Ceramic Knife and what I used to sharpen it⬇ Ceramic knife →amzn.to/3zyNguD Diamond stone 1 → amzn.to/4cU2l9b Diamond stone 2 → amzn.to/4f59ogH Diamond stone 3 → amzn.to/3xLFqxr Affiliated links. As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Can u try a paper wheel with diamond paste. Actually any type of power sharpening equipment. That's the go to I've seen people use. Heat is a non issue and is fast and works
I think the vast majority of households do not know or care about sharpening their knives. The industrial solution has been to make serrated blades which cut better over a longer time. They make them cheap so you can just throw them away and buy a new one. I remember sharpening up my mother's kitchen knives with my newly acquired sharpening skills; she promptly cut herself and chastised me for making them too sharp. LOL
My mom does the same thing occasionally. She's grateful to have knives that cut, though. ^^ _(And those cuts heal pretty quickly because there isn't much tissue damage -- other than slipping with a dull knive.)_
True, most of my friends and acquaintances I go to to cook together have dull knives in their kitchen, so the first thing I do is to grab a ceramic coffee cup and sharpen the chef knife on its bottom side. And yes, most people are not used to sharp knives, and my mom has cut herself also multiple times on my (sharp) kitchen knives, she's never cut herself with dull kitchen knives. As someone said here, dull knives are not necessarily more dangerous than sharp knives. It depends on your expectations and how you handle them.
For those wondering who would possibly be cutting cardboard all day long. It's me, I work in a warehouse where a not insignificant amount of time is spent cutting cardboard and we are given ceramic box cutters that never get sharpened and they will still cut fine after months of use.
@Jehty_ The warehouse I work at is specifically a customer returns site. So, most boxes need to be opened(which admittedly is often cutting tape, not cardboard), and oftentimes requires cutting off the shipping labels from the box or fully breaking down the box.
@@christianstonecipher1547 interesting. Some time ago I also worked in a warehouse doing customer returns. And never had to cut any cardboard. Just had to cut open the tape. And the boxes were just dumped into a trash compactor.
Well, YOU can't sew back on a sawn off arm either ... except if you have it handled by a hospital that has access to a state of the art team of extremely specialised chirurgs, a top notch operation zone, and a buttload of money. Your sentence is still valid, just put a tad more emphasize on the YOU part. ;)
You can still claim that you're talking in averages, one outlier doesn't flip the situation. One (very skilled) guy sharpening a ceramic knife is an anomaly, not the standard.
They actually make a "safety" ceramic knifes for cardboard and paper. Instead of a perfectly sharp edge they jave a microscopically rounded over edge. it wont cut skin but it cuts cardboard no problem. The rounded edge also significantly helps prevent the micro chipping. The ceramic utility kife blades last easily a few years in a wearhouse where we cutup a dozen boxes a day.
Can you please tell me the make and model of the knife? I work morning merch, stocking at Costco and I am going through a razor blade a day. Thanks in advance!
@@Nefville Slice is the original, but just look up ceramic safety blade and find what suits you Edit: it is best suited ONLY for paper and cardboard. Cutting the hard plastic pallet tie down straps is not advised, you totally can do it but I found it did dull it, likely because I had to apply too much force from the beginning
@@Nefville wow, y the f did yt censor me?! Just look up ceramic safety blades. Slice is the OG but just find what works for you. Works best on paper products, not hard plastics or thin wire.
As a Materials Scientist & Engineer, I would kindly submit to the record that, chemically speaking, a "ceramic" is a metallic oxide, nitride or carbide, or put in a more technically accurate way, a compound with a metallic element and a non-metallic element with either ionic or covalent bonding. You get one guess as to what tungsten carbide _technically_ is...
I was at a friend's barbecue many years ago where I pitched in to help prepare the food. I found all of their knives so dull they were almost useless. I asked if they had any type of knife sharpening tools. Nope. As I was standing there in the kitchen drinking my coffee I looked at the ceramic coffee cup in my hand and got an idea. I finished the coffee in a gulp, rinsed out the cup, turned it over and used the the rough rim around the bottom of the cup like a sharpening stone. In short order I was able to sharpen all of their knives using the cups in their cupboard. Not perfect, but in a pinch...a DIY sharpener.
