Among the entire range of knives presented in stores, ceramic models are especially popular, famous for their unusually sharp blade and incomparable ease of use. But sooner or later, their blade, no matter how strong and hard it was at first, becomes dull and becomes unusable. A quite reasonable question arises - how to sharpen a ceramic knife with your own hands, and in general, is it possible to do this.
Sharpening frequency
Unlike ordinary metal, the materials used for the production of such knives lose their sharpness much more slowly than usual - which is why they are so popular.With active use, the blade will become dull after about 6 months, and in some cases it can easily last a year. Well, with a particularly careful attitude, sharpening may be needed only 2 years after purchase.
Is sharpening possible?
In any case, sooner or later, ceramics will still have to be sharpened. Of course, you can contact a special service center for this, but sometimes it’s easier to buy a new knife than to regularly pay for quite expensive professional services. Therefore, blunt ceramic knives, which, according to manufacturers, are not sharpened at home, are simply sent to the trash can. Meanwhile, contrary to common misconceptions, such a blade can be restored to its former sharpness with your own hands - it is more than realistic to do it yourself.
Sharpening methods
To sharpen a ceramic knife, you need to find an abrasive material that surpasses it in hardness. Conventional sharpeners for this purpose, designed for use with less hard metal blades, are simply not suitable. Instead, it is better to turn your attention to tools and products containing diamond dust in their composition:
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Mechanical sharpeners;
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Manual sharpeners;
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Diamond paste.
Unlike ordinary emery, small particles of diamond surpass ceramics in their hardness, and are the only available tool that allows you to sharpen such blades yourself.
Electric sharpeners
Very easy-to-use tools that allow you to get really high-quality results with minimal time and effort.They contain in their design a miniature diamond grinding disk rotating at high speed, when it interacts with the surface of the blade, it is sharpened. Their disadvantage is the rather high cost, so the purchase of such devices is justified only if there are a large number of ceramic knives at home.
Mechanical hand sharpeners
Affordable solution ideal for home use. As with electric models, a hard diamond disk located inside the structure acts as a working tool, with the only difference being that its rotation is carried out manually. Such sharpeners are easy to learn, are small in size, and allow you to sharpen a ceramic knife with your own hands. To fix the result, you can use a special diamond paste.
Sharpening features
Before you buy a ceramic blade sharpener, you need to find out what type of sharpening is used on the knives you have at home - it can be either one-sided or two-sided. The procedure itself should be carried out smoothly, gently moving the blade along the circle so as not to damage the material. In this case, extreme care and caution should be observed so as not to injure yourself on the cutting edge.
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