Who owns a ceramic folding knife?

spydie fanatic

spydie fanatic

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Nov 5, 2009
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I was just wondering who here owns a ceramic knife. Not a kitchen knife, but a actually folding knife meant to be carried on your person. I've searched the forums and found very little on the subject. Do you find them useful or plain useless for your intended purpose.


I bought 3 of em, a zayka 3" folder, meyerco 3" folder and a custom carbon fiber from ceramicknife.org. They should arrive next week. I'm looking forward to receiving them.

Please let me know your opinions.
 
been debating one from ag russell. for 65 bucks it won't be the end if i break it and at least then i'll know. how is ceramic for cutting cardboard?
 
I was thinking to get a cheap Kitchen one first to see if I like how they hold up. Then maybe we will see from there.
 
I heard and saw videos that they are not as brittle as people think. I saw them being dropped and kicked. However thats probably not as much as a torsional stress someone might put on a folder for hard use. I think they will be a nice edc to most people.
 
Ive got a 80,s? boker folder..mother of pearl slabs with all the bling...interchangable (5) blades....yea that ceramics SHARP!....i dont use it
 
My wife gave me a boker ceramic folder about 15 years ago. I carried it for awhile until I chipped the blade edge being too rough with it. It was sharp but not really shaving sharp. I prefer steel bladed folders.
 
I've wondered about this too, mainly if repeated and fast opening and closing would damage the blade. My gf has a ceramic chefs knife that is still super sharp, but I have to admit whenever I use it, I'm nervous about breaking it.
 
I've used both folders and kitchen knives. folder was Boker 2040 Ceramic Titanium Delta. Kitchen knives - YoshiBlade ceramic santoku knife and Kyocera OK-45 ceramic utility knife.

In the end, IMHO not worth the trouble. Even if you sharpen them using Edge-Pro diamond sharpeners, the effort spent on sharpening those things is not proportional with the increased edge holding on soft materials.
They do dull, and the dulling is because of microchipping. Even in the kitchen use, where I was extra careful, soft foods only, end grain wood board, ceramic edge still won't last more than couple month w/o considerable dulling.
EDC folder which gets used for harsher materials will dull much faster.
Funny thing is, in the kitchen I can maintain steel knives by steeling or stropping much sharper for longer time. Obviously, steeling and stropping on the plain leather has no effect on ceramic knives. I did try to strop ceramic knives using 0.50mic charged leather strops, and after rather long stropping session, I did gain minimal improvement, or o I think.
 
I have kitchen knives and a Boker folder in ceramic. They usually come with a rather blunt (obtuse edge) to reduce the likelyhood of chipping. Boker's resharpening service through a private contractor can greatly improve the edge by making the angle more acute. They are hard to sharpen because they don't drag a burr. I use mine mostly as a finishing steel. They are as smooth as glass and second in hardness to a diamond if you get the black Zirconium carbide model.
 
Fun as a toy, but still not equal to a well-sharpened steel knife. You will find yourself comparing ceramic knife capabilities to your steel knives, but won't be comparing any steel knives to the quality of a ceramic.

I have chipped the edges cutting hard-crust bread.

Good luck trying to resharpen them, even with advertised ceramic sharpeners,the edges still tend to chip.
 
I received a Boker titanium/ceramic small folder as a gift 15-20 years a go and it sits pretty in the box. "If" you want a really sharp knife that weighs less than 1 oz and will only be cutting Irish pennants off your Sunday best then they're great. Forget sharpening it unless you have the equipment. For a few bucks you can send it to a Boker recommended service and they use a laser or something.
 
Its not that the blades are super delicate in a dropping context, but the edges where they are thinner are such a PITA to not chip out that they are really not worth the trouble. Now if they had a serrated ceramic knife, that would be a better application, since the crest of the teeth might chip but would protect the trough of the serrations from chipping as badly.
 
I have a Boker Delta. Ceramic blade and titanium handles. Very elegant, comfortable and pretty sharp.
Never actually carried it, for a number of reasons: First, I was afraid I may break the blade. Second, because it's difficult to open one handed. Third, due to the lack of a pocket clip. And finally, because sharpening the ceramic blade is really a PITA.
An interesting thing, it features a lockback with an integral spring cut out from the spacer itself. Surprisingly, when I took the knife for inspection a couple weeks ago, I found that the spring simply broke down :grumpy:
I say surprisingly because the knife simply stayed in the drawer for a few good years now without being used at all. :confused:
 
I have an interchangeable folding Boker that has a ceramic blade. Boker makes quality knives ( but the quality can vary, I'm told). Incredibly sharp, but you have to be very careful because it will chip. Maybe the risk of shattering if dropped etc is exaggerated, but the risk of chipping is real enough.
 
I have two of them and like them. They are in my EDC rotation. Most of my day-to-day cutting tasks are pretty easy, so I don't really worry about chipping them. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about the blade going dull for pretty much the life of the knife. Plus, their coolness factor is really high. :p

- Mark
 
Here's 2 of the 3 ceramic folders I bought; they are the cheaper of the 2. The last one I'm looking forward to as its a class or so above these cheapies. I procured the zayka for $25 shipped out and the meyerco for I think $30-$34 shipped off of fleabay :barf: lol I had bought two unbranded 3" fixed ceramic kitchen knives that were $8.99 shipped. I know suspect they were 2nds--the same seller had identical ones that were branded which were more money. A small piece of the tip on one was regrinded, but it wasn't too noticeable, the second one wasn't sharp at all. Anyways I beat them around to see how they handled certain tasks--I can now see why steel knives are necessary. My needs aren't too much so a ceramic should be find. (If not, I'll pull out my zdp189 blade) :D Here's some pics of the 2 folding knives:

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