@@jtris01 My Chinese Mom would never own a ceramic knife because they are very brittle and do not stand up to impact due to their inherent brittleness which he does not address in this post..grrrrrr
@@ZoomingAlong-fx1oi I'd say he implied it well enough across both videos, especially in htis video, by stating how sharpening at too acute of an angle would cause it to chip off befall the blade was finished. That, and that's just the inherent property of ceramic and other such objects of similar materials.
@@thebeangularity9798 I agree with your post, however ceramic knives are inherently thin and do shatter not jst chip..its a large price to pay when there are super high quality American, European and Japanese knives that are equally sharp and can last 100 years ...
Video idea: make a video explaining the sharpness grading terms, such as working edge, hair popping edge, razor sharp, hair whittling sharp and recommend the tests used to judge them
Thanks for the video. I bought a ceramic kitchen knife about ten years ago. I was at Harbor Freight, and the knife cost about a dollar. For a dollar knife, it's been great, and I'm still using it.
I picked up a couple of 6" ceramic knives at HF about a year ago for $7.50 each, (a couldn't believe the low price), but this was HF, so try these before buying more. The pointed tip quickly chipped off but the knives still seemed worth the money. I could see a person mistakenly using the blade turned upside down. The handle on one broke off without all that much down force so now there is one knife without a handle. -The biggest problem- HF no longer sells these or lists is the online catalog.
Ceramic knives are great for cutting vegetables - super lightweight and thin. Allows high speed, accurate cutting and is much easier to use than a steel knife, particularly for large quantities. And my knife never got dull when I used it for food instead of cardboard.
I'm not a knife sharpening expert by a LONG shot so my comment is a bit different: I very much appreciate a person who is willing to revisit old (failed) issues and are willing to post the change in their opinions or to explain why their opinions have not changed. Thank you, Alex! Question: do your trash disposal folks / recycling folks ever wonder why you have so much sliced up cardboard scrap? _:-p_
I always have these moments. It's network tech for me, but when I revisit old designs: Damn I was a moron back then, could've been so much simpler. It's usually only my sanity that suffers during it, so no third parties were hurt. But I could've prevented a lot of suffering to myself. Usually helps to bounce ideas against professional peers. They usually see your obvious mistakes which helps a lot. Sometimes just formulating the issue and the other person just beginning the sentence solves the mystery. Human brains are stupid sometimes, people that don't admit to their own past stupidity usually lie.
@@courier11sec do you make house calls? I recently moved and need to turn 50 moving boxes into mulch. My normal cardboard guy is on vacation. I can provide lemonade and jazz flute, but expect you to provide the edge game. Thx TIA
@@courier11sec You just caused me to remember the "Cardboard Warfare" series of videos on youtube. Now I feel old, that Carboard Warfare 2 video is from 12 years ago.
As someone who flintknapps I'm not surprised you hade to alter the sharpening angle. Ceramic is a lot like stone. Extremely fine stone edges chip like crazy
Exactly the comment I came here to make. I don’t flintknapp but do understand the process and when he said that it chipped this is exactly what I thought of.
Regarding ingesting ceramic / metal dust, I think no one ought to be worried about this. Normal dust that's in the air and on every surface is composed of lots of things, but in large part it is silica - quartz. Very hard and potentially sharp. And we breathe it and eat it all day long. It's pretty near unavoidable. Is it great to breathe in dust all day? No, but we produce mucus for a reason. How much ceramic dust is getting in your food from using ceramic knives? I'm guessing it's not significant. Thanks for this follow up video, BTW. Really interesting and useful!
Ceramic knives (and ceramic scissors too) are usually made from zirconia (zircon oxide). While silicosis (sickness from silica build-up in the lungs) is a real thing, it's not an issue for particles coming off these knives. (Zirconia has the weird property that it is, unlike most ceramics, slightly bendy. Zirconia is even used to make ceramic _springs!_ )
Thanks. I've always viewed ceramic knives as a sort of gimmick. The one ceramic kitchen knife I've seen in regular use by my inlaws was both dull and heavily chipped along the length of the edge. Definitely have to wonder where all those chips wound up.
