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Ceramic Knives?

57K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  fifty150 
#1 ·
I may have been living in a closet for a long time when it comes to knives. I just read about a chef who uses ceramic knives. I did a search on Google and sure enough you can buy ceramic knives everywhere! Are they any good? I know they are very expensive! I only have a couple of good knives. I keep looking at buying some new knives, but without knowledgeable guidance I keep buying garbage. Even when I spend a lot on a single knife. So maybe these ceramic knives will fit my needs. What do you think?
 
#4 ·
Yeah even cheese or a potato could chip the knife.

When I use my mom's ceramic knife I feel like the Hyacinth's neighbor when she uses her fine tea set on Keeping Up Appearances.
 
#5 ·
i have a few kyocera ceramic knives in my kitchen, i use at least one of them almost every day. i have tried other brands and these are far better. i have no problems with chipping them (other than the very tiny chips on the blade that are assosiated with normal ceramic wear) but certainly not on things like cheese and potatos, i just stay away from meat fabrication (leave that to high carbon steel blades). kyocera has awesome customer service and their resharpening service is very fast. so if you can stop yourself from tossing them around the kitchen like your steel blades and you can afford it, i recomend them.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Even with good diamond stones, ceramics can be highly problematic. Some, more than others, have too much of a tendency to chip.

At best, they require extremely steady angle holding, very light pressure and a lot of patience.

You don't want to use your coarsest, fastest stones, because it's too hard to polish out the resulting scratches and chips. And because their own harndess combines with the fineness of the stone to require so many strokes to do so little work, that puts an even higher premium on angle holding. Which, in turn, is even more of a problem at the higher grits, those where you produce a very fine, polished edge. Circular, and not a good circle either.

In my limited experience sharpening ceramics, the expensive ones (like Kyocera) are easier to sharpen than the no-name, cheaper, Chinese made knives.

Ceramics hold an edge better than any alloy I know of, true. And while the OOTB sharpness of ceramics is undeniable, they don't break new ground respect. In my opinion the user is better served by making and maintaining her steel alloys just as sharp -- not only because steel sharpens more easily without ceramics' tendency to damage during sharpening and use; but also because there's a far greater selection of knife lengths, profiles, and of good knives generally.

If, for instance, shroomgirl were to ask me which knives she should buy and how she should maintain them, after analyzing her needs I doubt my recommendations would include ceramics. But -- here's the important part -- she didn't ask. Presumably she's happy. And if she's happy, I'm happy. Ceramic knives notwithstanding.

Bottom Line: One should always use the knife which best suits. To each her own.

BDL
 
#14 ·
The knives I use 95% of the time are:

1) Global 8" slicer

2) ceramic

3) hienkel boning knife

4) some cheap bird's beak

5) Father Dom gave me a really old serrated on one side bread knife....

there's a whole bunch of other good ones around but these are the ones I use.....and most of the time the metal blades are dull, once I was working with Jeff Starr and we couldn't remember whose knife was whose, so Jeff says his is the dull one....and I said nope, my is dull too......good to know I'm not the only one who doesn't sharpen on a regular basis.  The cheaper ceramic pair are fine for the amount I use them....if they chip or break, not a big deal.
 
#16 ·
Well ceramic knife are really good they stay Sharp and keep there Edge for long time, they are for the good Quality one a little pricey, i have a few of my cook and colage that use them. the only big inconviniente is that if you drop it that most likely the end it will probabely brake and there nothing you can't do to fix it Bye Bye!!!
 
#17 · (Edited)
If you quarter chickens with it, or have to cleave random stuff on the fly..... or anything with bones in it, for that matter

NO!

I have NOTHING against ceramic knives.  But they serve their purpose.

8^)

-edited-

And I'll touch on what boar_d_laze said.....  if you like your knives, fantastic!

We ALL use what we love.  That's what makes chefs different.

Can't go wrong with German steel or vanadium from across the other pond.  Or titanium, for that matter.  There's a reason these knife makers have been around forever.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I suppose when you talk about "vanadium from across the other pond," you're referring to Japanese alloys.  However, many modern high-quality stainless steels, especially HSSs,  have vanadium in them; including those oh so very German knife steels X50CrMoV15 (Wusthof, F. Dick, Forschner, Lamson, etc.), and X55CrMoV15 (Messermeister, etc.). 

Vanadium is added to steels to stabilize carbides and improve "strength" and allow greater hardness.  It's especially useful in stainless steels to counteract the negative effects of chrome .  

Also, if there was ever a lousy material for kitchen knife steel it's titanium.  OK as a coating I guess, but even that's more of a sales gimmick.  Some interesting bicycle frames, though.

BDL
 
#22 · (Edited)
I've been reluctant to buy ceramic knives simply because of the high price for an unknown quality and function. But I recently wandered into a Harbor Freight store and saw a 6" blade for $13.00 http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-ceramic-chefs-knife-98186.html I bought one and gave it a decent trial. Very nice! Then, just a few days ago, I wandered into the kitchen department at IKEA and found a twofer set for $40.00. They are very good quality.
 
#24 ·
Might try out the ones at Ikea, just for a kick.

I've seen my employees bring in ceramic knives, and I've seen them beak them, and I've tried thier knives out, most of them don't pass my "tomato test" where by putting moderate pressure on a ripe but firm tomato I should be able to slice it without moving the knife back and forth. 

All of the ceramic knives I've seen had hollow grinds to them, which really makes me scratch my head, shouldn't they (mnfctr) be putting as much material as possible next to the edge in order to support it, seeing as how the material itself is so brittle?  
 
#25 ·
I've been reluctant to buy ceramic knives simply because of the high price for an unknown quality and function. But I recently wandered into a Harbor Freight store and saw a 6" blade for $13.00 http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-ceramic-chefs-knife-98186.html I bought one and gave it a decent trial. Very nice! Then, just a few days ago, I wandered into the kitchen department at IKEA and found a twofer set for $40.00. They are very good quality.
Have you compared the two? How do they compare?

-d
 
#26 · (Edited)
I bought a ceramic knife on sale at the local Grocery store. It was by a Canadian Chef. It had a black blade and looked really slick.  We also picked up a ceramic peeler and paring knife too.

I read the instructions carefully. There are MANY restrictions to using a ceramic knife. But, that's ok, I thought.  Well, the first thing I noticed is the knife is quite sharp; however, the blade easily CHIPS.  The fine print for warranty purposes says the knife or blade chipping is NORMAL.  I said, what the?!  And to my surprise, the 6 inch ceramic knife chips super easily. I was just lightly cutting up some garlic on a wood chopping block when I noticed the knife had just chipped. This is nasty stuff. There's nothing like the fine ceramic pieces being swallowed when your cutting your item.

Then I tried the peeler. This particular peeler only peels in one direction.  The peeling was not smooth either. It was peeling quite deep as well. My metal peeler peels in all directions and i just put the dang ceramic peeler in storage because I change my peeling method depending on what I peel.

Overall, the ceramic knife experience was a waste of time.  It's really just a fad or craze, in my opinion, just like those Ginsu knives are with their lifetime sharpness guarantee.  With the Ginsu knives they get dull rather quickly too and trying to get a warranty replacement is a headache itself and then of course, you have to pay the high shipping costs which make the both types of knives disposable knives.

Bottom line is don't buy into the hype of these ceramic knives.  Instead, invest in some good quality knives that will last you forver.
 
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