How to Sharpen Ceramic Knives

 As these knives used by countless Japanese chefs, ceramic knives are getting public attention for the last decade.

These knives are mainly advertised under the tag "Knives that never get dull"… but no one talked on " how to sharpen the ceramic knives" as the subject seems a bit tricky.

Ceramic knives are peddled for many reasons and facts that make them outrank traditional knives, but still, these knives get blunt too.

Depending upon the usage, these knives are reviewed to work perfectly for around 8-10 months, and then a question arises…

"Am I going to spare this knife? Hide it in my knife holder? Should I send it to the professional( that obviously will cost more) or How to sharpen a ceramic knife?"

Well, don't worry, based on my experience and research I have summed up all the possible ways to sharpen it at home and make a step-by-step guide that will ease the task for you.

How to Sharpen a Ceramic Knife

The only technical thing to opt-out of Ceramic knife usage is the procedure that you will follow to keep it sharp enough. We cannot use traditional stones or buffer papers that we used to make our steel knives sharp on ceramic knives.

The only technicality lies in the hardness of the material used to make these knives sharp, as putting so much pressure on the blade will smack it.

Here you are left with few options, either go to the professional to make it sharp or either return it to the shopkeeper to make it excruciating. Both these options seem inconvenient.

Although many people use diamond foils to sharp these knives I will not recommend this traditional procedure because it normally doesn't produce the desired results. Instead, you can use electrical knife sharpeners or Sharpening rods.

Sharpening Procedure for Ceramic Knives:

Using Electrical Knife Sharpener:

Getting your hands on Electrical Knife Sharpener might cost you few dollars, but this one-time investment is worth it. I, personally prefer to get an electrical sharpener with diamond abrasion so that it can clear the scrape too if any.

Safety comes first! Put on your good quality Cut-Resistant gloves at first. Now hold your electrical knife sharpener in one hand and knife in another. Now, observe the movement of the grindstone and gently pull your knife against the grindstone direction.

It is recommended to check the sharpness of the knife at instants. Use the Papercutting test to check the sharpness level. If the knife cut through the paper smoothly then your knife is sharp as crisp.

Alternatively, if it tears the paper then you need to get the knife in the slots again and repeat the process until desired sharpness is achieved. Normally it takes along 7-8 retakes depending upon how blunt your edges have become.

Sharpening Rods:

To sharp steel blades with sharpening rods, is the most common approach. It is quite safe and produces accurate results too.

But in the case of ceramic knives, using these rods needs more proficiency. These rods are a bit different in use when compared to electrical sharpeners. The most important feature to look at is the steel.

For ceramic knives, you should get your hand on the diamond steel rod. This is the only rod material with diamond hardness and will eventually make the knife sharp.

Talking about the procedure, you need to hold the rod either vertically or horizontally. Now observe the rotational direction as clockwise or anti-clockwise. Then, strike your knife blade gently againd=st the rotatory motion of the rod for 3-5 times individually for both sides.

And don't forget to wear your Cut Resistant Gloves before initiating the process and when you are done will the strikes, take a paper or alternative material( cardboard, old T-shirt?) test to check the level of sharpness.

Lastly, wipe the rod and knife with a clean piece of cloth, micro-fiber, or simple tissue paper, to clean any metal residue.

Shop Tool Sharpeners or Work Sharp Knife:

If you own many Ceramic knives or want to take the procedure at a commercial level then you will have to invest in a Work sharp knife/Tool Sharpener. It is not cheap and will cost you few more dollars but still, the quality offered is worth it in exchange for the dollars paid.

Because such professional Tool Sharpeners are not only useful in sharpening Ceramic knives but these will make your steel blade tools sharp too.

Being used professionally, this Tool is a bit complicated to deal with at the domestic level. But, here's my effort to make the procedure understandable and easy for you.

• Wear your Cut Resistant gloves.

• Place a clean towel on a flat surface.

• Now place your Sharpener tool on this towel and insert its grit abrasive belt.

• Now insert the outdoor knife guide for safety.

• Hold your tool in your hand and gently slide the blade from one side, left to right on the belt.

• Repeat the sliding on the other side of the blade too.

• Now, switch the belt on higher grit and slide the blade again from left to right with fingers firmly placed horizontally over the knife, on both sides to get the targeted crisp.

• Now check the sharpness level by cutting the paper. If the knife is not sharp enough, repeat the above-mentioned steps for both sides.
  • Lastly, gently clean the knife using a towel to remove any remaining material particles.

Ceramic Knives-Composition and Advantages:

Ceramic knives are manufactured by dry compression of zirconia- zirconium dioxide. This Ceramic Zirconia is very hard, it is first pressed in its dry form and then fired to get its solid state. This makes its edges too hard and prolongs its life.

The problem in selecting the procedure to adopt for How to sharpen a ceramic knife, is the hardness of the ceramic that is measured at the value of 9.5, while steel blades hardness is measured at 6.5 only.

Here, we are left behind with an option of diamond solely, whose hardness is 10 i-e more than 9.5. Consequently, the diamond was the only material with enough hardness to sharp the ceramic knife.

Ceramic knives are rated high in comparison to steel knives. There are reasons for this cause:
• Ceramic knives don't catch rust or get erosion.
• These knives are not affected by the acids of the food.
• Ceramic doesn't absorb the odors.
• They are very lightweight.

Conclusion: How to Sharpen Ceramic Knives

Although, ceramic knives are easy to use and outrange the benefits of traditional steel blade knives, still deciding How to sharp the ceramic knife at the domestic level needs a bit of technical knowledge.

As stated above, we cannot use the traditional tools and techniques to sharpen ceramic knives because of their hardness so diamond steel materials are the only options left behind.

Well as per my personal preference, I will recommend using an electrical sharpening tool or a sharpening rod with diamond abrasion to ease the process. Moreover, if you are a professional or own multiple Ceramic knives then Tool Sharpener will do the job at best for you.

This is all I have researched and experienced, hopefully, after reading this article you will have no query unanswered on How to Sharpen Ceramic Knife.