Worst part is that if you look for ceramic knives in the stores 90% of especially the cheaper ones never even start with a sharp edge but rather with an "OK" one that barely cuts paper. Still sharper than what most people have at home i guess but virtually useless. I had this fun idea to take a small ceramic kitchen knife and make it a ceramic straight razor, that wouldnt rust. It was a 100% failure, just like in the video i originally didnt manage to sharpen it even once and even seeing the new results, it probably wouldnt work.
@@darylfortney8081Because of the heavy metals in the formula. The iron is good for you and the carbon is organic. Ceramic (zirconium oxide here) is almost guaranteed to be inert AF.
I have to say, I have several ceramic knives that are nearly as good as German steel. Of course I have several others that are pure junk (these are the ones I let my wife use). Kyocera tends to be top shelf quality along with kissing crane. I have a black zirconium ceramic that I paid $200 dollars for over 30 years ago and it’s still my go-to blade for fish and other seafood. Cuisinart, on the other hand, is pure junk. You know, the ones I let the wife use, because it just doesn’t matter if she breaks or chips one. They’re fine for veggies and soft food. They aren’t for carrots or cabbage mind you, but most other stuff. I have German and Japanese blades in varying steel types and I use shapton stones for them. I love my steel blades but I don’t think I’ll ever be without some ceramic.
@@robonator2945 I can see the temu ad already, *points at the knife* *Points at cheep steel bend over croc* *tries to stab croc* *knife breaks* *uses chipped knife on food*
We have a whole set of 3 left out of 4. One had a handle fail, two others lost their tips when dropped. They are so cheap, sharpening is not a cost effective activity.
My aunt gave me a ceramic knife and potato peller about twenty years ago. The knife still cuts pretty well but the real star is the potato peeler. Of course, I don't use it that often but it's still sharper than any steel peeler and most of the steel peeler's I've ever used couldn't be taken apart to sharpen (not that I would at $5 a pop anyway) so in this case it's ceramic for the win. I think in a throw away home ceramics are superior because they are typically sharper out of the box and stay that way longer and when knives get dull most households just trow them out and get new ones anyway. In a household where someone is will to sharpen the knives regularly then a good steel knife is better long term.
Thanks man. It hadn't occured to me that there WERE ceramic potato peelers. I'll look for one once my steel one gets too old. I think I'll at least try sharpening it. Hmm. How to sharpen the concave aspect which is burred?
@@kevinhammond3162I shot for about 20° per side. With my current stones, I wouldn’t try any lower than 18°. On normal knives I tend to go for about 14-16°
I can't believe that it has been 4 years since you first did that video on sharpening ceramic knives. I have ben holding my tongue to ask for an update, since from my perspective, your skills have dramatically improved. especially the inspection area. Nice work.
o dude , i've been a faithful watcher and "liker" for ever so long. my days of down-the-rabbit-hole with blades and their care are long over, and i simply try to keep my, and the household's knives, sharp and safe. their quality spans a wide spectrum, with the truly trashy and exquisitely expensive both missing. but watching whatever your next youtube post is has kept me interested in the whole enterprise. and then, today, you cut a roll of denim. with a knife. my virtual self fell off the couch laughing, and the irl one guffawed out loud. thank you. half my general entertainment focusses around fabric, and at the time, i was deconstructing an iron-hard pair of bull denim levis, in order to salvage the fabric. there is meaning there, ...or not... but i truly enjoyed you. and you've totally justified me in keeping those ceramic knives in the garage, in their cardbboard box, on the tool shelf.💕
Something I remember reading on a forum 15-20 years ago was to not push sharpen. Only use the pull direction as in stropping while using a diamond stone with ceramic knives I have never had a chance to try it out.
