Tungsten carbide blade.

[Janne]

Kyocera sharpen them "for free" ( handling and return postage) but in my case the postage to them is insane.

Nope, steel for me. Unless I make myself a Bronze knife ( a crazy project on my brain).

That pricey Italian Tungsten carbide knife, what happens if you fall on it? Shatters?

 

[Robson Valley]

You ought to make a bronze knife. If I was there, I'd expect to be a part of it.

I have no idea how brittle TC is. I'll guess that it's really tough to break.
If a TC tooth comes off a 10" x 80T blade, you can pick it out of your forehead.

I got a blacksmith (aka the local farrier) to work on a pair of 2" x 1/4" x 5" pieces of copper.
Made me 2 adze blades. I worked like Hello to hammer it for work hardening and then a lot of sharpening,
using my Kestrel D-Adze as the pattern. Hafted, looks wonderful. Hardly sharp enough to chop a carrot.
Besides the work $$, I gave him one to hang in his shop.

 

[Leshy]

I tried to sharpen my Kyocera kitchen knife last night on a Diamond coated sharpening thingy.
Kyocera kitchen knife rests now on the Queens Bottom in the canal, waiting to be discovered by Archeologists in a couple of Millennia.

( in other words, sharpening did not work, blade became a saw. Lots of small chips)

😁
The archeological team will be very confused as to who or what could do this sort of damage to an apparently "fine" tool. 👍😁

 

[Janne]

��
The archeological team will be very confused as to who or what could do this sort of damage to an apparently "fine" tool. ����

It will be interpreted as a Ceremonial or Religious Artefact, possibly used in Human Sacrifice, then offered to Charybdis by throwing in a Sacred Pool.

 

[Robson Valley]

What? Not the river Styx? (Runs to find dictionary of mythology in the library.)

I'd be quite willing to try a TC edge in the kitchen.
In the meantime, Pfeil and Kestrel rule my carving shop.

 

[mrcharly]

mrcharly: if you speak of ceramic blades, they are brittle. The edges chip easily, at least the expensive kitchen blades do.
Batoning should do lots of damage.

No, I was referring to the TC blades described in the original link. The FAQ on the manufacturer's website say 'not suitable for chopping'.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Janne,

I am curious, was the diamond sharpener you used a flat plate, (continuous or perforated), or a diamond coated rod of some sort?


Robson Valley,
Timber planing cutters, you say ceramic and not carbide? Can you elaborate? I have heard of ceramic for rough milling of exotic alloys, but that is pretty new tech. I was interested in what you described, but can't find out any more about it.

Interesting thread!!

 

[Janne]

C_C, it was a flat, non perforated diamond coated one. About 5 x 9 cm or so ( am at work now). If you stroke a fingertip over the surface you can feel the diamonds.
I use it as an intermediate step when taking out edge unevenness on my hobby knives.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Cheers. That's about as good as you could have had. I was wondering if it was a rod type, which are far more prone to throwing chips off very hard edges. I got my dad a three sided rod type diamond sharpener, each side was radiused (maybe R1.5"), specifically for use on his new Murray Carter Blue Steel kitchen knife. That dang thing pinged little chips out of the edge like it was meant to do so! I wonder if the technique for the ceramic is high speed and very low pressure, as you can achieve with a machine, but very difficult by hand...Still prefer steel.

 

[Janne]

I did apply more pressure than normal, as not much happened. Maybe (probably) I just used the wrong tech.

 

[Robson Valley]

Just like carborundum, etc, diamond plates come in different grit sizes.
I wonder if that was an issue? Maybe like TPI on a saw blade.

Ceramic cutter heads in planer mills have been standard in the BC interior mills (so I'm told)
for decades. However, I have yet to see them. Most of my friends in the forest industry have retired as I did,
so my connections have evaporated. Couple of locals I will ask when this cold WX breaks.
The mills aren't heated so jumping around at -25C isn't on my wish list.