Vicera Cutlery Review and Giveway

About ViCera Cutlery

New Technology, Old-world Craftsmanship

ViCera™ ceramic knives are made of an advanced, high-tech ceramic called zirconium oxide (also known as zirconia). Zirconium oxide is extremely hard and wear resistant, rating 8.5 on the Mohs scale - surpassing stainless steel (5-6 Mohs) and approaching the hardness of diamond (10 Mohs). The Mohs scale, developed by mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, is the universally accepted standard for measuring the hardness of minerals.

During production, our master craftsmen fashion the pure zirconium oxide into knife shaped blanks using high-pressure presses. The finished blanks are then hardened in a process called "sintering", which requires special kilns that can achieve temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius. After they are removed from the kilns, the knives are cooled to a naturally brilliant white and then hand-sharpened on a special diamond coated grinding wheel.

When you pick up a ViCera™ ceramic knife, you are holding a perfect balance of new technology and old-world craftsmanship. A brilliant, white blade that is as light as a feather and tougher than nails.

Thanks to the fine folks at ViCera Cutlery I have been given the opportunity to test and review one of their knives. For my review I chose the Santoku knife. ViCera describes the Santoku as "Slightly smaller than the Chef's Knife, our 5.5-inch/ 14cm Santoku Knife is designed for those who want the virtues of a Chef’s Knife but seek a finer control over its use."

All of the photos you see here were made in my kitchen for the test. Click on any photo to enlarge.

My Review
I have never used a ceramic knife before so I was very excited to give it a try.
For my first test with the Santoku I decided to try slicing a bagel. Before I made the first cut I held the knife and was impressed with the overall lightness and balance in my hand. While the handle is substantial it felt very comfortable in my small hand. From the first cut I was amazed at the sharpness of the blade. Many knives will press the bread down before actually cutting, notice that each slice is perfect and not mashed down. This is a very sharp blade. If you look closely at the blade you will see a little of the blueberry juice, it washed off completely.

Tomatoes are my favorite test for any knife and I was not disappointed by the Santoku. I could slice the tomato paper thin with little effort.

Beside the sharpness and precision I was also impressed at the beauty of the blade. I went back to Vicera's website and and discovered the meaning of the ViCera name.

ViCera™ means Beautiful Ceramics

In Japanese, the kanji character for beauty is and can be read as "vi". The word for ceramics can be shortened to "cera", and writen as . Combined, the name ViCera™ (pronounced "vee-say-rah') means beautiful ceramics. At ViCera™ , we take great pride in our products as highly functional works of art. From beginning to end, our master craftsmen give careful attention to each and every blade to consistently produce unparalleled sharpness that lasts far longer than steel. The naturally brilliant, white blades are made using only pure Japanese zirconia ceramic and embody the traditional Japanese aesthetic of purity.

Remember that ViCera knives are ceramic so they will break if handled roughly. You aren't going to cut through meat bones without damaging the blade. ViCera knives are perfect for chopping, dicing and slicing vegetables, fruits, breads and boneless meats. The Santoku is very light weight and the way it handles is remarkable. I highly recommend ViCera knives for any kitchen.

I received a Santoku knife from ViCera Cutlery for this review. I have received no other compensation. The views here are my own.

Giveaway: ViCera has offered to send a Santoku knife like the one in my photos to one of my readers. The Santoku is valued at $69.99. Sorry but this contest is open to US readers only. Contest ends at 11:59 pm Pacific time July 28th. The winner will be emailed and given 48 hrs to respond. If I don't hear from the winner at the end of that time a new winner will be selected.

All entries must include a valid email address or your email address must be on your profile. If I can't find you, you can't win! If in doubt leave it in your comments. Spam comments will be removed immediately.

Mandatory first entry:
You must be a follower of The Road to Here on GFC (Google Friend Connect) to enter.
And........
Go to the ViCera website and tell me which other knife you would find useful in your kitchen or something you learned about ViCera. (1 entry)

Additional entries (leave separate comments for each):
Like ViCera Cutlery on Facebook. Leave a comment on the ViCera FB page saying that Judy Weber aka SquirrelQueen sent you (I will check).
(1 entry)

Like the SquirrelQueen on Facebook. If you leave a comment on my FB page with a link to your FB page I will Like you back. (1 entry)

Follow the Squirrel Queen on Twitter, I follow back. (1 entry)

Tweet about this giveaway, one time only. Leave a link to the tweet in your comment. (1 entry)
To make it easy: Giveaway: Win a ViCera Ceramic Cutlery Santoku knife ($70 value) at The Road to Here.http://tinyurl.com/2d648r6 Ends 7/28

Extra entries.
Blog about this giveaway. (4 entries, leave four separate comments with the link to your post)

Good luck to everyone! Remember the giveaway ends at 11:59 pm pacific time on July 28th.