I did experiment with that a little but couldn't tell a difference on any of my stones. Not saying that isn't true, just that with what I was using it didn't seem to matter 🙂👍
@@OUTDOORS55 this makes me think that an avid knapper (flint knapping) perhaps can explain the difference because what they do is basically the same but on a larger scale (and one impact at a time)
@@lukearts2954I think they are very different materials as the good material for knapping is glass-like and these ceramic blades are really just bonded ceramic grains. Technically I guess everything is just bonded grains, but different sizes.
Have you tried regular silicone carbide sandpaper? I found that it was hard enough to scratch it but it wore quickly. Also the pressure laterally of hand sharpening is argued as an issue. Finding a way to need no pressure helps i hear. But i also was a bit miffed at sharpening ceramic
the flavor transfer is a thing. the problem is most people dont have a good enough palate to taste it. but if you ask a high end chef, especially a chef who uses carbon steel knives, there is a slight taste of sulfur transferred from that. also carbon steel will stain food like onions if you take long pauses between cutting. but i suppose its just the oxidation coming off the surface of the steel, and typically this only happens between the new knife and building a patina stages of carbon steel knives
Kyocera claim they won over some top Kyoto sushi chefs to their knives. One has to remember sushi chefs are conservative but Kyocera being Kyoto based I'm sure they have their clout.
I use this exact same red handled cheap ceramic knife to cut roots in the dirt in my garden. It has lots of chips now, and I have never sharpened it. The chips act like serrations. It's wonderful.
I came to your channel for cheap stone reviews and some sharpening info. Ended up watching most videos that related to my needs. Found I enjoy your style and very often get a surprise laugh. Finally decided to start watching your videos that do not apply to my needs or even my interests. I watched your first ceramic sharpening video the day before this upload and loved it. Thank you for your effort. The greatest thing in the world someone can do for me is to make me laugh. I hope you keep it up. Wishing you all the best.
Nice. I have always had apprehension about ceramic knives and food. I do like Sharp kitchen knives, and my sharpen steel kitchen knives every 3 months.
Being able to put the ceramic knife in the dishwasher is the biggest selling point for me. I dont have a youtube channel about knife sharpening. i neighter get payd for it nor is it my hobby. I have a ceramic knife for 10 years now (exactly that kyocera in the video), never sharpened it, its the sharpest knife in my kitchen even after i sharped my steel knifes because of my skill. Additionally ceramit knifes are much thinner than steel knifes which makes a difference for hard stuff like carrots. Of course you also need a durable, heat resistent steel knife from time to time, but its a very importaint addition to my kitchen, also when not just cutting cartboard.
ב''ה, it has been decades but Kyocera had a wonderfully amazing edge for a not particularly knife nerd out of the box, while some generics had basically the same material but not as shaving-perfect a hone. That said, after maybe 5 years of rough home kitchen usage the "where did those chips go?" does become concerning. If you respect the tool and keep that in mind / don't use a non-cleaver as a cleaver or with metal forks or skewers you can ding into if incautious, worthy investment, and nice if there's some way to recycle scrapped kitchen blades into utility knives. My experience is out of date, so I imagine there's a lot of good manufacturers now and my generics still wow'd for standard cutlery table knife prices, but would figure name brand hopefully still gets you the best edge possible as you probably won't be messing with if you're just cooking at home.
A few years ago I bought a set of cheap ceramic kitchen knives at a big box store. They’ve been awesome, almost magical ever since. I’m sorely tempted buy a really good ceramic knife just to see the difference.
Hair whittling - something I could do in my spare time, after I master knife sharpening. I'm impressed you figured out that ceramic required a more obtuse sharoening angle to avoid chipping, after four years!
Didn't know much about ceramic knives until watching this video. That is interesting about the dull knife vs sharp with the food. Thanks for sharing all this great information and thank you for all the great sharpening videos. I've learned so much from them.
