light weight would be an advantage in a pocket folder, though.
The experiences above are related to kitchen cutlery because that's the only direct experience I have with ceramic bladed knives. Boker makes a popular line of ceramic bladed folders (the blades come from Kyocera.) The Boker model 89, in fact, is one of the top 20 selling products on our web site. I think ceramics can be a valid choice for a small gentleman's knife. As long as it doesn't have to pry or stab and as long as it's not used in extreme conditions like you would expect for a gentleman's knife, I think these blades can be useful. Certainly we've had very few complaints from customers about them and we've sold hundreds of them. I wouldn't choose one for myself because I enjoy sharpening knives and I'm good at it so the single advantage that ceramics have isn't important to me. So what are your experiences?
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Fred
Knife Outlet
http://www.knifeoutlet.com
Pluses. Well, only one plus in my opinion. Ceramic blades will hold an edge longer than any steel. Zirconium oxide, the material from which they are made is harder than anything except diamond. So if you are unwilling or unable to sharpen a blade, ceramics might be for you.
Minuses. Lots of them, in my opinion.
In the first place ceramics aren't capable of taking as keen an edge as steel. I don't know why. They get sharp enough but not as sharp as steel blades.
Secondly, they are brittle and can break if dropped or used as a pry bar. So they aren't at all "tough" in the terminology used in the knife industry. Ceramic would make a terrible survival knife, as an example.
Thirdly, their brittleness causes them to chip easily. We have two ceramic kitchen knives that we keep in the same drawer with all the other kitchen knives. They are pretty seriously chipped as a result. In the kitchen you need to be careful how you store them.
Fourthly, they are hard to sharpen. Naturally, it takes diamond sharpening equipment since only diamond is harder. It also takes longer and, as I mentioned above, the results aren't what you would expect from a steel blade.
Lastly, the hardness of the blades can be a potential problem. Ceramic kitchen knives will scratch the glaze on your dinnerware so you don't want to use them as steak knives for example.
Ceramic blades are also light in weight. That can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your preferences. I like heavy kitchen cutlery so I don't use our ceramics. My wife likes light cutlery so she does. I think the light weight would be an advantage in a pocket folder, though.
The experiences above are related to kitchen cutlery because that's the only direct experience I have with ceramic bladed knives. Boker makes a popular line of ceramic bladed folders (the blades come from Kyocera.) The Boker model 89, in fact, is one of the top 20 selling products on our web site. I think ceramics can be a valid choice for a small gentleman's knife. As long as it doesn't have to pry or stab and as long as it's not used in extreme conditions like you would expect for a gentleman's knife, I think these blades can be useful. Certainly we've had very few complaints from customers about them and we've sold hundreds of them. I wouldn't choose one for myself because I enjoy sharpening knives and I'm good at it so the single advantage that ceramics have isn't important to me. So what are your experiences?
------------------
Fred
Knife Outlet
http://www.knifeoutlet.com