A sharp knife is safer...

C

ctbrew

Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
19
I've often heard the old saw that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one because it takes less effort to cut something. I personally think a moderately sharp knife is safer than a dull one, but IMO a razor sharp knife is a bad cut waiting to happen. You may scoff at this, but whenever the bread knives are newly sharpened in my restaurant, the bandaids get used up quickly. And don't tell me it's because the employee isn't paying enough attention, of course they aren't, it is a busy sandwich place and they are hustling to just get the product out. An incidental "brushing" by the knife shouldn't necessitate a trip to the ER.
I use a Spyderco Moran deer knife http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=42 and I cut the crap out of myself gutting a deer this year in WI, that knife takes a scary sharp edge. I'm almost afraid to go near it.
My point being, at what point is a knife TOO sharp? The difference where a knife has a good sharp edge suitable for everyday use, and then a point where you cut yourself testing the edge, so that it's almost too dangerous to work with. Opinions?

(Sorry if this has been discussed before)
 
I tend to agree. I lot of times it's nice to have a little resistance when your cutting through something just so you can actually feel what your doing.
 
A knife is never too sharp but a user can more often than not be way to careless. Its also a point of knowing how to use a edged tool and improper use can lead to people cutting them self, along with being careless.

The knife is not dangerous the user is.
 
Personally I've only cut myself when I screwed up, never the knife's fault. My worst cut was totally deserved I was being an idiot. Don't blame the tool, famous tool room quote.
 
Funny, I dressed/skinned both my bucks this year with a knife that could split hair, and I didn't once get cut. If you're cutting yourself over and over, you should probably pay closer attention. Less resistance when cutting means less force needed which means less chance of a blade slipping off into something you don't want it to. I like my knives sharp enough where they do all the work. Sharp pointy things aren't for everyone.

These won't cut someone either:

img-thing
 
ctbrew said:
My point being, at what point is a knife TOO sharp? The difference where a knife has a good sharp edge suitable for everyday use, and then a point where you cut yourself testing the edge, so that it's almost too dangerous to work with. Opinions?
Click to expand...

At no point is the knife "too sharp". If you cut yourself testing the edge you are doing it wrong.

This is not to say that there are not different types of edges for different types of cutting. But "too sharp"? Never in my experience.
 
Alot of what the responders say is true; knives are not responsible for the failings of careless people.
What the poster says rings true as well; people can't help but be careless sometimes.

We may have a mild conundrum here.

The compromise you need to reach as a knife user is a personal one. Many of us pride ourselves on the immaculate upkeep of our knives, and this includes getting it as sharp as we can. (This also explains the faintly passive-aggressive note in some of the responses here)

Functionally, I'm of the persuasion that the caution of the user is invariably more important than the quality of the edge. Dull or sharp, either way accidents can happen, and are always the result of our own damn laxity. And nothing else.

I like a scary-sharp edge on my knives; it's part of the pleasure of using them. And yeah, I've screwed up - the worst required eight stitches and left a scar on my thumb in the worst possible place, right where it rides on the thumb stud of my favorite knives. (Most handgun slide-releases have gotten painful as well)

But no big deal. This kind of occasional (and largely inconsequential) calamity is part of the life we chose when we fell in love with knives, and to my reckoning, it always will be :)
You've just gotta take it in stride; that way there's no such thing as a big deal.
 
I think the big problem regarding sharpness has to do mainly with what a person has grown accustomed to. If someone is used to using more pressure because they tend to deal with dull knives, then we can see why they might have trouble with the sharper knife. Their cutting technique was developed based on a dull knife. This can happen the other way around. If someone is used to dealing with super sharp knives, then he might not be familiar with struggling with a duller knife for the same reason, his technique is based on a super sharp knife.
 
I've found it really simple to avoid getting cut, by obeying the rule to keep your body out of the path of the edge. (in other words NEVER cut towards yourself for ANY reason) I cut myself once by not paying attention to this rule and it hasn't happened since then. How sharp the blade is doesn't matter as long as you obey this rule.
 
I've always thought that the "a dull knife is more dangerous" thing is a bit silly. Personally I keep my blades scarry sharp and yes I do get cut sometimes since I am human and do make mistakes. The differance is that when you mess up a little with a realy sharp knife the cut will be far deeper and more serious.

It's kind of funny too, how when I go to someone else's house and sharpen all their kitchen knives, the next time I see them everyone in the house has bandaids all over their hands and they always ask "did you have to make them sooo sharp?!"

It is true that using propper technique will save you from getting cut most of the time, but either way, are you realy more likely to cut yourself with a less sharp or dull blade? ....not in my oppinion.
 
ctbrew said:
I've often heard the old saw that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one because it takes less effort to cut something.
Click to expand...

Less effort, combined with predictability. The best example is (no fart jokes please) when cutting cheese, like cheddar. No matter how sharp the knife, it takes a lot of force to slice of a chunk. However, the duller the knife the less likely it is to cut straight down. Then the blade curves away and slams down on the counter leaving you with a half-slice of cheese and possibly a severe cut.

The only time a knife can be "too sharp" is when the user is careless. Of course you'll always get the friend/family member/coworker who isn't used to handling knives as sharp as we are, but that's their own damn fault if they don't realize that knives are intended to, and just might, be sharp.
 
I have been trying to get an edge too sharp for almost 60 years and have never made it. Some of are pretty sharp but never too sharp.
 
I have asked this question a number of times myself. There is no knife too sharp for my tastes, it's the knife in another persons hands that can make me uneasy.

For example: My father has used the same unsharpened chef knife for kitchen carving for twenty years, I do not attempt to sharpen his because one, he doesn't want to "wear out" his knife by removing material and two, he would cut his entire finger off the first time he sliced anything with it because his whole body weight has twenty friggin' years experience leaning into that butter knife of an edge. At my house I leave the knives in the block near dull except my chef blade because the little lady is scared of them if they are shaving sharp and will actually labor with a butter knife instead if she finds they cut too easily. Neither situation is a problem for me since I am always equipped with my taste in cutlery edges.

There is no knife that is too sharp, but there are cuts that aren't worth it. I suggest sharpening your knives accordingly.
 
Maybe this is the justification I've been looking for all these years to explain why I'm not a great sharpener: "I'm actually protecting innocent people who might be using this knife."

I like it! Yeah, that's it---"I COULD sharpen this knife really well, but think of the children!"
:D
 
In the kitchen a happy balance of sharp and safe is important. My mother has used Ginsu kitchen knives for at least 15 years. She used a fillet knife once that I had sharpened and nearly cut herself. She has gotten by for 15 years without a cut but one day with a sharp knife was almost a mess.

"Too sharp" for one person isn't sharp enough for me, NOTHING is too sharp for me, I'm a knifenut, I always want something sharper. It's all dependant on the user and what you use the knife for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top