Chef for over 3 decades, here. My 2 cents worth, ceramics are okay for the home. In a production kitchen, a ceramic blade is going to break, or shatter. It's not "if" it will be ruined, it's "when". As far as oxidation of fruits and veggies, a somewhat dull steel blade may cause slightly quicker oxidation than a ceramic, but, a properly sharpened plain-edged (non-serrated) steel knife does the best job. For leafy things, like the various lettuces, greens, cabbages, once again, a properly sharp steel blade is good, but, a cheap, plastic "lettuce knife" will do a better job, than anything, and ceramic does a good job. The plastic "lettuce knives" wear out faster than either steel or ceramic, and you can't really sharpen them, but they are, usually, cheap. After all that, my recommendation is, get a good steel knife and learn to properly sharpen, and maintain, it. I'm sure their are plenty of "pros" out there, who would disagree, but that is the nature of Culinary Arts.
Former bartender here: I love ceramics. They're great for cutting fruit for cocktails because of the edge retention and because of how poorly most bartenders treat the knives. I don't have any ceramics at home, but I always had one at the bar so that I could cut decent lime wedges without worrying that someone else was going to wreck my paring knife 2 days after I bought it.
That sharpnal you appraised is amazing, I’m useless at sharpening knives but now I’m fantastic , I don’t bother stroping anymore thank you for the tip🇬🇧
I bought a retractable ceramic blade knife years ago for cutting vinyl shelf paper. I had installed new vinyl as some of them I had put in had begun to tear. It worked great but I was always worried about dropping it and breaking it. A friend moved and I offered to do all her cabinets as she shelf paper in her current house. She bought the rolls of vinyl and it took many hours because she had a LOT of cabinets including built in desks with drawers in the bedrooms and study. Literally every room in the large house has cabinets and/or drawers. The knife never dulled. I still keep it in my kitchen drawer and use it to open boxes, packages or bags and often wondered if I should sharpen it. I do sharpen my steel knives as I have arthritis and don’t have much hand strength. I have gone to friends homes and can’t believe how many dull knives and warped pans people use when I have helped them and struggled to cut or cook anything. The only serrated knife I have is a bread knife which has retained it’s edge since most purchased items are pre sliced or can be sliced by the bakery if asked. Why struggle with something that doesn’t take much time to keep or put an edge on a knife. I sew and used to have an older gentleman drive through the neighborhood and sharpen knives and scissors. He was wonderful at getting my scissors sharpened and properly tightened. I don’t think anyone goes door to door with this anymore and probably why so many people just use dull knives.
Interesting ,,,My wife loves her ceramic knives ... I never tried to sharpen one since it`s (imo) easier just to buy a new one and be done with it ... I love sharpening , but for a ceramic knife ,it`s not worth it (imo) Still Nice video ...Thanks
Another interesting one to try would be Rahvens ceramic knife. They are out of Switzerland. Also, Jende had a good video on getting a ceramic knife to ultra shaving sharp. I still think a good steel knife is better though. Rahven uses their own proprietary flexible ceramic. Just some thoughts, keep up the great work! Your stuff is one of my standard reccomendations for helping people learn to sharpen. My other big ones are Currys Custom Cutlery, Sharpen Right LLC, Burrfection, and Alexandria Knife Sharpening and Laser Engraving. I also add Cedric & Ada to the bunch as well. Also forgot Engineers Perspective. Sincerely, JS
I've been sharpening my ceramic blades with a diamond belt on a Worksharp. I could get that initial sharpness, but within a few weeks of kitchen use the knives were noticeably dull. I also concluded that I needed to sharpen them at a broader angle, but I didn't get around to sharpening them - thanks for confirming!
Thanks. I now understand why I was able to sharpen that ceramic knife on my Tormek SG-250 wheel. I followed the factory bevel angle which must have been quite obtuse. Some punters laughed at me and said "it's full of chips" but I looked at it very close with a jeweller's loupe and couldn't see any chips. It looked like a regular good sharp edge and it sliced through paper far better than it did before I sharpened it (it was visibly chipped) although I didn't test it with delicate cigarette paper (17gsm). After watching this I now want to run further tests but I don't own one and have to wait for a customer to ask again. Still, great knowledge imparted. Thanks. Great work. Mystery solved.
