sharpening ceramic knives

[Art H.]

does anyone have any idea how to sharpen these knives? i have several kyocera knives and want to sharpen them myself. i am fairly adept at sharpening steel knives and have all the equipment to do so. thanks. art

[srhcb]

does anyone have any idea how to sharpen these knives? i have several kyocera knives and want to sharpen them myself. i am fairly adept at sharpening steel knives and have all the equipment to do so. thanks. art

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I think you send them back to Kyocera.

www.kyocera.com

SB

[jayt90]

When these knives were introduced, the caveat was "send to manufacturer or distributor. Cannot be sharpened by user". This may have changed, but I have not heard of a method of home sharpening.

How long has it been before they got dull?

Edited April 6, 2006 by jayt90 (log)

[Art H.]

When these knives were introduced, the caveat was "send to manufacturer or distributor. Cannot be sharpened by user". This may have changed, but I have not heard of a method of home sharpening.

How long has it been before they got dull?

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not too dull yet,but will need sharpening in a couple of months. used them for 7 mos. now. art

[srhcb]

Kyocera sells a ceramic sharpening rod for about $20.

SB (just Google it)

[srhcb]

not too dull yet,but will need sharpening in a couple of months. used them for 7 mos. now. art

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I assume you use the knives professionally?

Kyocera indicates the original blade should last for 3-5 years "normal" use.

SB (of course, normal could be .....

[eje]

I believe the ceramic sharpening rods are intended to sharpen steel knives.

Wouldn't you need to use something harder than your ceramic knife to sharpen it?

How do I sharpen ceramic knives?

"You can resharpen your ceramic knife by sending it back to Kyocera or by bringing it to a qualified knife shop which has a powered diamond sharpening wheel."

edit - add link

Edited April 6, 2006 by eje (log)

[ray goud]

Eje is correct: you must use something harder than the ceramic in order to sharpen it, which in effect is grinding away some of the ceramic. Since Kyocera can actually be ceramic zirconia material, use diamonds to sharpen them. Both DMT and Eze-Lap make small (and large) excellent diamond stones in several grits, from coarse to extremely fine. I get mine from www.japanwoodworker.com, in CA.

Ray

[prasantrin]

I found that Kasumi makes a diamond knife sharpener that will sharpen ceramic knives. I can only find sites in the UK that sell it, though I imagine it must be sold in Japan.

Has anyone had any experience with using this sharpener on ceramic knives? Is it worth the price?

[mrsadm]

I found that Kasumi makes a diamond knife sharpener that will sharpen ceramic knives.  I can only find sites in the UK that sell it, though I imagine it must be sold in Japan. 

Has anyone had any experience with using this sharpener on ceramic knives?  Is it worth the price?

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I've seen diamond knife sharpeners before and wondered what they were for. This was in the U.S. If you can't find any online, call the "Kitchen Drawer" shop in Hyde Park NY (Google for their phone number). I believe that is where I saw one. (Kitchen Drawer is a great shop, right next to the Culinary Institute and chock full of goodies). They can probably advise you on using it, too.

[pyrguy]

Be careful using the diamond stones. You can ruin both the stones and your knife. Use a VERY light touch. Too much pressure and you'll destroy the stone and still have a dull knife.

[prasantrin]

Be careful using the diamond stones. You can ruin both the stones and your knife. Use a VERY light touch. Too much pressure and you'll destroy the stone and still have  a dull knife.

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The one I linked to has two slots--one for ceramic knives and one for steel knives, but the one for steel knives is made specifically for Japanese knives, it says. I'm not sure if there's a fail-safe against using too much pressure. It's one of those sharpeners where you just run your knife through--like sharpening for dummies (which admittedly, I am).

I remember reading that these types of sharpeners can take too much steel off a blade, but I'm not sure how that applies to ceramic knives.

I found a few other diamond sharperners, too, including one made by Kyocera, but only one or two mention that they can be used with ceramic knives. It will probably be cheaper in the end just to send my knives in to be sharpened, since they don't need sharpening very often. I was just curious if sharpeners made for ceramic knives actually do the job well.

