If you have little kids around: how sharp do you sharpen?

johnniet

johnniet

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Did anyone ever start sharpening differently for child safety reasons?

I have a Fallkniven White Whale in VG-10; I use a 15 degree primary bevel sharpened on 2000 grit sandpaper.
The other day, I was putting it back into its edge guard when it slipped just the littlest bit, not much weight or speed behind it, and I got a small cut on my thumb. Fine.
With one of my wife’s knives it wouldn’t have cut me, even though they’re pretty usable in general.

But I have a 3-year-old who is getting taller. What if he ran in some time and pulled down a cutting board? Any thoughts?
 
Sharper is safer for kitchen knives. You've just got to keep them out of reach and teach the kiddos what not to do. I get the concern, my youngest is 3 and she's a hellion, we've had close calls in the kitchen. But I wouldn't be relying on a dull knife edge for safety... it can still cut, and it might be a worse cut.
 
Now I don’t want it dull…just maybe put on a secondary bevel and back down to 800-1000 grit.
But thanks for the considerations.
Actually, I always thought that the safety problem with dull knives was the temptation to use force—and you cut yourself when the knife either slips or finally cuts through. Will they also cut worse if you weren’t using it, but you get cut if the knife falls or other accidental contact?
 
The other thing I’ve thought of is to make more use of my shorter, lighter, still very sharp knives. There should be less force if they slide against someone by accident.
 
I sharpen them to the best edge I can give them, then focus on education and training to keep my 4-year old daughter safe. She knows I like knives and frequently asks to see them, so I made sure to teach her all the relevant parts and how to safely handle a knife. She loves to help me chop vegetables in the kitchen. When asked, she'll recite the parts (point, edge, spine, handle, pommel) and hand it back to me handle-first.

I also drilled it into her to always ask before touching anything on, or reaching onto, kitchen counters as she may not be able to see something hot or sharp until it's too late. I do my best to stop and accommodate her whenever she asks to touch a knife so that I remove the mystery around them and let her know she won't just be denied every time she asks and be tempted to sneak around on her own.

At some point she's going to slip up and get cut, like I did and continue to do on a (thankfully) infrequent basis. But it seems to work for now.
 
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Extremely sharp, I'm going for the Gerber Baby Insurance policy payoff. $5000 is a lot of money!
Seriously though by the time a kid is tall enough to reach the knife block or drawer I'd hope they know better. I've never kept anything dangerous within reach of a small child.
 
One thing this puts me in mind of is, by the time I was 6 or 7 I was carrying around a pocketknife and whittling and stuff. I have a couple of scars from it, and I learned how to not cut myself. When they're toddlers it feels like it's going to last forever, but it's really a very short window of time where you have to protect them and get them used to the concept of danger and safety, and then before you know it they have their first Opinel or whatever and they're slicing their index finger to the bone anyway.
 
johnniet said:
Now I don’t want it dull…just maybe put on a secondary bevel and back down to 800-1000 grit.
But thanks for the considerations.
Actually, I always thought that the safety problem with dull knives was the temptation to use force—and you cut yourself when the knife either slips or finally cuts through. Will they also cut worse if you weren’t using it, but you get cut if the knife falls or other accidental contact?
Click to expand...
try it out. let us know how it goes......

kidding, dont do that. sharp or even a dull knife is dangerous falling on a kids foot and head etc. kids have to watched...and trained around knives as they grow and are mature enough to understand without having to find out for themselves. that can't be avoided or worked around. dulling a knife isn't a good substitute plan.
 
My young daughter (at the time) learned knife safety when she went with me to the ER to get stiches into my hand when I cut myself with the New Becker Kephart.
I was one of the lucky ones to get one earlier than most.....pretty sure I'm First Blood when it happened.

I'm impressed that she wanted to see the fresh wound. (Inside of my hand)...&..later she helped me cut, and remove the stitches.
 
SimplyMinded said:
Extremely sharp, I'm going for the Gerber Baby Insurance policy payoff. $5000 is a lot of money!
Seriously though by the time a kid is tall enough to reach the knife block or drawer I'd hope they know better. I've never kept anything dangerous within reach of a small child.
Click to expand...
They are *kept* well out of his reach, but when we use them they may not be. He could also reach one side of a cutting board and bring something down that is partly on the other side. Right now I try to always set them back at the wall if I need to step away from the counter (given our setup it doesn’t make sense to put them away—I’d have to put the edge guard back on—maybe this is the real issue).
 
Sharpen how you like, and whenever you are have the opportunity, let the kids cut with you. Teach them how to hold and slice or chop.. and they'll learn quick. I started letting me son use a knife as soon as he could firmly grasp one and now he's 6. He carries around a Spyderco dialect junior and cuts his own food with kitchen knives. I don't even worry anymore. He's cut himself a few times not too bad
 
I agree with "sharper knives are safer", of course. Verbal repetition only goes so far. Some lessons in life, like lessons in history, are only learned with shed blood. o_O

Luckily for my 8 year old, it was seeing Dad cut himself with a knife. He now has a very healthy respect for them, and he's about to get his own for Troops of St. George.

I also have a 2.5 year old daugher who is extremely naughty. She can't reach most things yet, but we make a practice to keep knives high (far back on the kitchen counter and on my standing desk in my office).

I think the only impact the kids have on my sharpening is that I like to do it around them (and they like to watch). They're interested in seeing the process and I try very hard to demonstrate good hands-on safety.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
My young daughter (at the time) learned knife safety when she went with me to the ER to get stiches into my hand when I cut myself with the New Becker Kephart.
I was one of the lucky ones to get one earlier than most.....pretty sure I'm First Blood when it happened.

I'm impressed that she wanted to see the fresh wound. (Inside of my hand)...&..later she helped me cut, and remove the stitches.
Click to expand...
Oooo… a Dr. in the making!
 
johnniet said:
Did anyone ever start sharpening differently for child safety reasons?

I have a Fallkniven White Whale in VG-10; I use a 15 degree primary bevel sharpened on 2000 grit sandpaper.
The other day, I was putting it back into its edge guard when it slipped just the littlest bit, not much weight or speed behind it, and I got a small cut on my thumb. Fine.
With one of my wife’s knives it wouldn’t have cut me, even though they’re pretty usable in general.

But I have a 3-year-old who is getting taller. What if he ran in some time and pulled down a cutting board? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
When our granddaughter was 5 years old, she became curious about cooking. My wife started her with simple food prep, then yours truly show her how to properly use marinade and rubs on chicken and meats prior to grilling. She was also taught how to safely handle kitchen knives, cheese graters and vegetable peelers. We did the same when our grandson turned 5. Best practice is to incorporate knife safety with proper food prep and basic cooking lessons. These skills are all closely linked and should be taught at an early age.
 
Knife safety is easy! It’s the firearms training where you really need to pay attention. ;)
 
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