Electric Knife Sharpeners

Ceramic Knife Sharpener

Choosing the right ceramic knife sharpener is important to keep and condition your ceramic knives cutting edge for maximum performance and a long useful life.

Ceramic Knife Sharpener

A lot of chefs and home cooks have found out that ceramic knives are a wonderful addition to the kitchen. But what kind of ceramic knife sharpener can you use?  

If you have an electric knife sharpener with diamond stone wheels, it will sharpen a ceramic knife as long as the manufacturer claims you can use it as a ceramic knife sharpener, but you will have to polish the knife to remove any and all scratches that occur during the sharpening process.  Scratches will create small imperfections in the knife’s edge and will act as stress imperfections that and can make the knife brittle and subject to failure or fracture.  

The best ceramic knife sharpener will have wheels made of silicon carbide wheels which are made of relatively softer aluminum oxide.  Will ordinary steel knives, the objective is to hone the knife’s surface until a burr is raised. Ceramic blades will not raise a burr. You have to use the other tests to determine if you have created a new edge. The knife’s manufacturer should include sharpening instructions to determine which ceramic knife sharpener method is right for your blade. 

What is a Ceramic Knife? 

A ceramic knife is a knife manufactured out of very hard ceramic components that are compressed under a lot of pressure.  Ceramic knives will not rust or degrade like a steel knife which is why a ceramic knife is best when using in wet or damp applications.  This may be why they are very popular among scuba divers.   

Because of the non-metallic structure, they are also nonconductive and nonmagnetic which makes them very useful in applications where either of these two properties could be dangerous such as working sensitive electric components or in a bomb disposal application.  Because of the chemically inert materials used to manufacturer a ceramic knife, they are not affected by either acids or alkalis.  Their ability to retain a cutting edge far lasts much longer than a metal forged knife making them a very good culinary choice for slicing and cutting through boneless meats, vegetables and fruits. Since they are both rigid and somewhat fragile, they do not make good knives for chopping, cutting bones, slicing frozen foods or prying which could cause the knife to break or a piece to chip free.  

Ceramic knives may make a great kitchen tool but their composition presents a potential security problem since ceramics cannot be detected by metal detectors. Manufacturers of knives that are not for military applications add metal in each process of making ceramic knives so that they can be detected with standard scanning equipment. 

If you buy a ceramic knife, be sure to only use it in applications for which it was designed.  Make sure that you have a quality steel boning and chef’s knife for chopping or heavy cutting applications.