A diamond hone is the only way to sharpen a ceramic knife. You need an abrasive harder than the blade.

 

buy a new knife



i never heard of a DULL ceramic knife. good luck sharpening it. i own 3-4 and use them carefully, they remain RAZOR SHARP.

 

I too have had some success with diamond hones. Just remember ceramics chip easily when subjected to pressure to the side of the edge. Use a relatively light hand.

Stryker60

 

This is why the only ceramic knife I would own, would be a Kyocera kitchen knife. They will sharpen them for free for life, and even if you ship one, they will rework it and give it a new edge for as long as you own the knife.


Really, ceramic knives are only good for slicing vegies, and thats about it. They are too brittle for anything else.

 

This is why the only ceramic knife I would own, would be a Kyocera kitchen knife. They will sharpen them for free for life, and even if you ship one, they will rework it and give it a new edge for as long as you own the knife.

Really, ceramic knives are only good for slicing vegies, and thats about it. They are too brittle for anything else.

I sent in my Kyocera knife last year. It was too chipped to fix properly. They shipped me a new one. My specific model was out of stock, so they upgraded me and let me pick one of 4 different options. That's a warranty!

 

Gizzy has it pretty well down. I have a Boker pocket knife I use to open mail and slit the tape on packages. but the blades do chip easily and diamond hones are the ONLY way to sharpen. I took a knife sharpening class in PA and took my Kyocera kitchen knife. The instructor had a hard time sharpening it and his expertise was in Japanese knives.
Without diamond hones you will NEVER sharpen the blade. I sharpen my Boker with diamond hones. The nice thing about these blades is, except for chipping, they hold an edge a long, long time.

 

The ones I used were sharp but went dull real quick. Junk from bargain store or typical?

 

.

FWIW, the local "Dollar Stores" hereabouts occasionally have a ceramic folder with a 3" white blade and several (plastic) handle colors.

The cost is.......................... (wait for it)............................ $1 !

It works so good as a pocket knife (opening boxes, light slicing jobs, slicing fruit, etc) that I bought a half-dozen for friends.

.

 

For me, a good pocket knife has to be strong enough to cut rope and the occasional small tree limb. If all you carry a pocket knife for is to slice fruit, then you cannot beat that at all. Just the slightest sideways lean on that blade, and it will break.

 

I've heard that you can sharpen ceramics with very fine wet-or-dry sandpaper. Maybe 1000 grit. I'd back it up with glass. Never tried it but it sounds reasonable and you have little to lose.

 

Kyocera has a video on this and they have to use diamond wheels to sharpen or resharpen theirs, so I doubt sandpaper will work. Ceramic is extremely hard. Thats why they chip so easily.

 

I have a green diamond wheel for a grinder that is made to sharpen carbide tooling. I made an arbor for it and run it in a slow turning electric drill, clamped to a table. It sharpens ceramic knives in seconds

 

'When felling a tree the man grows sore and the axe grows dull before the tree falls.'
You can sharpen a ceramic knife with abrasives other than diamond. Just as you can use a steel file to put a radius on a carbide end-mill or de-burr super-duplex.. It will take more time and be much harder on the abrasive. In a commercial production setting they use diamond of course.

If you don't have a lot of sharpening needs and frequent a Cabela's, just take a knife with you each time you go. They have all the sharpeners out to try. I just take one knife. They might not like it if you show up with 20.

 

Just what I need, a knife that breaks when used as a knife.

 

I use one of these for my ceramic knife. They do come in coarser grits, but this one does just fine for every knife I own (mirror polish on steel if your hand is steady...)

http://www.knifehog.com/spyderco-benchstone-ultra-fine-2-x-8-w-box.html?scid=scplp13978360&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&sc_intid=104057&gclid=Cj0KEQjw6O-9BRDjhYXH2bOb8Z4BEiQAWRdukyF3eIsFsbFsOJXRGlZ5TEFKmL_nUGKGVAdUnRfdBvAaAkEN8P8HAQ

 

Probably this sharpening tool WSKTS with diamond belts will help you.

 

My wife could dull a ceramic knife in no time we also had a couple of those copper non stick fry pans as seen on tv. I finally threw the one out. Then I figured out what was going on. She was using the ceramic knives for cutting steaks etc in the non stick pans. I put the knife out in the shop. Saves on pans.

 

A way

I have sharpened ceramic knives by doing the following,
1. Grinder with cotton buffing wheels.
2. Diamond polishing compound, at least two different grits with the fine one at least 50,000 grit.
3. Lightly load the buffing wheels with the compounds.
4. Have the grinder wheels going away from you.
(If you don't have a slow speed grinder, it will throw some of the paste. The bits that fly are hard to find and clean up.)
5. Start sharpening / polishing.
It will take awhile to get the blade sharp.

I have found that except for one kitchen knife that I use regularly, doing this is not worth the time and effort.

 

More on A way

This will not take chips out, unless you want to spend a lot of time in front of the grinder.

 

We have one Kyocera knife in the kitchen I consider it a specialty knife for slicing stuff thin, not the kind you use to open tin cans. It I scary sharp - you handle it like you would a snake with a sore back. How thin do you want that tomato sliced, you say? The only problem was getting the wife to understand that she couldn't use a granite block or a steel fry pan as a cutting surface (there was a lot of grumbling about that). Once we got past that, things are roses. It was factory resharpened once and it hasn't gotten to the point where I feel the need to try sharpening it myself.

 

How do you think they polish diamonds for jewelry? Other diamonds. So as long as the abrasive is at least as hard as the blade, you can sharpen them. It's possible you could sharpen a ceramic knife with silicon carbide wet/dry sand paper on top of a thick sheet of glass. I have a scrap of 3/8th thick mirror.

 

Some things have changed in the 6 years since this post started. Mainly price. Decent ceramic paring knives can be had for under $5. I love them and use them almost exclusively.

They still don't like to be dropped or used as a prybar but other than that they're tough and a marvelous tech upgrade.

YMMV

Frank

 

Honestly, I've never been a big fan of ceramic. Don't know why. They cut great. I guess I just love my steel too much.

 

Give me steel in the M390/S90-V class, and it'll stay sharp long after the ceramic blades have chipped away to nothing.
Sharpening ceramics is more black art; than anything, and they're too brittle.