Kyocera knives has a unique blade made of zirconium oxide, an advanced material that is second in hardness only to diamond. This special blade will hold its edge much longer than steel, will never rust and won’t alter the look or taste of food. Your Kyocera advanced ceramic knife will bring you many years of trouble-free use when you follow these instructions: USE - Ideal for for straight cuts of fruits, vegetables and boneless meats - Always use with a plastic or wood cutting board. Avoid cutting on marble, stone, glass, plates, or tile. - Use your conventional steel knives for carving, prying,boning, and cutting frozen food and cheese. - These applications involve twisting and flexing, which require a more flexible material than ceramic. CARE - Hand wash with water and liquid dish soap; do not wash in the dishwasher - For discolorations not removed by normal washing,wash the blade only with a mild bleach solution AVOID - Dropping on hard surfaces Hitting against china or flatware - Putting the blade in open flame (ceramic conducts heat) - Scraping hard surfaces - Turning the blade on its side to smash garlic or other items - Applying force to the side of the blade STORAGE - Store in a knife block / sheath / tray or on a dish drain. - Use care when storing and removing the knife from a knife block to avoid tip damage. - Storing any knife upright (sharp edge up) or sideways in a knife block reduces wear to the knife edge. WEAR - All knives dull over time. A soft metal blade (stainless steel) “rolls” as it becomes dull. - Harder metals (such as high carbon steels, titanium, or carbide) hold their edge longer, but dull differently. As the material hardens, it becomes less forgiving and tends to slightly chip instead of roll. - Advanced ceramic blades are simply the next and final step on this hardness scale, harder than any metal. - Ceramic starts out sharper--and stays sharper--longer. In time, you may notice micro abrasions or nicks on the blade’s edge. - This is the normal process by which any hard material blade will dull. - The existence of microchips does not necessarily mean the knife is dull. - You will find that it performs well for quite some time. - When the knife becomes too dull to use, Kyocera’s resharpening process will “flatten out” the edge of the blade (removing all chips) and then reestablish a new sharp edge. Larger chips and broken tips can often be corrected by resharpening as well. RESHARPENING SERVICE We are the only company in South Africa to offer the resharpening service of Kyocera Ceramic Knives Our specialised resharpening service is only available to customers who have purchased their Kyocera knives either directly from us or through our appointed retailers and only applies to the original purchaser. Your proof of purchase is required in order to make use of this service. We do not support the resharpening of Kyocera knives that have been purchased from any other supplier be it from a non appointed store or from a website. If you are unsure please contact us to make sure that the store or website in question has been appointed by us before you make your purchase. No exceptions.