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>People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives... What amazes me is how many people spend absolutely zero time sharpening knives, u
by dlcarrier 1y ago
>People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives...
What amazes me is how many people spend absolutely zero time sharpening knives, using decades-old knives that have never been sharpened and can't even cut through cucumbers.
- john_minsk 1y agoI don't use knives in my kitchen. My romantic partner does. Yesterday I decided to cut some tomatoes only to find out that all knives are dull. She never said anything, I didn't know it. Why? Because she is just "used" to it and to her these knives were just fine. So she never thought about sharpening knives in the first place. I will take those knives to a pro and he will sharpen them for me, as in a rental I stay in, I don't have the tools to do that and as I said in another comment - I don't have a pain free process to do that as I don't do it often.
- chneu 1y agoYou don't really need "tools" to sharpen knives. You just need a harder surface and some experience. It's one of those things that once you learn you can accomplish with a variety of "tools" because you're just trying to achieve an end goal. There's zero reason you can't sharpen a knife in a rental, lol. You don't need a belt grinder or anything. People get way too caught up in buying into systems and being told how to do things because it alleviates some anxiety of trying something new. Sharpening knives hasn't really changed much in the last few centuries. Watch a few guides and learn to do it. There's no substitute for experience here. It's also a very transferable skill so it's one that used to be taught in schools but no longer is.
- JohnMakin 1y agowhen I was poor I used to make pricy shaving blades last for months longer than they should have by rubbing them on some old jeans. I don’t remember where I learned it but my roommates thought I was crazy til they tried it.
- scarby2 1y ago> There's no substitute for experience here. It's also a very transferable skill so it's one that used to be taught in schools but no longer is. This 100% should be taught in school, it would have been one of the most useful things I could have learned.
- obscurette 1y agoWhen I was in school (in seventies), all boys at least tried to learn how to use and take care of all sharp tools and machines with one up to wood and metal lathe. When I was in school now as a teacher, scissors were the only somewhat sharp things kids were allowed to use. Risk tolerance is so low in our society nowadays, sense of responsibility of children is nonexistent etc.
- lazide 1y agoA semester of machine shop taught me an immense amount, and based on my experience with a lot of techies, 95% more about how the world (and tools) work than 95% of the population.
- coffeebeqn 1y agoBuy a whetstone for $10 and you’re set for life. It’s not complicated! People have been sharpening knives for millennia
- SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago$10 whetstones are typically far worse value than $40-$60 whetstones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5shv-7m5Ic&t=55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5shv-7m5Ic&t=55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHzwlGovi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHzwlGovi0
- petepete 1y agoWere you cutting tomatoes with a serrated knife? If not, you should be - they do a far better job.
- dlcarrier 1y agoI cut through tomatoes with my pairing knife all the time, with no resistance, and it has a straight blade.
- petepete 1y agoYeah if it's sharp enough it'll be fine. All tomato knives are serrated though, they glide through allowing thin, delicate slices. https://sabre-paris.co.uk/collections/tomato-knife https://sabre-paris.co.uk/collections/tomato-knife
- dlcarrier 1y agoI've never seen a knife like that where I live, in California. The only small serrated knifes people here have are stake knives and on rare occasions sausage knives. It's strange how two relatively similar cultures can have such oddball differences. This is while living in California's Central Valley, where a third of the world's tomatoes are grown, so it's not like tomatoes aren't a major part of the culture here. I wonder if it's because most of California's settlement was within the last 200 years, with modern metallurgy making it common for knifes to hold their edge long enough to easily cut tomatoes with only occasional sharpening, negating the need for a special knife just for tomatoes. Nationwide advertisements for knives show people using straight-bladed knives for cutting cucumbers and tomatoes, despite stated stake knives being extremely common, so tomato knives are likely rare throughout the country, not that much of the country is any older than California.
- Aardwolf 1y agoCan one even sharpen a serrated knife without destroying the teeth? Google search autocomplete shows I'm not the only one wondering that
- UberFly 1y agoThis is all very defeatist. Learn to sharpen your knives for your own sake and your... romantic partner. It's a very basic life skill that you should know.
