Funny story "I buy all of these expensive knives and none of them are sharp!"

jprime84

jprime84

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Jul 7, 2014
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My mom has been saying this to me for the past two years. More recently they bought some expensive electric sharpener which I am sure chews up the steel. Well this weekend I went over to cook for my dads birthday. I brought along my whetstones and strop and took one of her Wustof knives in X50CrMoV15 steel which did appear to be fairly dull. I brought it to a mirror bevel and shaving sharp edge over 20 minutes or so of work. She was impressed. I then set off to cook dinner and asked where the cutting board was. She gave me some decorative cutting board made out of a textured glass!

Apparently this is what she uses. I was skeptical. I took the razor sharp knife i just got done sharpening, diced a bit of parsley on this board (which felt like i was intentionally destroying the knife - scraping and squeaking). I got done with the parsley (maybe 20 strokes with the blade), and I found that now the blade wouldnt even cut printer paper.

Well mom, I said. Heres your problem! Since cutting boards exist to server a surface that will not damage a blades edge, I was shocked to find out that one exists that does specifically that.
 
Yeah there's one in my parent's kitchen also, it's not used much though. Regardless all the knives are tossed in one drawer and none of them can cut paper. :grumpy:
 
Plastic is probably the best, doesn't absorb liquids like wood does. Helps to keep down the germ count.

That being said neither me or my family cares and we use both.
 
denko said:
What is the best type of cutting board? Wood?
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Wood is an excellent cutting board, but it should only be used to cut vegetables because meat products (especially raw meat) can leave bacteria in the wood grain. Since wood is very hard to clean, the bacteria can last on the board for a very long time and lead to sickness such as salmonella poisoning.

A good quality plastic cutting board should be used for cutting meat, and they can also be used for vegetables as well. As an added bonus, they're very easy to clean thoroughly.

So, I say plastic (unless you only cut fruits and vegetables).
 
Not really a vegetarian. Eat some type of protein at very meal especially breakfast. Thanks for the input I'll make sure to be vigilant about these things.
 
denko said:
Not really a vegetarian. Eat some type of protein at very meal especially breakfast. Thanks for the input I'll make sure to be vigilant about these things.
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What ljusmc said. Don't let juices sit, clean with hot water and scrub well. Just be mindful of kitchen safety and you'll be fine. Ever work for fast food? Look up food handlers license and you'll get a good idea of what to do in your kitchen.
 
ljusmc said:
Wood is an excellent cutting board, but it should only be used to cut vegetables because meat products (especially raw meat) can leave bacteria in the wood grain. Since wood is very hard to clean, the bacteria can last on the board for a very long time and lead to sickness such as salmonella poisoning.

A good quality plastic cutting board should be used for cutting meat, and they can also be used for vegetables as well. As an added bonus, they're very easy to clean thoroughly.

So, I say plastic (unless you only cut fruits and vegetables).
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If you clean your wood boards with bleach water after cutting meat you will have no issues at all.
 
I thought this was old news. First Google result: http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

OUR RESEARCH WAS FIRST INTENDED TO DEVELOP MEANS OF DISINFECTING WOODEN CUTTING SURFACES AT HOME, SO THAT THEY WOULD BE ALMOST AS SAFE AS PLASTICS. OUR SAFETY CONCERN WAS THAT BACTERIA SUCH AS ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 AND SALMONELLA, WHICH MIGHT CONTAMINATE A WORK SURFACE WHEN RAW MEAT WAS BEING PREPARED, OUGHT NOT REMAIN ON THE SURFACE TO CONTAMINATE OTHER FOODS THAT MIGHT BE EATEN WITHOUT FURTHER COOKING. WE SOON FOUND THAT DISEASE BACTERIA SUCH AS THESE WERE NOT RECOVERABLE FROM WOODEN SURFACES IN A SHORT TIME AFTER THEY WERE APPLIED, UNLESS VERY LARGE NUMBERS WERE USED. NEW PLASTIC SURFACES ALLOWED THE BACTERIA TO PERSIST, BUT WERE EASILY CLEANED AND DISINFECTED. HOWEVER, WOODEN BOARDS THAT HAD BEEN USED AND HAD MANY KNIFE CUTS ACTED ALMOST THE SAME AS NEW WOOD, WHEREAS PLASTIC SURFACES THAT WERE KNIFE-SCARRED WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO CLEAN AND DISINFECT MANUALLY, ESPECIALLY WHEN FOOD RESIDUES SUCH AS CHICKEN FAT WERE PRESENT. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS REVEALED HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO PLASTIC SURFACES FROM KNIFE CUTS.
 