I would like to see a video in the same spirit about HIC (High Impact Ceramic) knives. Like Rahven knives. I don't know whether there are other manufacturers using the same kind of material to make knives
I don't think you watched the video. Ceramic is not good at cutting hair. Even at the sharpest he could get it, ceramic still wouldn't cut hair effectively. 11:15
@@ldb906 That's after RESHARPENING after cutting 40+ feet of cardboard. We're talking about new blades in disposable razors. I suspect Gilette wouldn't go with it because 1. They don't have the tech. 2. They'd sell fewer blades, as these would last longer.
Dip the edge of the ceramic blade in resin to support the edge prior to honing 1st side. Then redip, and hone the other side to meet it. Then remove residuals from that super fine edge.
I like how thin the ceramic knives are. This helps for cutting thick vegetables and fruits that pinch the blade as you cut them. Like squash and spaghetti squash and thick potatoes and watermelon
Your comment on these knives being thin, combined with others about edge retention, really make me want to try one for the particular task of cutting up xps and xpe foams. They dull steel really quick and thicker foams really like to grab the blade.
Your ceramic knife is decidedly inferior because the handle is just too small and the blade is 30pc thinner so it shatters when dropped. ALDI ceramic knives have far better larger handles and are 30pc THICKER and don't shatter when dropped and the points take many years to chip ( where its thinner) So graduate to ALDI ceramic knives to improve your life. Cant wait for your video on that.
Love my ceramic knife. I used up a bunch before i stopped damaging them. I had to learn to be way more careful. And now I have not changed knife in about 10 years.
Love this video! great job with the comparison and learning that sharpness stops food from turning brown as quick. I learn something new every time I watch your channel! It makes total sense, as a sharp knife will cut much more cleanly through the food and reduce the amount of surface area exposed to the air. A dull knife that tears at the food will certainly cause pieces to stick out, increasing surface area exposed to air. And your sense of humor is awesome, keep up the great work!
Bought one, but never again. Used it to separate two frozen hamburg patties and only after I ate the burger I noticed microchips in the blade, dozens of small triangular voids. Meaning I swallowed these micro chips and there passing through my digestive system. These damn things should be outlawed. Lucky me they passed through without slicing my intestines open. These blades shatter way to easily and should be avoided for food products. Some of the chips where 1/32 of an inch in size. I thought I was chewing on the infamous bone fragments too often found in hamburg.
I found one of the black ceramic ones inside a tool box i got at an auction. It was chipped, so i cut a strip out of it (about 3mm all the way) and sharpened one sided (akin to a Japanese knife) it with deep grooves. Been using it for almost 10 years now and it hasn't chipped or lost its edge. I used a diamond wheel to do the work - took about 40 minutes to sharpen the thing because i was working under water. Honestly, if it's not a cheapy and it's a thick blade, they're ok knives. The fact that i didn't need to sharpen it all this time, that's a solid 10/10 for me.
Great vid as always. The thing that sticks out in my mind is that the first knives man ever used were made out of stone, which I guess is more silica than ceramic. Either way though, the sharpening is kiiiiind of similar? Those old stone and flint knives were sharpened via chipping. The right kind of chipping gave you a very sharp edge, in some cases an edge that still holds up today (Flint). Hmmm, actually it's more like chipping was used for sharpness in the old stone knives, but has the opposite effect here. Ugh, never mind, move along.
This is how RU-vid functions. Dude isn't any "better" or worse of a person or a creator for using engaging titles. The content is not any better or worse. It is a title. The job of the title is to attract viewers to click or tap on the video. Leave guy alone for doing literally what he is supposed to be doing
I bought on after hearing the hype. The blade chipped in lees than a week. Still used it. It was sharp, but chipped again. Within 2 months my new, very $$$ looked more like a bandsaw blade. Never again.
Buying a set of ceramic knives was on of the best decisions I've ever made. I use them only for cooking. Years and years have passed and they are still exactly the same as when I bought them.
Just happened upon your video and I must say, it was surprisingly entertaining and informative. And although I hate little video inserts, yours were well done and quite humorous. Keep up the good work!