[_john]

I used a ceramic knife for about 6 months professionally. I was processing a lot of stone fruit and the blade was pretty worthless by the end. I use sandpaper and foam to do convex grinds on my steel knives and I always wondered if I could use diamond sandpaper to sharpen the ceramic knife in the same way.

are kyocera knives sharpened like a chisel? my non kyocera is, which might make it easier to sharpen.

[prasantrin]

are kyocera knives sharpened like a chisel? my non kyocera is, which might make it easier to sharpen.

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Ummmm...like a chisel....I'm a girl! I don't know what a chisel looks like! (and I just set back the women's movement several years with that comment...)

My Kyocera looks to me like a regular US-type knife where the blade is angled on both sides. Is that like a chisel?

[dougal]

does anyone have any idea how to sharpen these knives? i have several kyocera knives and want to sharpen them myself. i am fairly adept at sharpening steel knives and have all the equipment to do so. thanks. art

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I note that Edge Pro make mention on their site about using Diamond abrasives with their sharpening systems to sharpen ceramic knives -- specifically in the context of using diamond *only* on ceramic...

We recommend the diamonds for hard blade sharpening, you just have to resist the urge to use them on your softer knives or they will wear out very fast. I only stock the fine and super fine diamonds, the coursed ones wear out so fast, it isn't worth buying them. The last diamond we tested was a DMT Industrial Super  Coarse, it lasted for 10 knives and it was completely smooth and it never came close to cutting as fast as our coarse. Nothing I have ever found, cuts faster than our coarse. If you get one of our fine diamonds, you will think it cuts faster on the first few knives. Them it will dramatically drop back to a finer cut. I have the diamonds, primarily for ceramic knives and if you use diamonds on just ceramic or carbide, they will never wear out. Knife steel is just to soft for them to deal with. When you use a diamond on ceramic, the diamonds run along on the points and the bond is never disturbed. When you use them on a knife, the diamonds sink into the steel, the steel raps around the diamond and the bond wont hold it. That is why, on all the discussion groups on the web, when anyone talks about using diamonds on knives, they always tell you to use as little pressure as possible, to make the diamond last longer. However I do have some customers that are using them on their knives over 60 Rockwell, just to cut the bevels in. I still don't like to use diamonds to do finish work with. They just leave to much burr for you to have to clean off of the knife.

http://edgeproinc.com/images/apex_or_the_pro.htm

However since the diamond abrasives aren't currently listed in the ordering section of the site, I think it sounds like a specific request would be needed.

Prasantrin: Having seen Chad's warnings in the eGullet sharpening tutorial about motorised grinders (at just the sort of price point you indicate), I'd be very reluctant to use such a thing on any "special" knife.

[D & R Sharpening]

Ceramic knives are a bit of a pain to sharpen. It's best to use a fine (or extra fine) diamond plate like those sold by DMT to this this work. I say to use fine because if you use too coarse of a diamond plate you will fracture out the edge.

--Dave--

Edited January 1, 2008 by D & R Sharpening (log)

[Saltydog]

Cut your losses. Buy a steel knife and save the ceramic for slicing mushrooms.

[prasantrin]

Kyocera now has a diamond sharpener for sharpening both Kyocera ceramic knives and metal knives. It cannot sharpen single-edged knives, so I assume it's better for western knives than Japanese ones.

It's only Y2100!

http://kaimonoichiba.com/fs/item/item_zoom...tem_num=07-0391

[paulraphael]

Ceramic knives are a bit of a pain to sharpen. It's best to use a fine (or extra fine) diamond plate like those sold by DMT to this this work. I say to use fine because if you use too coarse of a diamond plate you will fracture out the edge.

Dave, have you ever been able to get a ceramic knife truly sharp? Like in the same league as a good steel knife?

[Edward J]

Dave, have you ever used diamond pastes? The kind that come in little syringes, that you can ssqueeze out a bit on a hunk of MDF on go at it.

I know a few woodworkers who use this technique on wood working tools.

Comments?

[Rob Babcock]

Dave, have you ever used diamond pastes?  The kind that come in little syringes, that you can ssqueeze out a bit on a hunk of MDF on go at it.

I know a few woodworkers who use this technique on wood working tools.

Comments?

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Dave has used everything!