Living with knife-ignorant people

FortyTwoBlades said:
As others have mentioned, a big question is what THEIR use preferences are. Do they enjoy using properly sharp knives, or do they have bad habits that will make the knives more of a detriment than a benefit? If the former, get yourself a good coarse stone and use it for making the sharpening fast and easy, and consider the work an act of love without expectation that it be appreciated beyond the fact that you restored their baseline function. My family has gradually learned over the years that certain materials damage edges, so they take less damage than they used to, but also I told them not to worry about it too much 'cause I don't want the improved state to be an annoyance rather than a pleasant gift. If they dull, I just sharpen 'em up again when I notice it. Be sure to only gift blades you aren't gonna' be upset about getting beaten up, and be happy when you see them dull because it means they were being used.
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We have a good dozen cutting "surfaces" (some are very thin plastic), what I haven't seen is a good cutting block made of end-grain hardwood. Those have worked for me in the past.

Actually, I misspoke - except for the teenager, the 55 year-old Mom and her mid-30's son both profess to be able to sharpen - I suspect they're just too lazy to do so. I have an almost identical "hand" to sharpening the kitchen knives as their late mother/grandmother, but being just a live-in BIL I can't get by with scolding them for incorrectly using a knife. The shame is that although the son is a decent cook and his mom is OK if it's grub or a casserole, they both hate to cook as they've made it a duty instead of a pleasure. I could take some load off of them as I'm a more than decent cook myself and could give them a change of scenery menu-wise, but by the time I can clear off room to do prep (any flat surface uncovered here is instantly converted to storage) and sharpen one or two of the froes they use as knives, my shitty back is busted and I can't finish preparing the meal.

I've tried teaching them how to quickly sharpen a kitchen knife (and hear "yeah, year, I know that") and how to cut without ruining the blade ("yeah, yeah, I know that, too), but that's about as hard as I can press them and preserve harmony in the house. You can lead a horse to water ...

I guess I just wanted to grouse about people abusing blades for no good reason. I'd love to be able to go into the kitchen, pick up a sharp knife out of the nice but abused knife rack in the drawer, and make something to eat without having to start at square one.
 
Thorgrim said:
We have a good dozen cutting "surfaces" (some are very thin plastic), what I haven't seen is a good cutting block made of end-grain hardwood. Those have worked for me in the past.

Actually, I misspoke - except for the teenager, the 55 year-old Mom and her mid-30's son both profess to be able to sharpen - I suspect they're just too lazy to do so. I have an almost identical "hand" to sharpening the kitchen knives as their late mother/grandmother, but being just a live-in BIL I can't get by with scolding them for incorrectly using a knife. The shame is that although the son is a decent cook and his mom is OK if it's grub or a casserole, they both hate to cook as they've made it a duty instead of a pleasure. I could take some load off of them as I'm a more than decent cook myself and could give them a change of scenery menu-wise, but by the time I can clear off room to do prep (any flat surface uncovered here is instantly converted to storage) and sharpen one or two of the froes they use as knives, my shitty back is busted and I can't finish preparing the meal.

I've tried teaching them how to quickly sharpen a kitchen knife (and hear "yeah, year, I know that") and how to cut without ruining the blade ("yeah, yeah, I know that, too), but that's about as hard as I can press them and preserve harmony in the house. You can lead a horse to water ...

I guess I just wanted to grouse about people abusing blades for no good reason. I'd love to be able to go into the kitchen, pick up a sharp knife out of the nice but abused knife rack in the drawer, and make something to eat without having to start at square one.
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What I find works well for those purposes is to have a knife or two that are designated as "the good knives" that are kept separate from the general use knives. You just tell 'em to only use 'em in a "break glass in case of emergency" situation so they're not the first line of defense they go to for general knife use. The "special" knives are only to be used if you're willing to use them on a wooden or plastic cutting board, hand wash 'em, and put 'em away when you're done. If you aren't willing to do that, you don't use the good knives, you use one of the convenient knives. This greatly reduces the abuse they experience and makes their edge last much longer as a result, meaning you have less sharpening work to do since it's limited to those good knives and the wear on them is less.
 
I'm very lucky. The wife and kids all respect and know how to use knives. My son's wife loves to cook and also takes care of knives very well. Out of all of the kitchen knives we have, my wife almost exclusively uses a Victorinox paring knife with a red plastic handle. Not an expensive knife but is works well and easy for me to keep sharp.
 
Phydeaux said:
I'm very lucky. The wife and kids all respect and know how to use knives. My son's wife loves to cook and also takes care of knives very well. Out of all of the kitchen knives we have, my wife almost exclusively uses a Victorinox paring knife with a red plastic handle. Not an expensive knife but is works well and easy for me to keep sharp.
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Those are great little knives. And they respond beautifully to sharpening on most any media, which makes them great training aids for learning sharpening as well. They richly reward good technique. :thumbsup:
 
My wife uses a red handled (serrated) Victorinox parer more than any other knife in the kitchen. Next would be a very inexpensive 5" Boker.

She doesn't like to handle my good kitchen knives...which are a forged set from Murray Carter and a paring knife from Jerry Halfrich.
 
Buy them a pull through carbide sharpener and hide your good knives. That's about the best you'll be able to do. Costco used to sell a knife block that had those sharpeners at the opening of where you insert the knife. Some people I know think that's the best thing since sliced bread.

