Sharpening a Kyocera Black ceramic knife with Matrix stones and leather strops loaded with diamonds.

This is definitely not the best video but I am posting it anyway as it shows a technique I figured out to overcome the extreme chipping of this ceramic when sharpening. This Kyocera black ceramic is much harder to sharpen than the white Kyocera. It seems that the point loading of the harder stones causing the chipping can be overcome with diamond-loaded leather strops. The coarsest diamond I have tried this with so far is 20 micron. I have the blanks and leather to make another 12 strops so I can try out more variations so stay tuned. I shot about 70 minutes of video and was getting a little tired at the end so I stopped at good enough. When I have more time I will try finishing it with 1-micron again. I think I didn't have enough diamond on the strop for this application which is why I was getting the microchipping. I am really intrigued with these abrasive loaded strops and will experiment with them further in future videos. I have a few more I shot that I will get edited and posted, something I can do after dinner as I have time, but since scissor sharpeners are now back-ordered I need to get those made before I spend any time shooting more videos.
I have been playing with different bonds to hold the abrasives for many years and view strops as just another type of bond. The hardness of the bond makes a big difference in how the stone works, almost as much as the abrasive. The larger the abrasive the harder the bond you will want but as the abrasive gets smaller if you keep the same hard bond you will eventually find you start to get stray deeper scratches and find the limits of that bond. To really polish an edge I have found that you really need to transition to a softer bond as the abrasive gets smaller. This is something I want to explore in future videos with a full set of Shapton Glass stones, including the 30k, two Idahone stones, and a few other things to see how they all compare.
For more information about my resin bond diamond stones vist www.cgsw.us

[@trumanhw]

Great video: Definitely educational. I will NEVER buy a ceramic knife after watching this. They just take way more work to still not be as sharp, and probably doesn't last as long.

[@CGSW]

They have their place. I only use polyethylene cutting boards and mats so my knives stay sharper longer, and this ceramic holds an edge longer than anything. I finally sharpened it again 18 months later and was surprised at how little chipping there was on the edge. I also don't baby it and use it to crush garlic with. They are not that fragile as long as you aren't stupid about it.

[@barkingspider2007]

Thanks for the video! : )

[@Bear-nu8xm]

Cool video. I've never tried sharpening ceramic before however, I may just to say I did.

[@scotttalkington323]

These have always been a pain to me. However, this past weekend, I conqured this by using a mixture of resin bonded cbn stones and diamond lapping films ranging from 9 to 0.5 micron, ending with a 0.1 diamond strop. Nice smooth edge, almost none existent bite. Thought it would be like glass but it lacks the "sudden" feeling of getting cut like glass. Thanks for the video.

[@CGSW]

Have you sharpened a Kyocera black ceramic? It is way harder to avoid the chipping than their white ceramic.

[@scotttalkington323]

Nope

[@scotttalkington323]

I'm thinking about getting more diamond films for future ceramic sharpenings, but honestly, it's not worth it for me

[@CGSW]

@@scotttalkington323 ​ OH, then you don't know what you are missing! With their white ceramic I can avoid chipping with my Matrix stones as long as I am careful and don't try micro bevels. With their black ceramic I can't avoid chipping, it just gets worse as I work with finer stones. I had just started playing with leather strops loaded with diamond so I thought maybe the softer "bond" would help and it totally changed things. With leather strops, and probably wood too, ceramic isn't so challenging to sharpen.

[@georgeyoung4292]

Im glad you started to make videos again sir🙏 I dont think you remember me but i asked you about polishing stones 2300&4000# not yet branded as DM.. PS: I still have them😉 They are just beautiful simply superior finish, faster polish and they are crazy durable.. I would just advice everyone new to them , GO EASY ON THEM and Slowly at any tip cause ive heard that many ppl made nasty gauges.. 😉🙏

[@CGSW]

Yes, the resin is soft and you can carve it quite easily. Another reason for edge trailing passes. I never quit doing videos, I just don't have the time. I have a bunch in mind but have been too busy keeping up with production. I got an Edge-On-Up tester a few months ago and really want to see how low a score I can get with this knife, as well as a few others. I have barely even played with it!

[@burtjoubert]

Have you tried the matrix stones with edge trailing strokes only on the ceramic? I think it may yield much better results and less chipping on the ceramic with edge trailing only.

[@CGSW]

Absolutely but with the black ceramic I could not avoid chipping the apex with the Matrix stones, both freshly dressed and broken in. I can sharpen their white ceramic fine as long as I am careful, but the black is very different. This was one of those challenges that really taught me a lot about sharpening as my comfort zone was not working at all. It really forced me to play with different "bonds" to overcome certain problems. Kind of like when going through the grits to get a polished bevel on steel but eventually the finer stones start leaving more scratches than the slightly coaser ones, because the bond is too hard for that fine of a grit with that steel.

[@cristopherrodriguezmatias9337]

Great video! Where did you buy your sharpener?

[@CGSW]

It's home made.

[@D00MTR33]

What kind of sharpening system is that? Looks like Edge Pro Professional but on steroids.

[@CGSW]

I made it myself when work was slow a few years ago.

[@burtjoubert]

Approximately how long did it take you to reprofile the ceramic blade with the 80 & 250 before moving up in the grits?

[@CGSW]

I spent about 2-3 hours at 3 and 4.5 degrees grinding on the heel with the 80 grit stone to get rid of the recurve and set the shape of the blade like I wanted it. It is slow going when grinding on a 1/2" wide bevel.