Sharpening knives that were not asked to be sharpened.

[cj65]

I have come to realize, that my hobby, and knife sharpness obsession is dangerous for my family. My wife purchased, for herself, a Quisinart knife set. It is hers, and she reminds me of that. She never asked me to sharpen them. The other night, I was playing with my newly acquired diamond spray from an on line store, and was having so much fun, I decided to sharpen up her set. I did some on the paper wheels, and a few with my stones. I got them all beyond shaving sharp. I took the time to warn her that they are sharp again, very sharp. I woke up this morning, and she had cut herself on them, preppin our 5 kids lunches for school. I feel bad, and I take the blame. I have learned my lesson. I should not inflict my obsessions on others and put them in harm's way. When light duty cutting is the task, dull knives are safer than sharp. I have bumped myself with dull knives while doing the dishes, and the dull blade never cut me. I have done the same thing with those real sharp, and the bump is now a cut. However, I do not mind the wounds that come with my hobby, it is acceptable to me. I now accept and realize that my hobby could seriously harm others, loved ones especially. No more sharpening house knives. I will only do my own, or ones requested. I hope all who reads this, takes heed. Showing off your ability to sharpen could bring about a serious injury, and will do nothing to promote our hobby for sharp edged steel products. Please do not make the mistake that I just did. You could end up really regretting it.

 

[johnny reb]

It seems like whenever I sharpen some ones knife, they cut themselves with it. It got to the point that I would sharpen a friends knife, give him the knife back with a couple of band aids. At first they would think it was just a joke, But more than one person has come back telling me they had to use those band aids. They still keep coming back for me to sharpen there knives though. I`m the cook in the house, So the Wife knows not to touch the kitchen knives. She knows how sharp I like my knives, so when she does use them She`s real careful.

 

[Dag-nabit]

Sharp knife, dull knife, the only way to cut yourself is to have your finger (or other body part) where it isn't supposed to be.

Your wife cut herself, not because the knife was sharp, but because she accidently got her finger in the way. A sharp knife will more easily cut deeper, but will also cut clean.

The knives in our household are always very sharp, and the family (wife, myself, and kids) don't cut ourselves an unusual amount of times because of it.

Kevin

 

[JohnnyR]

I only sharpen knives for my wife when she asks, but she does ask. The first time I sharpened one of her kitchen knives, she did cut herself. She wasn't used to using a sharp knife so she wasn't being as careful as she needed to be. But she knows when they need work and will ask me to sharpen them up when they do.

 

[A.P.F.]

Me thinks that you are suffering from misplaced guilt, CJ. A sharp knife will track more truly and is less likely to glance off the material being cut. A 'dull' knife is just plain dangerous to use, requires more force and adds crush trauma to a wound when it does occur.

It is a fact of life that we all must learn to properly use tools and your wife is no exception. Blaming yourself for providing her with a safer tool is just not logical.

 

[udtjim]

Knives have no mind of their own, people should have.

 

[ChapmanPreferred]

At least every other knife I sharpen for someone else gives them a little love bite within the first two days. That is even with the verbal or written warning that they receive with the knife. I sharpened a Santoku kitchen knife for a former employer and within 30 mins (over lunch break) he sliced 1/8' of his index finger off. I keep every knife in the house as sharp as I think it needs to be and everyone is careful.

 

[LUW]

I've learned a long time ago that not everyone is like me or has my standards. Whenever I try to impose these standards on others I get disappointed, the person thinks I was being arrogant or I feel that all my work and dedication was just a case of pearls to pigs. So even though I may suspect that my way of doing the job is the better way, when asked I'll generally do the job but keeping in mind for whom the job is for.

 

[Gadgetaholic]

At least every other knife I sharpen for someone else gives them a little love bite within the first two days. That is even with the verbal or written warning that they receive with the knife. I sharpened a Santoku kitchen knife for a former employer and within 30 mins (over lunch break) he sliced 1/8' of his index finger off. I keep every knife in the house as sharp as I think it needs to be and everyone is careful.

Verbal warnings are given so you can laugh at the person and say "I told you so" when they cut themselves. For someone to become more careful with a knife they need to first accidentally cut themselves then have the intelligence to learn from that experience. A verbal warning is just words to most people, it is the pain of a cut that has meaning!

 

[bitter1]

My dad sharpened one of his friends knives about 15 years ago and he told him that it was very sharp and to watch out. So what does the friend do, he cuts an apple and uses the knife to stab the slice and put the slice in his mouth and then drawing the knife out of his mouth he cuts the edge of his mouth. Maybe some people just should not have sharp knives.

 

[Thalestin]

Better to have a good working edge rather than an insanely sharp knife. They lok neat and are kind f fun, but they are a lt more dangerous. I tend to keep my knives quite sharp, just about shaving sharp and they get the job done fine

 

[dsmegst]

A life time of dull (to knifeknuts) knives teaches people bad habits.

