About the only item that has been with me on every trip for the last few years is my beloved Opinel 3" knife.
Recently I was gifted a folding 3" ceramic blade knife
This one is a touch lighter than my Opinel (25g vs 30g) and sharper but I carry that Derma knife anyway so not about to replace that French icon.
I had a quick look on the net and appears that a plus for ceramic is staying sharp longer , the minus is "brittle".

Does anyone carry a ceramic blade in the bush ?

Franco
my "small" knife collection...

Means no go for me. It's obviously not optimal to use your steel knife as a lever, but it's bad news for a ceramic knife. And I'd be afraid it'd fall out my pocket or something and shatter.

yes with the brittle bit came the no prying, so not for any bushcraft or stuff like that.
But I really only use my knife for food bags and food , occasionally ropes , for fires I use rocks to make kindles, so maybe others do to.
Incidentally the handle feels a bit like the one on my Mora knife, kind of soft.
I used to sell kyocera (camera) stuff so I am familiar with the idea but not the use of ceramic blades.
(this particular is not a kyocera...)
Franco

Hey Franco,
Check out this thread: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62212
Some good opinions and info.

Edited by justin_baker on 05/03/2012 01:37:53 MDT.

Hi Justin
Thanks for that.
I think the one I have is under $10 on e Bay ( it was sent with another kind of clever SS folding knife) .
It will go with my other toys..
This one is the only knife I have that can actualy shave hair off my arm.
I have a Lanski sharpening kit but can't get that edge with my other ones.
not that it worries me...
Franco

Edited by Franco on 05/03/2012 02:51:17 MDT.

I've only used ceramic knives in the kitchen, but man do they stay sharp. Ceramic is my go to knife for any peeling or cutting fruit. I'd imagine one would cut through rope very cleanly.

I've also had a few break on me in the kitchen too, kind of disappointing when it happens since the knife is toast after that happens.

Cutting through rope with a ceramic blade it depend on how you cut it if it will break. If you cut the rope on a nice flat cutting board like vegetable it would not break. If you cut the rope holding it in a loop and put the knife in the loop and cut away from you like most people cut ropes it might break the knife from stress put on the knife blade .

Also cutting any synthetic fibers or foam takes a toll on any kind of cutting blade. Compared to hot wire cutting.

Most chefs and cooks know that ceramic knifes have certain limitation to what they can cut with ceramic blades with out breaking the blade.

The knife you have looks like it might make a good knife for filleting wild caught trout when fishing.
Terry

Edited by socal-nomad on 05/03/2012 10:53:24 MDT.

I have some ceramic-bladed scissors. Fantastic for cutting Kevlar and Spectra fabric. The extreme hardness and lack of flex are the key to that.

Not so sure about a knife though - the brittleness would worry me. Some very nice knife steels around for that.

Cheers

At the link provided by Justin someone mentioned cutting Titanium with a ceramic knife.
I don't happen to have spare Ti bits but maybe some gear tragic here does...
maybe someone could buy one of those Ti whistles and cut it up, just for fun.
Franco

My ceramic scissors will cut Ti foil very nicely. I don't think I want to try cutting 0.55 mm Ti 6Al4V sheet with them though. For that I use very heavy thick-bladed long-handled snips.

Cheers