Oh man the thought of running a knife on glass is like nails on a chalkboard...

To be fair I did find myself trying to sharpen my griptilian on the sidewalk a few weeks back. Not the best results
 
The condo we stayed in last week had one of those. And no knives!

I careful cut meat and veggies with my shirogov. It still destroyed the edge. Took me about 20 minites on the sharp maker to get it back into condition.

But, I bought it to use it!

I use a Teflon one at home.
 
Only End Grain wood boards for me. At work we still use butcher blocks. At the end of every day you we scrape them down to fresh wood. Never a problem with bacteria. They do a lot better then plastic in that respect.
 
The glass boards are NOT intended for cutting! I honestly think people are just plain stupid for using them as such. The real purpose of these is to display CHEESE on the dining table especially the olfactory unpleasant ones.
I use bamboo plates for cutting. quite tough and antiseptic.
 
This:

Raymond1000 said:
I thought this was old news. First Google result: http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

OUR RESEARCH WAS FIRST INTENDED TO DEVELOP MEANS OF DISINFECTING WOODEN CUTTING SURFACES AT HOME, SO THAT THEY WOULD BE ALMOST AS SAFE AS PLASTICS. OUR SAFETY CONCERN WAS THAT BACTERIA SUCH AS ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 AND SALMONELLA, WHICH MIGHT CONTAMINATE A WORK SURFACE WHEN RAW MEAT WAS BEING PREPARED, OUGHT NOT REMAIN ON THE SURFACE TO CONTAMINATE OTHER FOODS THAT MIGHT BE EATEN WITHOUT FURTHER COOKING. WE SOON FOUND THAT DISEASE BACTERIA SUCH AS THESE WERE NOT RECOVERABLE FROM WOODEN SURFACES IN A SHORT TIME AFTER THEY WERE APPLIED, UNLESS VERY LARGE NUMBERS WERE USED. NEW PLASTIC SURFACES ALLOWED THE BACTERIA TO PERSIST, BUT WERE EASILY CLEANED AND DISINFECTED. HOWEVER, WOODEN BOARDS THAT HAD BEEN USED AND HAD MANY KNIFE CUTS ACTED ALMOST THE SAME AS NEW WOOD, WHEREAS PLASTIC SURFACES THAT WERE KNIFE-SCARRED WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO CLEAN AND DISINFECT MANUALLY, ESPECIALLY WHEN FOOD RESIDUES SUCH AS CHICKEN FAT WERE PRESENT. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS REVEALED HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO PLASTIC SURFACES FROM KNIFE CUTS.
Click to expand...
 
Raymond1000 said:
I thought this was old news. First Google result: http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

OUR RESEARCH WAS FIRST INTENDED TO DEVELOP MEANS OF DISINFECTING WOODEN CUTTING SURFACES AT HOME, SO THAT THEY WOULD BE ALMOST AS SAFE AS PLASTICS. OUR SAFETY CONCERN WAS THAT BACTERIA SUCH AS ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 AND SALMONELLA, WHICH MIGHT CONTAMINATE A WORK SURFACE WHEN RAW MEAT WAS BEING PREPARED, OUGHT NOT REMAIN ON THE SURFACE TO CONTAMINATE OTHER FOODS THAT MIGHT BE EATEN WITHOUT FURTHER COOKING. WE SOON FOUND THAT DISEASE BACTERIA SUCH AS THESE WERE NOT RECOVERABLE FROM WOODEN SURFACES IN A SHORT TIME AFTER THEY WERE APPLIED, UNLESS VERY LARGE NUMBERS WERE USED. NEW PLASTIC SURFACES ALLOWED THE BACTERIA TO PERSIST, BUT WERE EASILY CLEANED AND DISINFECTED. HOWEVER, WOODEN BOARDS THAT HAD BEEN USED AND HAD MANY KNIFE CUTS ACTED ALMOST THE SAME AS NEW WOOD, WHEREAS PLASTIC SURFACES THAT WERE KNIFE-SCARRED WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO CLEAN AND DISINFECT MANUALLY, ESPECIALLY WHEN FOOD RESIDUES SUCH AS CHICKEN FAT WERE PRESENT. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS REVEALED HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO PLASTIC SURFACES FROM KNIFE CUTS.
Click to expand...

Double This!

Plastic cutting boards are the ones that harbor live bacteria!

WE HAVE KNOWN THIS FOR YEARS NOW!

Throw away the plastic and use the glass for serving only.

(The cuts that the knife makes in the plastic is where the bacteria hide.)
 
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