- bryanrasmussen 1y ago>I don't use knives in my kitchen. How do you not use knives? Do you use some other cutting instrument, that has the same problem as knives (cutting edge needs sharpening at times), do you only purchase pre-sliced food, do you only order take out, or only eat food that never needs cutting, or do you eat food that many or most people would cut in some way (oranges, apples, celery, etc.) by refusing to cut but using your teeth to separate out parts. Do you not use butter knives or have you removed those from the category knives as their purpose is not really cutting (although I use butter knives to cut cherry tomatoes and garlic as they have no problem with that task) I'm not trying to harass here, I am just incredibly interested by this statement as I don't think I've ever seen a kitchen without knives (excepting apartments that did not have any residents at the time)
- NonHyloMorph 1y agoDMT Diamond Sharpeners are fun, especially the ones where you have a milled steel plate that's very flat to which the diamond abrasive is fixed via some nickelplating process. Use one thats "extracoarse" on one side and "fine" (600grit) on the other plus another onsided one with extra fine. Finish with japanese whetstone (synthetic one) and or polishing pashe on a strap of leather. Takes almost no space, can be done at the kitchen table. The equipment costs some, so its probably mostly worth it if you like doing it - sharpening has a meditative quality (wear theowaway gloves)
- lazide 1y agoYes. These are awesome. They have ones that fold up inside an attached plastic cover (like leatherman) that are great for apartment living, and will sharpen pretty much anything, from filet and paring knives to axes.
- literalAardvark 1y agoIf she's not used to sharp knives you're not doing her a favour by getting them crazy sharp. Just get a cheap knife sharpener (not a whetstone) with good reviews and sharpen them a bit once every few weeks, it takes a minute, gets good results, and you can work with her on how sharp they should be. Most of the time knives that are too sharp are much more dangerous than knives that are too blunt. The people worrying about your knife slipping into your finger have never actually used a knife imo. If it's dull enough to be slipping you'll get a welt before you get cut.
- emacsen 1y ago> Most of the time knives that are too sharp are much more dangerous than knives that are too blunt. With a sharp knife, you cut through food very easily so you use very little force. You also use techniques that prevent you from getting hurt, such as the claw ( https://www.thekitchn.com/knife-skills-the-claw-75998 https://www.thekitchn.com/knife-skills-the-claw-75998 ). But if someone has used a dull knife for most of their life, they may not have cultivated these skills and may hold their knife in an unsafe way and or use a lot of force when cutting. For someone like that, a sharp knife could be a lot more dangerous, but if they're trained/using it properly, a sharp knife is a lot more safe as it reduces effort and chance of the knife slipping.
- literalAardvark 1y agoMy thought process was that anyone who is trained or interested would seek to get them sharpened. I've been in this position and my partner at the time decided to use a separate set of knives from me, as my sharp knives made her focus on the danger and pulled her out of her zoned out cooking-with-a-glass-of-wine mood. Fair enough, how she approaches tools isn't my decision.
- cactacea 1y agoRespectfully, proper technique is just a matter of searching and reading for 2-3 minutes followed by a bit of practice and repetition to get fast. You can skip the getting fast part if you want. Nobody needs "training" to become proficient with a kitchen knife.
- YeGoblynQueenne 1y ago>> I will take those knives to a pro and he will sharpen them for me, as in a rental I stay in, I don't have the tools to do that and as I said in another comment - I don't have a pain free process to do that as I don't do it often Do you also replace your elderly relatives' Windows XP with linux distros, because linux is a better OS? The moment you return the sharpened knives to your partner and she starts using them, she'll cut herself, with a small probability for a serious cut that will leave permanent damage to her hand. Think carefully.
- ec109685 1y agoEventually they will be exposed to sharp knife’s, so probably good to ease their way into it.
- YeGoblynQueenne 1y agoDo you mean the sharp knives of surgeons, or are they playing with the Hellraiser cube?
