Boker Ceramic Rigging Knives

[Leo Barr]

I had 3 to sharpen two had damages tips which I did with a diamond belt sander.
I then thinned the repaired areas using an Atoma 140 plate it cut through quite rapidly then `i used a DMT fine bench plate to sharpen the primary bevels off and since they were to be used to cut ~Dyneema the only slight extra finish I put on them was some of Ken’s CBN spray straight onto the plate .
I quite like the knives carbon fibre scales & ceramic blades although I am never sure with ceramics they hold their edge well but as to how sharp I can get them the answer is not as good as a knife of good steel ~if I rated the sharpness I can get on steel as 7 then these are about a 6 .
That aside and how I sharpened them more important here are the pictures the centre one just needed a touch up the outer ones you can see where I have thinned the blades to get a reasonable profile

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[Josh]

Thanks for sharing leo! Man… Is that rust around the pivot and inside?! Looks like it is a corrosive environment you live in!

So will they shave arm hair at all?

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Nice/beautiful work Leo!!!

[Leo Barr]

I think they have been abused( they have probable been kept in a cockpit locker since they have come off a cruiser racer and the crew obviously do a lot of their splicing themselves . I would oil them since the locks are not stainless they are actually cheap knives 39€ on Amazon they are reasonable sharp but not shaving sharp to be quite frank I would throw them away if I did not know how to sharpen them I charge 16€ a knife(for ceramics ) which is barley enough but if they were done more often they would not be so bad .
I think the value of high tech Dyneema lines that they are used on when splicing warrants throwing them away when they are blunt .
I would use a laminated steel knife and then at the end of each session it takes very little to retouch the edge cutting braid line crucifies a blade and that is just nylon Dyneema is probable twice a heavy on a knife which is why riggers like ceramics but I think this is largely because most of them either don’t know or do not wish to sharpen.
All steel knives need attention try cutting up 10-20Kg of vegetables the knife will need at least couple of passes over a steel or honing . The world just seems to get lazier .
I wouldn’t mind one of these Bokers as a curiosity they are very cheap considering the carbon fibre scales they are not that light in weight the mechanism could have been carbon fibre they have a nice locking action .
I have never managed to get a ceramic to shaving sharp Ken is about the only person I have heard that has achieved this and if the blade was over polished it would not cut the braid line at all I have tried cutting braid line with polished edges and it just does not work even if the knife is shaving sharp.
I do ceramics as an exercise but they are tedious to do I estimate they take about 5 X longer than steel to sharpen I think on the whole most are cheap and they should be binned when blunt.

[Josh]

Thanks for the feedback Leo! Yeah, you are totally right about the polish and the time it takes… That’s why I don’t sharpen them anymore lol

Great job!

[Leo Barr]

I quite understand it is hard to say no with someone who you think may bring more business I still find them a challenge but I hate them in use there is no feedback when cutting they seem to be all or nothing I think for many tasks they are dangerous because of this .
It is also a misconception that they are much lighter than steel blades I have a couple of Japanese knives that are probable just as light and cut way better .
I think in England when not dealing with Super Yachts normal people would not be prepared to pay enough to justify sharpening them unless it has some sort of importance like a wedding gift or a hand down.
I will try sharpening my own one on my diamond belt 300 grit and see what happens I cannot imagine that Trizac belts would touch them ; have you any experience with Trizacs re ceramics?

[Mark76]

I do ceramics as an exercise but they are tedious to do I estimate they take about 5 X longer than steel to sharpen I think on the whole most are cheap and they should be binned when blunt.

I guess that’s what they’re made for. Especially given the fact that hardly any professional sharpener uses diamond.

I tried to sharpen them once, as you, just as an exercise. My experience is the same as yours, they take much longer than even very wear-resistant steels like M390. And they chip… Man, I had to be careful … And in the end they were less sharp than steel knives I had paid only a fraction of attention to.

Some more accomplished sharpeners than me, do have success with it, however. Here’s a blog + vid by Tom: http://jendeindustries.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/worlds-first-ceramic-knife-shave-video/

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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