Thread: Ceramic Steel?

I have a flat ceramic steel that I use for my meatknives. I know a SR is not aknife. My question is this, is that agood thing to use for minor tune-ups? Iam not talking about replacing proper honing with the ceramic. I am talking about that odd time where oneneeds more than a strop, but the razor still shaves well. As a noob (1 yr in), I just don’t have theequipment (or $) at this point.
And, yes, it will see a honemeister at the beginningof the year.

Is the steel actually ceramic, or is it for sharpening ceramic knives? I would bet that it's too coarse for a razor. Would you shave your face with one of your meat knives? Oh wait...there's a guy that does...my bad :P

A Steel for cooking knifes is used to put a burr on the blade for slicing. Not good for shaving...

The grit equivalents of these ceramics seems to be a fairly well kept proprietary secret. I can't find anything in a cursory search to confirm the grit size, but I expect that they are simply formed differently of the same stuff we could get in an artificial honing stone of modern manufacture. So it could be any size. I know the one in my kitchen will remove material and I have to scrub off the gray metal from time to time.

Since they are generally for knives, I would estimate their fine-ness at somewhere above 1000 grit but not as high as 6000 or above. Jeff's correct about a chef wanting a little more aggression at the edge. A typical steel however is intended to straighten a wire edge on a chef's knife and restore it's cutting ability between sharpenings. Chef's are generally hard on blades banging them into cutting boards all day doing all the prep work us eaters never get to see. Of all I've read here, a wire edge would make most razor folks cringe.

Hope this helps.

Sounds to me like you might do well with a barber's hone. You can maintain a well-honed edge for years with one of those and they are pretty cheap.

1999: It is made of ceramic. Think nice ceramic plate, except it is long, flat, and skinny It is used to fine tune an already sharp knife. As Mike points out, it does remove some metal. Ceramic is harder than steel, that is why it is used.
As to the wire edge comments, that's where I get lost.
Jdto: I would like to get one, but right now I don't have the $.
My plans are to get 2 more strops for pastes and a barber hone. But that is down the road. I'm just wondering about what I already own.

Get a piece of cardboard from a cereal box. Get some chromium oxide (powder or paste) or some diamond spray.
Boom, touch up strop.
Also, keep your eye out for a barber hone. I paid less than 30 for my aloxite and 10 for one I found at a local flea market.

I have a naniwa 12k, how does that compare to a barber hone? Am I missing a critical stone here?

I would say if you can keep the blade really flat on the steel and put no pressure on it, try 5-10 strokes and then test shave with the razor after stropping. What's the worst that can happen. Although you can cut hair at the grit levels Mike described, it is usually uncomfortable. You will definitely learn something and if you mess the razor up, send it to me and you pay the postage and I'll hone it back up for you.

Have fun.

Lynn,
I am going to take this as your blessing to mess up my blade. You will be seeing it in Jan anyhow. I bought it from you with the free honing for life.

Seriously, I am enjoying the whole SR experience.