- RHSeeger 1y agoI know I'm setting myself up for being picked up, but... I use an older knife that I've never sharpened outside of "occasionally" running it back and forth against a tough fabric. It cuts literally everything just fine; cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. Nothing about my use of it _seems_ unsafe; but I expect that's partially because I don't cut very fast. Cooking, when I'm involved, tends to be "social time", where we prep and chat at the same time; so there's no rush. I'm not saying it's not a good idea to sharpen knives, but a lot of people make it sound like you're a dangerous monster if you don't. And that just doesn't seem to be the case.
- LordDragonfang 1y ago> outside of "occasionally" running it back and forth against a tough fabric. As I understand it, that's technically stropping, not sharpening, but it should be sufficient to keep an already-sharp blade sharp over the long term as long as the blade doesn't see extremely heavy use. That said, most people don't strip their blades any more than they sharpen them.
- lazide 1y agoI’ve seen people use knives on glass cutting boards and granite countertops (directly). They quickly became… not knives? Pieces of pointed sheet metal? I don’t know, what do you call a previously perfectly fine knife which now is unable to perform any knife like action?
- an_ko 1y agoSuch people should perhaps consider a ceramic-bladed knife. They stay sharp basically forever because the blade is extremely hard, with the downside that it's not repairable with ordinary equipment if chipped. But if the owner would never maintain their metal knife anyway, then it's not _really_ a downside.
- xxs 1y agoYou cant use them to chop stuff hitting the board. I have used ceramic knives - they are cool but they indeed chip.
- stickfigure 1y agoI used to be a fan, and used them heavily for years. They stay sharp... for a while, and then there's no practical way to re-sharpen them. You get a couple good years out of them and then a lot of mediocre to bad years. Running a steel knife through an electric sharpener once a month (a 2-minute operation) keeps it feeling consistently like new.
- abustamam 1y agoAre there consumer electric sharpeners that you'd recommend? My local grocery store does knife sharpening but it's not super convenient
- Zigurd 1y agoI use one of these: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skaerande-knife-sharpener-black-50289169/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skaerande-knife-sharpener-black... It's cheaper than an electric sharpener and doesn't carry the risk of taking off too much material from a blade due to overenthusiastic use. I am 100% certain that there are multiple people on this thread that could tell me I'm getting less optimal results than their tools and/or method. I don't care. I'm getting results that work when I cook. I don't trust myself to get the angle right with a diamond stone.
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- oezi 1y agoAnd why should they care if it works for them?
- iamacyborg 1y agoBecause they generally don’t work and people don’t know any better.
- Saline9515 1y agoDuller knives cut more slowly, hence if I cut my finger, I feel it before it goes deeper, which is safer. Such knife seems like a disaster waiting to happen, I can't see the benefit honestly.
- athoscouto 1y agoI've seen chefs arguing the other way around. You have to apply more pressure when using duller knives, this means less control and less safety.
- Saline9515 1y agoI agree, but this is more about stopping when you get hurt. I cook everyday and hurt myself only with very sharp knifes as I couldn't feel when the knife was about to cut my skin.
- balls187 1y agoThat's an issue of skill and technique. For trained chefs, the sharper blade means things stay in place as expected, because the weight and motion of the blade are cutting, and not force exerted. Related: I watch chefs use a mandolin, no freaking way I'd use it the way they do. I just do not have the skills necessary to free hand it. I will use a safety glove and/or a guard.
- jkrom3 1y agoThis isn’t how it works. Duller blades are more dangerous because when you cut with a dull blade you have to push harder and then that blade can do things you’re not anticipating. Have you spent any serious time in the kitchen? Sharp blades are incredibly important for… cutting.
- bondarchuk 1y agoPeople say duller blades are more dangerous yet all the times I've seriously hurt myself were just after I'd gotten it sharpened.
- herpdyderp 1y agoI've tried sharpening knives a few times in my life and I've never been able to tell the difference. I agree with the principle, but in practice I simply haven't witnessed it matter.
- idiotsecant 1y agoI think you might be bad at sharpening knives. There is no shame in that, almost everyone is very bad at it, it's difficult to do it properly.