I feel bad for freehanding my ceramic farberware successfully and mentioning it about 4 years ago 🤣 still own that knife and still own the same two red and green DMT "stones"/plates. Makes me want to dig them out and play around again. I believe I may have added serrations towards the handle to make it an even better salt water knife after making it a new handle.
This was a comprehensive "how to" on the use, care, and maintenance of a ceramic knife. Glad it was you who invested all this time😂 Thanks! Would it be a good idea, in most cases, just to keep buying new ceramic knives instead of sharpening them?
thanks for the update and further information. i still like Ceramic in my Kitchen uses, for the light duty purposes for that zero maintenance angle. anything that's heavier duty i still use Steel since yeah you start to cringe at using it on tougher stuff, afraid that it's going to snap or chip. so Cutting Fruits&Veg, Cheese, softer types of Meats, all that general purpose stuff, the zero maintenance is nice. :) oh and especially for a Bread Knife or anything Serrated? since sharpening those is a PITA and nobody wants to do that at home. so i use Ceramic for that since nobody is going to bother sharpening that stuff.
Rahven flexible ceramic knives are a game changer. I bought one when they first came out and it has been in daily use since and is still roughly as sharp as when I bought it. I believe the proper term is elastic ceramic and you can flex the blade and any normal drop is not going to damage it.
I like how up close the ceramic blade looks like ice. Also, I work at Walmart stocking and with a normal razor blade I'd change it out after like 3 months. The actual razor blade itself though gets dull after a few weeks, slicing through stuff packaged in think plastic or cutting through shrink wrap will show that. I just usually use more force but eventually I need a new one. Then I got a ceramic box cutter and that ceramic blade has lasted me two years before it broke (when I was being careless, it would have lasted longer). It was amazing just how long it stayed sharp when used properly and with a good application.
You are totally right that the majority of people do not have sharp knives at home and have likely never thought about sharpening. Most don’t know how to use knives well either. I am no chef outside of what I cook for myself but watching other people try and cut food is just painful, something that with minimal technique would take 10-20 seconds I have seen take up to 5 minutes for some people. People just don’t know how to handle knives, they are slow, inefficient and treat them like they are dangerous and then go and do stupid stuff. Just like any other tool the only thing dangerous about a knife is the person. Learn how to actually control what your hands are doing and be careful and you will be fine with even very sharp knives. People that do think about sharpening often aren’t much better, especially if they just buy a cheap sharpening tool (like the ones that you pull the knife through) or one of those sticks they see professional chefs using. Now both of those types of tools if done well are fine for sharpening but in a home kitchen they just aren’t. I have seen pull through sharpeners that didn’t actually sharpen the knife, it just put micro serrations on it and made it harder to properly sharpen. All most knives need is a few minutes on a stone every so often, maybe a little longer if it has been left a while or been abused. The only knives that consistently take me longer are a couple of old dark Sabatier knives, definitely not stainless, rusts very quick (leave it wet at all even just for half an hour and there will be some rust) and the knife other than the edge is dull and dark rather than shiny. The knives take a while to sharpen but they stay sharp for a long time too and I seem to be able to get them sharper, great knives just not stainless. I have no idea what kind of steel it is.
I bought a ceramic knife years ago at the dollar store after seeing the "blixa bargeld makes risotto" video and it's still sharp and works great for me. However, the tip has broken off and the white blade has become quite stained. Great video!
I would like to see how the factory sharpens ceramics in production. And for reference S30v is rated slightly higher in edge retention than m4, not to mention Rex 45 and Rex 121. Those steels get very hard and tend to be be chippy like ceramics at the equilent angles. At any rate, very good demonstration and explanation for those not reherced in the the field. Well done and thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this video. While I don't own a ceramic knife, I was buying into the hype and was seriously going to buy some ceramics for my kitchen. After this deep dive, I've come to the conclusion, that I am too rough on my knives to have ceramic in my kitchen.