I just shake my head...
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
My own parents were habituated for decades in using their kitchen knives with what most of us would call very dull edges. I learned, there's a real risk in suddenly presenting to them a very sharp knife, though. My mother's habit, when handling knives in the kitchen, was to sort of absent-mindedly rub her thumb along the edge of the blade near the handle. It wasn't an issue though, because it was never actually sharp enough to cut her. The first time I sharpened one of them to my own liking, within a day or two, she'd managed to cut her thumb with it. And once my father noticed I was interested in sharpening them, he asked me to put a better edge on the paring knife he used to section apples for his lunch. But he had a habit of doing that against the ceramic tile countertop in the kitchen. So, there was always a segment in the belly of the edge that would get immediately flattened (mushroomed) in the first cut through the apple.

Since the knives they used were their own kitchen set, I eventually concluded it wasn't worth trying to get them to change their habits with the kitchen knives and they were safer using the dull blades. By the time I'd taken closer note of their habits, both of them were in their 80s. And changing habits doesn't generally come easily, that late in life. It's usually accepted among most of us that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one. And so long as one is conscientious enough and fully aware of just how sharp their knife is when using it, usually it is safer. But habits formed over the course of decades don't just change overnight, if at all. And bad, ingrained habits with a sharp knife can be much more dangerous sometimes.
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Reading your post made me chuckle and smile remembering my mom (she's been gone a couple years so it's always nice when something brings good memories). :) People definitely get set in the way they do things.

My mom was one to cut and peel things by pulling a paring knife to her thumb ... so she cut her thumb a number of times after asking me to sharpen her knives. I told her she should stop cutting or peeling things that way ... she said if I'd just make the knives "a little sharper" she wouldn't cut her thumb. When I attempted to say "a sharp knife is safer" I believe she used the phrase "well ... not that sharp". So after she had cut her thumb a few times we decided when she wanted her knives sharpened ... I'd just not touch the paring knives. She cut and peeled things that way as long as she lived.
 
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Only wood boards for me - well maintained they resist contamination naturally. There is a reason Butcher shops had wood blocks and wood shavings on the floor for a very long time. Sharpening knives for others? I always warned Mom and still remind my Wife. I have all sorts of fancy kitchen knives, old and newish and use them regularly. Every day I reach for at least one Rada. IMHO a less known bargain - I gave a set to each or my adult kids. Hard to hurt, easy to sharpen.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
Reading your post made me chuckle and smile remembering my mom (she's been gone a couple years so it's always nice when something brings good memories). :) People definitely get set in the way they do things.

My mom was one to cut and peel things by pulling a paring knife to her thumb ... so she cut her thumb a number of times after asking me to sharpen her knives. I told her she should stop cutting or peeling things that way ... she said if I'd just make the knives "a little sharper" she wouldn't cut her thumb. When I attempted to say "a sharp knife is safer" I believe she used the phrase "well ... not that sharp". So after she had cut her thumb a few times we decided when she wanted her sharpened knives sharpened ... I'd just not touch the paring knives. She cut and peeled things that way as long as she lived.
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My Mom had that very same habit, though she often used a somewhat larger blade, like a 6" boning knife, to do that. It hadn't occurred to me earlier, as to how she acquired the habit of rubbing her thumb along the edge near the handle. But in the way she held the knife while doing that, I'm now sure it went back to that other habit of hers that I'd forgotten, in cutting fruits & veggies by drawing the blade back toward her thumb. My mom also passed about 2-1/2 years ago, BTW.
 
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Growing up and being of a family that did a lot of cutting and processing and butchering and cooking and prepping in the kitchen, and having a roundup each year we raised chickens, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs and would go hunting every season, there was a lot of sharpening going on in the background, mainly butchering knives, but also hunting and personal skinning knives and everyone carried a pocketknife too. My grandmother had a kitchen drawer where she kept a Rolit Sharpener and half a dozen or more knives that she would use pretty much every day and every once and a while, she would have me sit down at her kitchen table and she would pick through all her kitchen knives and have me sharpen her knives running them through that simple yet effective invention - she was always happy and pleased in the results, "Grandma" ~ we had honing rods and straps and wet stones and these would usually come out once or twice whenever we processed any kinds a venison and there was a whole lot a that going on - they weren't very expensive knives though ~

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I'm lucky. Things are fairly simple here. My son in law is very good with knives. He carves turkey and slices with a good touch, so I bought him a Sharpmaker for Xmas in 2024. It's still in the box. He brings his EDC to me for tune up. 😳
As for the rest... I have 4 of the above mentioned Vic 4" paring knives which I tuneup while putting dishes away in the morning and a Chicago cutlery 6" utility knife which is used to slice 12 pack soda boxes in half to fit in the fridge better.
So , yes, I'm lucky.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
Reading your post made me chuckle and smile remembering my mom (she's been gone a couple years so it's always nice when something brings good memories). :) People definitely get set in the way they do things.

My mom was one to cut and peel things by pulling a paring knife to her thumb ... so she cut her thumb a number of times after asking me to sharpen her knives. I told her she should stop cutting or peeling things that way ... she said if I'd just make the knives "a little sharper" she wouldn't cut her thumb. When I attempted to say "a sharp knife is safer" I believe she used the phrase "well ... not that sharp". So after she had cut her thumb a few times we decided when she wanted her knives sharpened ... I'd just not touch the paring knives. She cut and peeled things that way as long as she lived.
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I think of that technique as "Grandmas cutting board"
 
Acutereference said:
Only wood boards for me - well maintained they resist contamination naturally. There is a reason Butcher shops had wood blocks and wood shavings on the floor for a very long time. Sharpening knives for others? I always warned Mom and still remind my Wife. I have all sorts of fancy kitchen knives, old and newish and use them regularly. Every day I reach for at least one Rada. IMHO a less known bargain - I gave a set to each or my adult kids. Hard to hurt, easy to sharpen.
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Make that "end grain" wooden cutting boards and I'm with you. I've lived with these folks for nine years, and every time I mention one they insist "oh, we have on of those" but it's never produced.

They're good folks, but they ain't from 'round here.
 
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