Ceramic Knives

[Chuckanut]

Anybody use ceramic knives? What are the pros and cons of them? Are they preferable to stainless steel knives? Carbon steel? Can they be sharpened?

Looks like its time to replace my odd ball collection of dull kitchen knives with knives that will cut cleanly and efficiently.

 

[haha]

Anybody use ceramic knives? What are the pros and cons of them? Are they preferable to stainless steel knives? Carbon steel? Can they be sharpened?

Looks like its time to replace my odd ball collection of dull kitchen knives with knives that will cut cleanly and efficiently.

Check out Global knives. (Japan) They are excellent, stainless, and one piece so no joints to harbor bacteria or wooden handles to deteriorate. They also sell an excellent manual jig to help you always hone to the right angle. There are not cheap, but also not extremely expensive like some German knives

Ha

 

[Schutzie]

Well, since we're doing product endorsements....................

Cutco knives. Carried one for years when I ran river, still have it and it still cuts anything, including incautious or inebriated thumbs.

Expensive but very much worth it.

Never dealt with ceramic knives, seen them, just can't think of a good reason to replace my Cutcos.

 

[RonBoyd]

Kyocera 6-Piece Ceramic Knife Set

 

[lemming]

I have some that I got as a gift. The chef knife seems to stay sharp. They have covers to use so you don't cut your hand in the drawer. I was told they are slippery and easy to cut yourself so I am a little nervous using the smaller knife. That link Ronboyd gave is for an expensive set and the 'blog' on the left of the page is really weird. No offensive Ronboyd- I don;t attribute that to you.

 

[NgineER]

Check out Global knives. (Japan) They are excellent, stainless, and one piece so no joints to harbor bacteria or wooden handles to deteriorate.

Had these knives for 10 years, work as great as when I first bought them. Cuts over-ripe tomatoes like a charm. You need to sharpen them however, otherwise they cut as poorly as any other dull knife.

 

[RonBoyd]

Yeah, the guy that runs the site thinks he's a comedian. I stopped reading his commentary long ago so I apologize for missing that. He (or they?) does, however, have a knack for finding good prices on goods. (most of which are discontinued products but attractively priced all the same.)

 

[REWahoo]

That link Ronboyd gave is for an expensive set and the 'blog' on the left of the page is really weird. No offensive Ronboyd- I don;t attribute that to you.

Yeah, the guy that runs the site thinks he's a comedian. I stopped reading his commentary long ago so I apologize for missing that. He (or they?) does, however, have a knack for finding good prices on goods. (most of which are discontinued products but attractively priced all the same.)

The site is Woot.com - owned by Amazon.

 

[calmloki]

Harbor Freight has 'em - HF tends to carry junk that breaks real fast, but sometimes if you just need a tool for a single project or, as with knives, want to try them out they are ok. Often have various things at 1/2 off, so if time is not of the essence....

Search results for: 'ceramic knives'

 

[springnr]

Anybody use ceramic knives? What are the pros and cons of them? Are they preferable to stainless steel knives? Carbon steel? Can they be sharpened?

Looks like its time to replace my odd ball collection of dull kitchen knives with knives that will cut cleanly and efficiently.

Odd ball is good, as you should buy what will be used. A little silly to buy a set and use 1 or 2 of the knives 90% of the time.
You could get a Spyderco Sharpmaker to sharpen your knives. For very dull knives the diamond accessory rods make reshaping the edge go much faster. Always good to have a sharpening system handy, as a couple swipes every now and then to stay sharp is much better than waiting until a knife is really dull.
Or you can send off your knives to be sharpened.
Seattle Knife Sharpening - Phinney Ridge - Seattle, WA | Yelp
Seattle Knife Sharpening Service

Sometimes you just want a change for that I suggest stainless and Japanese. I really like Tojiro DP series, decent quality for the $$. Fujiwara FKM or Richmond Artifex are good too. A chef (gyuto) or santoku, and along with a petty or paring should cover most prep, and let you try out something new.
Tojiro DP Gyuto 180mm
Tojiro DP Damascus 180mm Gyuto
Gyutos 180-210mm

 

[eytonxav]

Well, since we're doing product endorsements....................

Cutco knives. Carried one for years when I ran river, still have it and it still cuts anything, including incautious or inebriated thumbs.

Expensive but very much worth it.

Never dealt with ceramic knives, seen them, just can't think of a good reason to replace my Cutcos.

+1 and guaranteed to stay sharp for life

 

[Texas Proud]

We have bought some ceramic knifes and they seem to be quite sharp...

They will dull, but from what I see not as quickly as steel... we have not sharpened our at all..

The one downside that I read about was that some will break if dropped... we have dropped ours with no problem, so it might be how it hits or some brands...

 

[walkinwood]

You don't need to get rid of your knifes unless the handles are falling off & you can't fix them. Our parents and grandparents used crappy knives and cooked just fine!

