Paring knife, too sharp?

Z

zippy

Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
20
Hello,

I never could sharpen a knife my whole life. Then a couple of years
ago I got a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Things improved quickly !
I never could put a very good edge on my cheap stainless paring knives,
so I got some Old Hickory knives, a 8" Cooks knife, and a 4" paring knife. I like the "feel" of the 1095, but it does get pretty edgy. Not a problem for the Cooks knife, but the paring knife is causing me some problems. I'm afraid to thumb cut with it, and thumb cutting is very convenient.

Is there some trick to thumb cutting with a sharp paring knife? I use the knife a lot everday so it is important to me to know. I don't know whether to stop thumb cutting, or what? I fear I risk injury if I continue.

Thanks for your help,
Zippy

P.S. I learn how to sharpen on this forum !
 
I think you just have to learn a safer way of cutting. It's especially dangerous working with food and sharp knives, since your hands tend to get wet, and that soften the skin even more. I've sliced myself and not felt it when my hands were wet, a sharp blade goes through so easily.
 
I've rid myself of the thumbcut habit in the kitchen. With proper technique and some practice, it's faster to use a cutting board.

OTOH, I still use the thumbcut procedure to cut my daily post-lunch apple with a 2-3" pocketknife. It helps that I sit in a well-lit office and don't take my eyes off the blade. I don't know if this'll make sense, but here goes: keep your thumb below the blade's projected path, so if the blade slips, it won't bury itself in your thumb. Go SLOW and don't get distracted by Peggy from Accounting asking about the DID Cost Analysis Report.

Oh, and Band-Aids. You'll need Band-Aids too.
 
thumbcuts only work on dull knives. I don't know how the chefs do it. ditto for palm cuts. I'd like to see a chef do a thumbcut on a nice and freshly sharpened thin Japanese knife. I wouldn't dare. It could be done but you have to pay so much attention, it just doesn't make sense.

my $0.02 anyways, lol....
 
Thumbcuts are a useful paring technique. You just have to decide what you want: a sharp knife or a thumb that isn't bleeding. Very simple, really.
 
just need to learn to cut slightly off-center of your thumb. I do it all the time.


for paring, let your thumb "walk" along the apple/orange/etc. and only barely move the knife.


I wouldn't thumb-cut anything tough/snappy like a carrot with a freshly sharpened paring knife.



Another thing that might work: play more Nintendo - get some thumb calluses. :D :eek: :p
 
Daniel Koster said:
just need to learn to cut slightly off-center of your thumb. I do it all the time.
Click to expand...

I did too until one hurried day a slight miscalculation gave me one of my worst self-inflicted cuts ever (still get chills thinking about it). For me, sharp knife = cutting board, period.
 
When you guys do thumbcuts you actually go all the way to the thumb? I use an opinel to peel fruit and I never cut all the way to my thumb. I think maybe I do what Daniel does. I squeeze the 4 fingers holding the handle towards the palm when I want to cut and the thumb moves back and then the fingers loosen. Maybe I'm doing thumb cuts wrong though, so who knows...

If your prone to cutting yourself, get a peeler! They aren't expensive and work great. Thats what I use for peeling carrots anyway.
 
I spent alot of years in resturaunt kitchens and you guys are making this too hard.

When a chef does a curving thumb cut (say to peel an apple) with a sharp knife he rolls the food into the blade, not the other way around. THE KNIFE NEVER MOVES. I used to watch chefs here in Japan do this and turn a radish the size of your forearm into a thin sheet 8 feet long and 8 inches wide. Roll the object your cutting and don`t move the knife.

If it`s a straight cut (say to just cut the apple in 1/2) he *could * do it by off-setting his thumb below the path of the blade, but it`s just faster and safer to to set it down and use a cutting board.
 
I'm a culinary arts student and unless you're using a Turning knife to turn carrots, you'll get hardcore bitched at for thumb cutting anything in class.
 
I used to get onto my wife for thumb cutting. That is until she griped and complained that the crappy stainless steel utility knife that she was using wouldn't hold an edge. I thinned her out a very, very sharp Old Hickory utility knife. She loved how it pealed potatoes and zipped through other veggies. Then, after much warning, she picked it up and began thumb cutting carrots into a salad. She made about two cuts before promptly splitting the meat of her thumb open:barf:
She now understands WHY we have 3 cutting boards to choose from:D
 
I thumb cut all the time and have I think, relatively few scars from it. Part of it is knowing how sharp your knife is so you go slow enough. Part is rolling the object not the knife, and part of it is not cutting all the way to the thumb.

Then again, I also thumb strip wire insulation on razor knives so I probably qualify as crazy anyway.
 
Thank you for all the replies.

Most of the thumbcutting I do is with "snappy" veggies like celery and carrots.
I have been off setting my thumb from the cut.

But... I think I'm going to quit it before I get hurt. I've nearly gotten bit
several times already. So, I guess the answer is, "I choose a sharp knife" :)

Thank you again,
Zippy
 
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