I know lots of people that use their knives in ways that a really sharp knife would cut them. I've always peeled fruit where the pad of my thumb would graze over the knife edge. My parents, my aunts, my grandma, they all did that. I've seen plenty of people push cut veggies until the blade touches the finger. And if you had the right touch, a dull knife won't cut you.

Now if anyone tries the same thing with a sharp knife, we'd see cuts and blood everywhere. When 90% (I'm just pulling this number out of air) of new knives people purchase is deemed ridiculously dull by our standards and yet turns out to be as sharp as it ever will be for the average person, it's understandable.

When I give people knives as gifts, I give them factory sharp knives unless I know that person understands what sharp really is. Of course some brands are better than others.

To the OP, I totally understand. I did the same thing for my wife and she ended up stabbing her finger with our kitchen knife. She wasn't handling the knife in a safe manner but I still felt awful.

 

[EricV]

I watched my Sister and her husband's house while they were away on their honeymoon and while there sharpened up their knives. A week after they get back my brother-in-law comes by our house with his hand all wrapped up. Turns out his climbed up onto the counter to change a bulb or something and put his hand right on a steak knife that was laying edge up. Since then I've been forbidden from sharpening their knives, and have decided all knife cuts are the user's fault. Thought is required if you have something sharp and pointy in your hand.

 

[jbombelli]

I don't sharpen the kitchen knives, as my wife would probably kill herself by accident. I've seen how she uses knives.

 

[mk77]

i gave up sharpening my ex-wives knives when i came home to see her chopping veggies on a concrete counter top. now, at home, i have knives for guests, and my knives for me, and i'll let my dad use them to as he likes very sharp knives as well.

 

[Gadgetaholic]

Turns out his climbed up onto the counter to change a bulb or something and put his hand right on a steak knife that was laying edge up.

If someone told me that they did that then I would say something like: "Wow, that's really careless of you - I hope you learned you lesson" and then add something like "actually I hope you learned both lessons - don't leave knives lying around where they can cause injuries and take care where you put your hands". The one thing I wouldn't do is apologize - I wouldn't want to give the impression that I believed it was my fault, because that would be the wrong impression. I would rather say "gee, you must feel foolish for doing that" than "I'm sorry for making your knives more sharp, I forgot that knives aren't supposed to cut things".

If you sharpen a knife for someone and then they cut themselves, you shouldn't feel guilty. It's not like you were the clumsy twit that couldn't handle a cutting tool without cutting yourself. Imagine if you worked in sales selling dangerous things - would you feel guilty every time someone hurt themselves using something you sold them? I'm talking about selling such dangerous things as: vehicles of any kind, knives, axes, lawn mowers, power tools, hand tools, scissors, etc. I wonder how anyone that sells any of these things sleeps at night!

 

[Dnalsi]

Similar thing happened with my wife.
She normally asks to have her kitchen knives sharpened, and I happily oblige.
They have always been "functionally sharp"
Recently, I bought a Viel 1x42 belt sander and several belts, including a leather one for honing.
I had fun making several of my knives extremely sharp.
I did all the kitchen knives too.
I warned her twice about the new level of sharpness on her knives.
Still...She cut her thumb ...twice...before switching to the cutting board.
She is actually very happy with the new level of sharpness.
Just can't use the same bad habits for food prep.

 

[Gadgetaholic]

I warned her twice about the new level of sharpness on her knives.
Still...She cut her thumb ...twice...before switching to the cutting board.

See - that is what I am saying! People learn, given a proper lesson or 2. A little pain never hurt anybody, if you know what I mean! Pain is just natures way of saying - "don't do that!"

 

[sambo.]

At least every other knife I sharpen for someone else gives them a little love bite within the first two days.

haha, damn straight.

a friend asked me to resharpen his SAK blades for him a couple weeks ago. oh crap were they dull when he handed them over.

after running them over the stones and strop and getting them back to "acceptable" (for me) sharpness, i handed it back to him with the warning: be careful, it's now as sharp as I keep my Leatherman blade.

less than five minutes later: he'd sliced himself.

i also find similar problems when others use my kitchen knives. i know how sharp they are, because i go to the effort to keep them that way. even after i warn them, others seem to assume they are as dull as the blades they have in their kitchens. as a result, i've had to mop a fair bit of claret off my benchtops.

hence, i rarely let anyone but my mum use my kitchen blades ('tis from her i got my sharpness fetish). at least i can trust her not to damage either the knife or herself.

an ex girlfriend on the other hand seemingly couldn't even look at a knife without cutting herself. i wonder why we split up...... /sarcasm.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Sometimes I just touch up the dull spot on people's knives. There is usually a place on the belly of the blade that gets worn down. I sometimes just touch that up and make the blade more uniform.

I really think that getting cut now and then is perfectly normal and I don't feel the least bit bad about it unless they incur hospital expenses or permanent damage.