Wouldn't a ceramic knife easily shatter if dropped or if it was bent or twisted?
It is interesting that this thread showed up. I was going to order a ceramic folding knife but I have my opinions on them that are not necessarily from experience I might have to buy one just to test it. Having been an archaeologist I have a lot of experience with stone blades which share many of the properties of ceramics. I know 3 things about stone blades 1. they break and 2. they dont break as easily as you think and 3. They are very very sharp or they are very very broken. I can see #1 and #2 being true of a ceramic blade but #3 I dont know. Stone chips off and distorts the edge geometry and makes it seem dull but it is actually still a sharp edge but at a different angle making it harder to cut anything. I dont know how ceramic gets dull because if it is anything like stone it would have smaller microfractures along the cutting edge I really cannot see the blade wearing with a rockwell hardness that is nearly off the charts.
Quote from: CQC-7 on January 25, 2008, 04:41:40 PMIt is interesting that this thread showed up. I was going to order a ceramic folding knife but I have my opinions on them that are not necessarily from experience I might have to buy one just to test it. Having been an archaeologist I have a lot of experience with stone blades which share many of the properties of ceramics. I know 3 things about stone blades 1. they break and 2. they dont break as easily as you think and 3. They are very very sharp or they are very very broken. I can see #1 and #2 being true of a ceramic blade but #3 I dont know. Stone chips off and distorts the edge geometry and makes it seem dull but it is actually still a sharp edge but at a different angle making it harder to cut anything. I dont know how ceramic gets dull because if it is anything like stone it would have smaller microfractures along the cutting edge I really cannot see the blade wearing with a rockwell hardness that is nearly off the charts. Interesting. I have studied flint knapping as well. Ceramics do seem to have similiar qualities but I don't think they fracture the same. Some of the sharpest blades you can have are flint knapped. In fact today they are often used in the high-tech realm of microsurgery for that very reason. They are so sharp. I have looked into getting some flint knapped knives. They're kind of nice. Have similiar characteristics to ceramic. Done right they can be sharper than steel knives. Of course breaking and fracturing is an issue.