Steel knives get dull and need to be honed regularly & sharpened occasionally. I use a chef's choice electric knife sharpener and sharpen maybe once or twice a year. I watched some videos on you tube on how to use a honing steel and do that almost every other time I use my chef's knife - takes 15-30 seconds. You can hone the knives on the electric sharpener too if you wish. The knives stay really sharp!

 

[springnr]

LBYM special; good ergonomics and performance.

 

[ImThinkin2019]

Had to chime in here. Have been sharpening my own knives all my life. It's not hard.

Also have a brother who is a chef.

When I needed to stock a new kitchen I asked him to recommend a knife and he suggested the Wustof 10" Chef's knife. That's my go-to knife that I use for almost everything. I also have a paring knife and between the two that's pretty much all I need.

That Chef's knife is very comfortable because the metal is forged and shaped so there's metal as part of the handle.

The best sharpening method I've tried is taught by Murray Carter. I bought his dvd and learned his method which is pretty easy and the sharpening lasts at least 8 months.

 

[bUU]

We have one regular-bladed ceramic knife and it is fantastic. It doesn't replace steel - you shouldn't use a ceramic knife to remove a pit from an avocado, for example - but it does what it does just as well as a steel knife with far less (and for many of us, basically no) sharpening necessary.

We also have a couple of serrated ceramic "tomato" knives. The magic here is that the nature of the ceramic knives is such that the serrated knives can be much much thinner than steel, and still maintain a good sharpness for a very long time. The serrated knife is useful where even the sharpest knife could slip, i.e., onion skin, tomato skin, etc.

 

[NgineER]

LBYM special; good ergonomics and performance.

+1
I have one of these given to me as a birthday present. It cuts well and feels good in your hand. Outside of the four global knives I have, I really like this one.

 

[Rustic23]

I just ordered this set

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FEDAEKO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thirty bucks is cheap for the set, and it has majority four and five star reviews. My guess is it will take a while to know if they are a good deal, but it beats a hundred bucks for one knife to find out.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[bUU]

Please do tell me whether you agree with the reviews. My conclusion when I reviewed purchasing that item versus what we ended up purchasing (Kyrocera) was that the satisfaction reflected the price as context rather than indicating that the knives were as good as the higher priced knives.


UPDATED: My spouse convinced me to take a chance and buy them anyway. I bought them with points so I can dupe myself into thinking I didn't actually waste money on them, if I don't like them.

 

[Rustic23]

They arrived yesterday. It will be hard to compare with Kyrocera because I have never actually seen them. The knives appear to be sharp, a little light weight, but as advertised. I have a set of MAC knives. Have used them for over 40 years and they are very sharp.

So the ceramic knives were more a curiosity than a necessity.
bUU, if you have both high end and low end, I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[chonga]

+1 and guaranteed to stay sharp for life

+2 Love my Cutco knives. I've had the same set for over 20 years!

 

[MBAustin]

I noticed in today's paper that Cutco is now opening retail stores in addition to their door-to-door selling model.

I bought 2 Cutcos about 25 years ago when the daughter of a friend sold them as a summer job during college. Still have them, but I don't really like serrated knives for general use. I do, however, love using them on ripe tomatoes in the summer.

 

[bUU]

bUU, if you have both high end and low end, I would love to hear your thoughts.

I've used the low end knives twice so far - both times the second largest of the four, comparing it to a slightly longer (but obviously broader) Kyrocera chef's knife. I'm pleased with the low end knife. I miss the breadth a little bit (the narrower knife means I have to cut a bit slower because I cannot run the knife as far along my finger to guide it), but not much.

It's a bit unfair, perhaps, comparing a brand new knife to one that is used, but ceramic knives are supposed to stay sharp a long time, and we've had the Kyrocera knife only a year or two. For what I was doing - cutting cucumbers and bell peppers - the low end knife felts better in my hand and seemed to work through the vegetables more efficiently.

Of course, for tomatoes and onions, I still plan on going to the Kyrocera micro-serrated knife first.

 

[Midpack]

Do knives ever reach a point where they just won't hold an edge? We have several expensive (to us) Henckels knives. They've been great, but after 20 years they don't seem to hold an edge like they used to when we sharpen them (with our Chef's Choice).

 

[ERD50]

Do knives ever reach a point where they just won't hold an edge? We have several expensive (to us) Henckels knives. They've been great, but after 20 years they don't seem to hold an edge like they used to when we sharpen them (with our Chef's Choice).

I'm not an expert, but I think at that point they benefit from a professional sharpening. There is an edge that a pro puts on, and at home you are sort of 'touching it up'. But eventually that edge is gone, and needs to be re-shaped before 'touching it up' works as well as it used to.

I don't think it costs much for a pro sharpening, we should get our older knives done and see if it helps.

-ERD50