this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
312 points (97.9% liked)

196

16801 readers
2006 users here now

Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.

Rule: You must post before you leave.

^other^ ^rules^

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hey they're not lying, it definitely looks sharp

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I found this video very informative: https://youtu.be/FFEgg7OWsUk

Please ignore the baity title and some of the editing at the start, I feel like this is one of those very high quality channels that play with "exciting" changes to their videos to attempt to make YouTube work for them. It sets a bad tone but it doesn't ever get too bad. The video gets pretty serious about the edge of the knife, Including microscope photos of it after various treatments.

Long story short: Ceramic knives genuinely do have a "durable" edge, but not in that "toss, tumble, use and abuse me" kinda way.

They may be good for some marathon cutting tasks if you treat it with care. Niche professional settings, for example.

Ceramic knives do not belong in a chaotic family's kitchen drawer. Maybe they don't belong in grocery shelves, either. Wrong market, wrong environment, it's predictable that they'll shatter and otherwise be damaged.

I'm thinking they're in some ways more like the pointy tungsten rod of a TIG welder, if you consider dipping the tungsten in the welding puddle (which messes up the tungsten rod and ruins the delicate welding arc) analogous to chipping a ceramic edge from careless/clumsy usage.
It's not a 1-to-1 comparison, but I think it sets the tone of what I think ceramic knives are; Cheap, fixable if you have the tools for it, but not exactly a tool the general public will be able to use well.

That being said, I'm not confident it's ever really better as a hand knife, even when used right.

I'm personally not using ceramic knives anymore, I don't know who still are.

If you work with knives long enough you likely know how to maintain a steel edge well, and steel might just be better. I've seen ceramic used for cutting tools in machines, maybe that's their main niche.

Still, the vast majority of ceramic knives are some medium-low tier material, and I know the world of ceramics is very diverse. I'd be interested to see more about it.