How do non knife nuts react to your edge sharpness?

Handing someone a knife and warning them its sharp seems silly. Everyone should assume that a knife is sharp and treat it as such. Now if you are showing off how sharp your knife is, then you are asking for blood on you blade.
 
If I say "be careful it's sharp" there is an inherently greater risk of them cutting themselves. It's like they don't believe me:rolleyes:so they "check" it by running a finger along the blade and are surprised when there is blood starting to run.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I've seen that one happen more times than I can count.

Me: "Careful now. Don't draw your thumb down the edge--always across it."

Them: (drawing their thumb down the edge) "Naw. It ain't very sharp."

Me: "I'll get you a bandaid."

Them: "Huh?" (drop of blood hits their shoe and then they realize they're bleeding)

Me: And a paper towel.
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Most people who aren't used to really sharp knives will not even recognize that a knife is "that sharp" until they see blood. Really sharp knives have a deceptive feel about the edge.

As far as the thread topic goes, sharper the better and I will just smile. Don't ask to borrow my knife.
 
I've handed knives with a factory edge to friends who no more than a few seconds latter I hear a "Oww that is really freaking sharp!". Common sense was not there with them running finger down the blade, after I warned them it was sharp.

Learned from those experiences. And now that I decided to learn how to sharpen knives free hand I don't think I will be letting people borrow my knives except for a select few as I tend to make even the best factory edges I've gotten look dull now days after I am done sharpening. So I imagine instead of the complaint of it being sharp I am now honestly afraid it be replaced with me telling them "Let me grab you a large towel, apply direct pressure and elevate. I'm taking you to the ER."
 
I would add that I think the general public as a whole, not just "non knife nuts" are just ignorant about knives, especially folding knives. They have no idea what a frame lock, liner lock, lock back, etc. and certainly have no idea on opening and closing the blade. As far as a sharp blade, they use serrated blades, butter knives, cut things with scissors and their idea of a really sharp knife is the one they get at a restaurant with a steak. This is usually serrated with a loose handle that has been through a commercial dishwasher rubbing against forks and spoons hundreds of times. To me a even as a child, watching someone who really knew how to freehand sharpen a knife so it would shave arm hair was almost magical.
 
Non knife people run a thumb over an edge and get cut, and non knife flashaholics look into the business and switch it on. That's the monkey brain at work! ;-)
 
My experiences have been either they act like a little girl and hand the knife back to me and back away or they say that's not sharp,go figure.
 
no one in my family, other than my lad and I, are knife folks. I wind up always packing my EdgePro set up when I visit my brothers or sisters. I usually wind up sharpening all the knives in their homes. :)
 
This thread is quite depressing, i do not think i recall anyone i know being this stupid, i live way up north in the sticks though
At least my mom seemed to appreciate the beauty of my new Condor Golok when i showed it
 
At work one day, a co-worker asked if anyone had a knife. I gave him my little 1 7/8" blade pocket knife. He laughed. I told him "be careful, it's sharp", he laughed even harder & then ran his thumb down the blade. He cut what he wanted & handed it back to me. He said "that wasn't that sharp". As he stood there, I looked at his hand & waited. It started dripping blood. Then I laughed & said i warned you.
 
OK, gotta put my 2 cents in...

I've been sharpening knives for 40+ years, when I was about 10 a fella put up a fireworks stand next to my grandfathers butcher shop. After much pestering he handed me his Buck 110 and said if I could sharpen it to where it would shave hair off his arm he'd give me $5 worth of firecrackers...
After about an hour using my granddad's oil stones I went outside to where he was talking to a man and handed him the knife. He absently opened it while talking and ran it down the length of his left forearm, his eyes instantly became big as silver dollars, his mouth dropped as he stared at the long bald area on his arm. He scared me cause I didn't expect him to do that. Without a word he walked over and handed me $10 worth of fireworks.

Also, there was a time about 20 years ago when I showed my dad a new knife I bought. He said "Is it sharp?".
I said "Kinda".
My brother said "Dad, Allen's idea of kinda sharp is 'cut yourself 3 times before you know what happened'".
He said that because he cut 3 fingers shortly after I sharpened his knife.

Anyway, I got more but I'll give someone else a chance to brag now...

Thanks
 
My friends usually criticize me for "spending so much time sharpening knives" as if it takes hours to maintain a sharp edge by stropping it for a minute every couple days.
 
TwinStick said:
At work one day, a co-worker asked if anyone had a knife. I gave him my little 1 7/8" blade pocket knife. He laughed. I told him "be careful, it's sharp", he laughed even harder & then ran his thumb down the blade. He cut what he wanted & handed it back to me. He said "that wasn't that sharp". As he stood there, I looked at his hand & waited. It started dripping blood. Then I laughed & said i warned you.
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Even as kid before I was into knives I knew not to do this. I'm a little shocked at how many people think this is the thing to do. Does anyone know why? I'm really confused out what a person expects from running their finger down the blade. It can't be just a Holllywood thing.

oharal said:
My friends usually criticize me for "spending so much time sharpening knives" as if it takes hours to maintain a sharp edge by stropping it for a minute every couple days.
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I'm not the biggest fan of maintaining the edge on my knives. It's not something that I really enjoy. But, yeah 2 minutes a week is probably the least amount of time I spend maintaining anything.
 
I have never seen anyone jam their fingers into a blade before...

Most people just say 'that's scary sharp' or 'why do you need it that sharp?'.
 
Shotgun said:
Even as kid before I was into knives I knew not to do this. I'm a little shocked at how many people think this is the thing to do. Does anyone know why? I'm really confused out what a person expects from running their finger down the blade. It can't be just a Holllywood thing. .
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I lightly run three fingers down a portion of the blade to check how much it grabs my skin(three finger sticky) but I know what I'm doing. They don't know what they're doing and in a way that can only result in getting cut. It boggles me to:confused:
 
That last time I let someone use my knife it took me an hour to get the chips out of the edge. That was about five years ago.
I was unloading a semi truck last week full of tubs and the driver told me to whip out my killing knife to cut a strap. He was joking but it was still funny. Everyone is amazed at how sharp my knives are. They are finally beginning to understand me
 
Knife culture here in the Philippines but most people who feel my sticky sharp edges are amazed. Most people here do know how sharp feels although I'll never sharpen any kitchen knives for my friends that their wives might use after a sad experience. My friend asked me to sharpen his dull kitchen knife while we were cooking in his house. I barely put on a working edge but didn't know that his wife routinely sliced mangoes while holding them in her hand(using her hand as the cutting board). His knives were so dull that she could do it without damage. She had to get 5 stitches when Mona used the knife that way.
 
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