- kleiba 1y ago> almost everyone is very bad at it [citation needed] It's more that sharpening a knife - like many other skills - takes practice.
- idiotsecant 1y agoYes, and like all other skills that take practice, most people are miserable at it. If you honestly think the opposite, I think maybe we live on different planets.
- fernandotakai 1y agomost people don't even know how to properly hone a knife since there are specific movements. i would recommend anyone sending their knives to a professional for sharpening -- you will feel much more confident cutting, and everything will be safer.
- kleiba 1y agoIt's not really that hard to learn how to hone a knife. There's different techniques that work and I'd think anyone who loves to cook regularly hones their knives anyway. Now, sharpening is a bit of a different story but also totally achievable with a little investment (money for some stone(s) and time for practice). But you're right, if you cannot be bothered to do that yourself, it's definitely better to have your knives sharpened professionally than to use dull knives in the kitchen.
- nathan_compton 1y agoThis seems like a sign that going into business selling knives based on their sharpness or apparent sharpness is a bad idea.
- adonovan 1y agoWhy there isn’t a bigger business selling diamond stones for the kitchen is a mystery to me. Everyone has a honing steel but that won’t grind a new edge like a proper stone.
- ReptileMan 1y agoI think because people rarely even know what a sharp knife is. Once upon a time being able to sharpen a knife was a mandatory skill in life. Right now unless you are woodworker, leatherworker, hairdresser or professional cook - you rarely know what really sharp means. So you can't compare and demand better. And with families getting smaller and takeout more popular - the prep work in the kitchen has reduced substantially.
- Zigurd 1y agoPeople worry that they will ruin their knives in an attempt to sharpen them. They don't know that they always have the backstop of going to a competent kitchen store and having them sharpened there. I worry about ruining knives with a cheap sharpener I got at IKEA. So I don't buy super expensive knives. I buy commercial grade knives from Dexter and Mercer. I sharpen them to the best of my ability. The results are no doubt inferior to an expert sharpening them, but they're far better than no sharpening or settling for serrated knives. Keeping knives sharp is just obscure enough of a skill to elude most home cooks. Videos that tell you to judge the angle for sharpening a knife unaided don't help.
- throw0101c 1y ago> People worry that they will ruin their knives in an attempt to sharpen them. Find a local restaurant supply store and pay like $15 to get it professionally done.
- weaksauce 1y agoI am by no means an expert at sharpening knives but I can get my knives to razor sharp edges on a 20 dollar whetstone and an old pair of jeans glued onto a piece of plywood with some polishing compound on it as a strop. really isn't rocket science to do it right and it would take decades of daily sharpening(no one does this outside of chefs maybe) to make any kind of noticeable dent in the metal. if you can push it through paper(not just slice it) it's more than sharp enough and even a slicing cut on paper is fine.
- giardini 1y agoAmy's Trick: ============ You can sharpen (really, burnish) steel knives on a stainless steel sink edge! Stainless steel kitchen sinks are very common in USA. Gently press the knife blade almost flat against the sink edge and pull the knife handle toward you while moving it to the right (or to the left if you're left-handed). Hold the knife at the angle desired for the blade edge (endless discussions of angle are possible). Of course don't cut yourself. The motion is similar to that when using a sharpening steel. Do several times on both sides. Wash and wipe the blade clean. Voila! A co-worker taught me this trick after I asked how she kept her knife so sharp. I haven't bought or used a knife sharpener since.
- cogman10 1y agoThat will knock the burs straight but won't really sharpen the knife (much like a honing rod). After a single use or two your knife will be just as dull as before you knocked the burs straight.
- giardini 1y agoIt takes two seconds and you should clean and wipe your knife before use anyway.
- xxs 1y agoEven better trick - you can sharpen knives on the bottom of a tea cup/mug (as long as it is ceramic)... or a piece of brick.
- giardini 1y agoThanks! That's even easier than using a sink!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- scotty79 1y agoThat's easy. You have mouth full of even duller blades that will do in a pinch and for most foods any knife is already overkill.