NIce, I'm running to the Dollar store immediately to get one of these cheap ceramic knifes. We now use Stanley (and other brand) utility blades to cut cardboard boxes to size for re-use or to put them in our recycling container but we all know that a dulling blade takes more force and that results in increased chance for accidents. Even the original Stanley blades wear out within one busy day so if I get more use out of a cheap ceramic knife and if that increases safety then that is surely worth it - even if I cannot sharpen the blade and use those knifes as a disposable one.
Is it just a coincidence that this video popped up for me and I purchased a knife sharpening kit from FB marketplace earlier today? Probably because I googled the brand of sharpening kit.
I had to cut a galvanized fence post with a battery sawzall , battery died with about 1/4 cutting left. Grabbed a " ginsu" style steak knife I found on the job years before, it was so sharp, cut like a new hacksaw blade.
Had kyocera ceramic knives for years... just dont let your wife use them on a glass cutting board, or drop them on tiles Sent them back to get sharpened a couple times over 5 years or so & have been very happy with them
Ceramics in the kitchen are perfect for any normal person.. Sharp enough to cut just about anything w/out needing me to go in the garage and sharpen it... lol that's their purpose. 3 kids and a wife who definitely does not care about knife sharpening and it'll make sense. Thx for the vid
Would you please do a video on how you sharpen a straight razor for shaving? You're the only one I trust anymore to show the correct ways of sharpening.
I've used good knives for cooking in steel for many years, and I have a few ceramics as well. For baseline cutting sharpness, the ceramics have amazing wear. For fine cutting, an ice hardened blade with a 34 degree compound angle works as well as I've seen, but requires regular sharpening.
Since my wife started buying everything on Amazon, I have become a cardboard cutter so that I can get all the cardboard to fit in our recycle garbage can.
Several years ago now, I made a ceramic and carbon fiber laminate straight razor. It was deeply terrifying to shave with, but shaving with it was entirely doable. Part of the trick for a more durable edge is indeed to take the edge up to a much higher grade of polish than is necessary for steel. Silicon carbide cushioned abrasive (Micro-Mesh) makes for a decent strop/polishing material, which also reduces the chipping.
Spectacular finding. I think this understanding will also help me select an appropriate apex angle on steel knives which also chip somewhat during use when the angle is quite acute. Thank you!
I owned one ceramic knife, it was also a Kyocera. I didn't like the idea that all of the small chips off the blade ultimately were eaten by me and my family. Fun fact, I bought it in Spain just before visiting a museum, where our bags had to go through an airport style metal detector. The knife (still in it's packaging) was not detected.
My dad was a 3rd generation master shear and knife craftsman from Solingen Germany, where Wushöf are made. I was lucky enough to be taught the ins and outs of blades (oh god pun not intended). He sharpened knives perfectly. He actually helped their business partners in Japan develop a ceramic hair cutting scissor! So he also worked with ceramics, so he knew what you discovered here. He told me almost the exact same knowledge! It’s the grain by the way. Ceramic doesn’t have grain, steel does. It’s the microscopic structure of this grain that allows you to sharpen it to a hair whittling edge. Ceramic will hold longer but it’s far more brittle and if you try to get it to the same sharpness of your steel it will chip. Grain and grain direction is incredibly important when making steel knives. And though I’m eternally grateful to pops, God rest his soul, I now walk this earth with the curse of watching how almost every single person mistreats their blades, and thinks knives are consumable and have to be replaced. A good blade with proper care will last you a lifetime. Thank you for sharing this knowledge. Everyone, you will spend far more money on cheap knives and scissors in your life than if you just save up for a good knife. Unless it’s completely destroyed somehow, you will have it forever. If you don’t want to learn how to sharpen yourself, take it to be sharpened by a professional. It isn’t too expensive. Even with routine sharpening you’ll still be paying less than continually buying crappy knives. And DONT PUT YOUR KNIVES IN THE SINK, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
After cutting a lot of glass, tile, my friend has found using antifreeze as for cooling and lubricating it reduces the chipping a lot. You may want to give that a try. I could take the credit for it. All goes to my friend Tom.
