Ceramic Knife Sharpening

[Kidcook]

Bought daughter a very nice set of Kyocera ceramic knives some time ago when free lifetime sharpening was part of the deal. Now, it is not. They make an electric sharpener they sell but the reviews are terrible. I've been researching sharpening ceramic knives and free-hand diamond plates seem like the thing to try. I would say I'm a moderate to above average whetstone sharpener so willing to try if I'm on the right track. Mark sells an Atoma #1200 but it looks like DMT plates seem more for sharpening.
So questions:
Am I on the right track trying the diamond plates? Has anyone sharpened on the Atoma #1200? Has anyone sharpened ceramic knives with any positive results on anything?

[cliff]

I think using diamond stones in a resinoid binder would work better, or vitrified diamond. I confess I have not tried

[Kidcook]

Ok, I'll look into it. Going from free lifetime sharpening to basically no sharpening service totally makes these knives worthless unless I can do something about. Thanks Cliff...

[cliff]

It's a drag. You may be able to use plates to sharpen them. I really don't know. Those stones I mentioned will set you back more than a new knife, so it's not really worth it unless you also have some high carbide steel knives.

[Kidcook]

Ya, I totally hear you. I've got shapton glass and pros for that matter. A couple of Choseras as well. If i could get away with just one diamond plate maybe it wouldn't be that bad, hence the post here. Do you think if I bought her a Carter she might switch?! haha
Thanks for mulling it over and giving it your time Cliff

[taz575]

Maybe try diamond sprays on strops?

[Kidcook]

Ya, I get that. I contacted Kyocera and they talked me into their battery operated sharpener. For forty bucks I figured I'd give it a try. But I've got diamond spray on strops so it"s no cost to me to give that a try. Maybe some combination of these will do the job?! Thanks Taz

[Kidcook]

Update, the Kyocera battery operated sharpener was a flop. Not near enough power to do any real work. Also, the diamond wheel was spring loaded with not enough tension. So I returned it and picked up a small DMT double sided diamond plate 600 and 1200 grit for ten more bucks. This was the way to go. I ended up only using the 1200 side. Ceramic come off totally different then steel but after getting a feel for it it got the job done. I finished with the diamond strop and that help as well. Wouldn't have been able to sharpen it with just the strop though. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Learn something new everyday!

[Diemaker]

How to sharpen it really depends on the ceramic, it's not like all steel sharpens the same either. White Kyocera is far easier than the black but by far the cheapest and safest way is with diamond loaded leather, which is also the only medium I found that would sharpen the black ceramic without microchipping. My experience is that the harder the blade material the softer the stone needs to be so diamond plates are a no go for anything but roughing. I firmly believe you need a microscope to sharpen ceramic and the more magnification you have the better so you can see what you are doing to the apex. The trick to sharpening ceramics is to avoid point loading the apex, hence the soft "stones". Granted I have never tried sharpening ceramic knives freehand, only with a good guided sharpener.

Due to what I have seen of Kyocera's sharpening I would never use it anyway.